Backyard Gazebo

Back in March 2016 a strong storm blew down the fence in our backyard. As a result we replaced the entire fence (see the fence construction post for more details).  To go along with our new fence we wanted to spruce up the backyard with a nice "backyard oasis" area to relax an enjoy.

We wanted a covered area with a nice deck or concrete slab. We also wanted it to be large enough for some furniture and possibly a hot tub. After looking around at options we realized that paying someone to build all of this would probably almost $10,000!  So naturally, to solve this issue we decided to tackle this project ourselves.

The first part of this project was to plan and consider what type of base we wanted.  The most ideal thing would be a concrete slab.  Although this is something we could probably tackle by ourselves, putting in a slab is a lot of work. There is excavation, framing, and probably the worst of all - pouring.  The pour was the main aspect of the slab that made me decide not to do it.  I for sure wasn't going to mix all the concrete by hand.  I could've rented a mixer, however throwing who knows how many bags of Quikcrete in there didn't sound fun. Lastly, hiring a truck to come and pour didn't seem practical.  The next option, and probably the easiest, was wood.  I didn't spend much time considering this as a wood deck requires maintenance and would not last forever in the heat.  We finally ended up deciding on using stone pavers as the base.  This appealed to me because it seemed easy to do, and has the longevity of concrete.

During that decision making process, we thought about what type of gazebo to build/buy.  We looked at places like Home Depot and other stores, but their options tended to be too expensive.  I considered building it all myself but thought it would require a lot of planning and I wouldn't be satisfied with the materials available.

In our search we saw this gazebo available from Costco.  These are outdoor structures available from Yardistry.  They come in different sizes, and unfortunately were sold out online.  Conveniently, the location near us had a few in stock. It comes as pre-cut lumbar and loose hardware in 3 large boxes each weighing about 250 pounds.  It recommends that it be built by 4 people.

I decided that I wanted it on a stable base that I could bolt it down to rather than having it set on the pavers.  To solve this, I decided it would be best to set some concrete pylons and build the gazebo on that, then set the pavers around the legs of the gazebo.  To do this I purchased some round cardboard forms that quikcrete makes. I measured out exactly where the legs of the gazebo would be in the yard, taking care they would be square and level, and dug the holes 2 feet deep.  After this I set the round forms into the ground taking care to make sure they were level and square.  This was probably the most crucial aspect of the project.  Its easy to make a large deck or concrete slab nice and level, but making sure 4 individual pylons are level was a challenge.  Also, since the gazebo is prefabricated, if its not on a level surface, the pieces will not fit together.

After the forms were set, I built the frame on them.  I used the help of another person to help stabilize a leg while I put bolts through them.  The good news here was that they were level.  There was one form that was a little off from being square, but it was close enough to where the leg still could sit on it and be bolted down.  Once these were in place, I drilled holes through the feet and into the concrete pylons, then installed the bolts.

After I set the frame up it was time to put on the roof.  The instructions for this particular gazebo describe assembling the roof panels on the ground and then using 4 people to hoist them up onto the frame.  I was a little concerned about how heavy they would be since it was just my wife and I working on it that weekend. However, you can see from the picture that they weren't too heavy.  To get them up on top of the frame, I hoisted them up while my wife stabilized them with a rope I tied around them.  I put them on the frame and bolted them together one at a time.  One problem we ran into was that one person is supposed to stand in the middle and hold all the roof panels up until you get at least three of them up there and bolted together.  To solve this I propped them up using a 2x4 while I bolted them together, turning the 4 person job into a 2 person job!

After three of the roof panels were up, everything else was pretty simple to bolt together and screw down.  Once all of that was done, I started work on the base.  One issue that I encountered is how to create an edge for the pavers.  Most articles online talk about using a plastic device that you stake down and this acts as a edge, or using no edge at all.  The problem was that this deck was going to be elevated a bit for it to be level, and a plastic border wasn't an option.  Also, to use no border, the pavers have to be level with the ground so that the gravel and sand doesn't spill out.

To solve this issue, I decided to stand some up on their side and bury them underground to stabilize them.  This essentially created a box where I could add gravel and sand to create the contained, level surface for the pavers.  After I buried all of the perimeter pavers, I had to excavate the soil from the inside in order to get the ground down to a level that would accommodate a little gravel and sand which is essential for setting the pavers.  This was definitely the most time and labor intensive portion of the project.

After everything was level, I used a 2x4 to screed the gravel so that it was level, and a bit lower than the perimeter.  After that I used a hand tamp to compact the gravel down to create a stable and level base.  Once I had a stable and level foundation of gravel, I laid some sand down and leveled it by hand.  Then I laid the pavers, one by one, making sure that each one was level.  I used smaller brick pavers to go around the legs of the gazebo.  Once most of the pavers were down, I had to cut a few for the edges.

Once the pavers were done and the patio was up, I ran a power cable off of a new circuit to power a fan and some lights.  After all of this was wired, we assembled some patio furniture...

Finished product!

Backyard Fence

Coming soon

Power Drill Outboard Motor

The next addition to my wooden boat had to be a homemade outboard motor.  I saw a video only of a guy who made one using a power drill as the power source.  This was my inspiration for this portion of the boat project.

I purchased a propeller from Minn Kota which is a company that sells trolling motors.  For the drive shafts I used a total of 3 twelve inch drill extensions.  For the bend in the drive train, I used a 90 degree drill adapter.  My plan was to use the rudder that I made for sailing as the mount and steering mechanism for the drive train. 

The most involved portion of this project was to somehow fix the propeller to the drive shaft.  The propeller itself came with a bolt and a nut that I assume is used to mount it to the trolling motor.  So, I decided to use these as it seem the easiest.  First I cut the head off the bolt so that I could hammer it into the end of the drill extension. This worked out pretty well as the treads pretty much functioned to hold the bolt into the extension. 

After I hammered the bolt into the end of the extension, I drilled a hole through the bolt so that a small pin would slide through.  The inside of the propeller had a small notch that I assumed was the mechanism that it locked into the drive shaft.

I made the pin from a piece of heavy gauge wire I just cut to fit into the slot of the propeller.  After everything was cut and drilled and made, I assembled the propeller onto the drive shaft and secured it with the nut that it came with.  Overall, the construct seems very strong and I think it will work very well.

Adding a Sail to a Plywood Boat

It wasn't long after finishing the boat that I decided I really wanted to try sailing it!  I knew while building it that I wanted the boat to be able to accommodate sailing and even a small outboard or trolling motor.  Although I've always found sailing fascinating, I don't really know anything about sailing - much less how to sail at all.  In order to proceed I did a fair amount of reading online about sailing and boat building.  I found a couple plans, recommendations, and rules of thumb that I planned to follow.  From my reading about homemade boats and sailing I found that I needed 3 basic things in order for a boat to sail: mast and sail, rudder, and a keel or daggerboard.  Here are some pictures, more on the explanation to come.

These pictures are of the mainsail.  The mast and boom are PVC and the sail material is poly-tarp.  The boom is attached to the mast by two pipe mounting clamps that are connected with an S hook that I bent down.  The other parts of the rigging are eye hooks that I drilled into the PVC.

        

The pictures below show how I fixed the mast to the boat.  The baseplate is a piece of plywood fixed to the hull of the boat with epoxy and screwed down.  The PVC fitting for the base of the mast is a 2" shower drain screwed down to the baseplate.  The mast mount fits into the shower drain and is fixed to the deck of the boat with a pipe clamp.  The mast slides into the mount and a pin secures it into place.

 

The next part is the daggerboard and trunk.  The daggerboard was made with 3/4 in plywood sealed with epoxy.  The trunk is a simple box also sealed with epoxy.  The trunk is made so that the front bench can still be used when in rowing mode.

Here is the rudder which is removable.  The hinges are made of PVC and pipe clamps (creative, I know).  Also, here is the daggerboard in position.

Lastly, my wife hand painted the name on the starboard side of the bow.

 Overall, the boat sails just OK.  I think this is most likely the combination of my inexperience sailing (actually, no experience at all) plus inadequate wind/poor sail design.  When there is a strong gust, and I have the sail just right, the boat travels surprisingly fast, so I think that is a success in itself.

Plywood Boat

One day, my wife said she wanted a canoe to paddle around in the pond outside of our house. We looked into it and not only are canoes expensive (even used), they're very large and awkward to transport. So we thought about a rowboat, but again - expensive! So naturally since we couldn't find something to suit our needs, we decided to build one that was exactly what we wanted. To the left is a picture of the finished project as a teaser for the post.

For our boat, I wanted something that was big enough for me, my wife, and our dog as or a couple kids or other guests.  I also wanted the boat to come apart for easy transport.  After deciding what things I wanted, I scoured the internet for ideas, plans, and recommendations.  There was a ton of information about boat building but of course nothing exactly about what I wanted so the plan for this boat and the techniques used to build it are a combination of the best and most suitable that I could find.  This project was in the planning stages for a long time because I wanted to make sure that I did it right and used the best methods possible.  I also wanted the boat to float :)  Here are some designs that inspired me: http://www.portableboatplans.com/duet.php and http://www.portableboatplans.com/trifecta.php

I only found 2 interesting plans for boats that came apart and I studied them for how they worked.  The concept is simple.  There are basically two boats, completely sealed that are bolted together above the waterline.  The point of connection appeared to be susceptible to a lot of potential stress so I decided to use heavier material and more bolts more my design.  For the shape of the boat I wanted it to look like a rowboat but with higher sides and a more aggressive look with the sharp bow line.  For the dimensions I found a plan that was most similar to my ideas and used proportions to calculate what the best length and width should be (thanks algebra).  This website was very useful when looking at designs: http://www.portableboatplans.com/  I didn't take many pictures during this stage of the process, sorry!


As far as the technique used for actually constructing the boat, I used the popular "stitch and glue" process.  This is well described on the internet and consists of cutting the pieces of wood out for the boat and "sewing" them together in the shape that you want, then sealing them together with epoxy.  This technique is very forgiving and allows the builder to produce almost any shape.  It was fun to do.  Chesapeake Light Craft has youtube videos of the process that I found extremely helpful.  The videos show how to build a kayak, but the process is the same for boats.  Click the link for more info:  http://www.clcboats.com/  Here is another description of how another guy does it with wood glue: http://www.portableboatplans.com/resources/T%26G2%20PROCESS.pdf 

So, above is basically all the information one needs to build a boat like this.  You can use plans that you find online, or you can use them for inspiration and create something of your own.  I chose to use these sources for inspiration and tailor the design to what I wanted.  Now I'll go through the step-by step process of what I did for my boat.  First, I drew out the plans that I created from dimensions that I liked and modified from other plans.  After that I decided what type of wood I needed for each area of the boat.  I knew I needed the bulkheads (where the two pieces connect) to be strong, so decided to use 3/4" plywood for that.  I also did the same for the transom (back of the boat) so that one day if I wanted to add a motor, it would be strong enough.  The walls are a thin 1/4" plywood and the floor of the hull is a little thicker at 1/2" or so.  This was so I feel better about it taking a beating and not punching a hole through. You can really see the difference in the thickness of the wood in the picture above.  These three pieces of plywood are one of the most expensive things used for the construction of the boat.  Looking back, Im glad I used the sizes that I used.


After I got the plywood (regular construction plywood from home depot) I drew out the pieces that I needed and cut them out with a circular saw and jig saw.  Then, to make the holes line up properly for the stitching process I stacked adjacent pieces and drilled holes all the way through at about 6 inch intervals.  After doing this with all of the pieces I began stitching with zip ties.  CLC uses wire, but I felt like zip ties were sufficient and looking back, I think they were just fine.  The two images above show the boat stitched together with zip ties.  This is where the boat truly begins to take shape.  Some of the curves will stress the zip ties.  If you feel like it will break, use a thicker one or drill more holes to distribute the force over more area.  The hardest part was putting the deck on the bow of the boat.  It required me to stretch the hull apart very far - I thought I would break the plywood.  If you click the image and zoom in, you can see that I used heavy bailing wire to make sure it stayed.  There's no way a zip tie would've held that amount of tension.  Since it was so tenuous, I made some small blocks that I glued and screwed to the walls of the hull and to the underside of the deck to make sure it was secure.  This is best seen in the pictures of the mast mount in a later post.  This piece is crucial because it gives the bow its characteristic boat shape.  If its not the right shape the bow line will look straight and awkward.  The process up to this point shouldn't take longer than a day or so.

After everything was sewn and stable, I bought some polyester fiberglass resin epoxy and began the "gluing" process.  For the initial glue job, its important to thicken the epoxy with some wood flour.  I thought it was dumb that I needed to buy what was basically sawdust, especially when I had been sweeping it up off my garage floor for about 2 weeks at this point so I used some old sawdust and a coffee grinder to achieve my own version of wood flour and it worked fine.  Working in small batches, I mixed up some epoxy and wood flour until I achieved a peanut butter consistency.  Then with a spoon I applied it to the inside joints of the boat, making sure to NOT cover all the holes and zip ties.  I also took care to smooth down the epoxy as I went for a more finished look.  This process also should not take longer than a day or so to do a couple seams, let dry, then stand the boat up, and do some more seams.  Here is a picture of the inside of the seam with the peanut butter thickened epoxy.

When all that was dry, I used a wire cutter to remove the zip ties.  Once that was all done, I covered the holes and gaps with epoxy, completely sealing the boat.  After that I proceeded to sand the outer seams of the boat in preparation to lay down some fiberglass.  I decided to use actual fiberglass cloth do this over drywall tape (suggested by some) to reinforce the seams thinking it would be stronger.  While that may be the case, it is extremely annoying to deal with.  You have to cut it into thin strips and lay it perfectly flat over curved surfaces.  Then while painting, all the tiny fibers gunk together an make these fiber glass balls that stick to everything.  I eventually gave up trying to keep them off the boat and just knocked them off after they dried.  One solution would be to fiberglass the entire boat, but that was not in the budget.  I ran out of fiberglass cloth and decided to use drywall tape which I had laying around for the rest of the seams.  It was easier to use and after a couple coats, you cant even tell there is something over the seams, unlike the fiberglass cloth which you can still see on my boat.  I probably would just use that next time and save myself the headache.  Here is a picture of the outside seam with the fiberglass cloth.

After the outer seams are finished drying, you have a boat!  At this point it would probably float for awhile, maybe even for a few trips out onto the water.  But plywood is extremely susceptible to moisture and would delaminate as is.  To protect the hull and completely waterproof it, you need to epoxy the exterior.  Before that I sanded the entire exterior for a few hours (seemed like days).  Then I painted on about 2-3 coats of the same epoxy (not thickened) to the outside of the hull.  Some people use fancy squeegees but I thought a cheap paint brush worked fine.  Its important to work in small batches again so the epoxy doesn't harden in the cup while you're using it.  Also, its important to paint over your "wet edge" and finish the whole coat in one go so the epoxy dries together.  Sand lightly between coats.  Here is a picture of the outer hull sealed with epoxy.

After that, the rest is basically just adding finishing touches.  The next thing is to add the rub rails (or gunwhales).  This component was one of the harder parts of the build, which I'll get to in a second.  For the rub rails, I used 1x2 lumber.  To start, I used a hacksaw to cut about half way through the piece of wood every 6 inches along its length.  This helps to allow the wood to bend around the curve of the boat.  After that I ran some glue across the entire length of the rub rail and clamped it to the middle portion of the boat (near the bulkheads, also this is for the aft section of the boat).  Here is the hard part, I used more clamps to sequentially bend and secure the rub rail on to the hull of the boat.  Sounds easy, but bending that piece of wood is NOT easy, especially if you're working by yourself.  To make life a little easier when bending, I mounted the entire 8 foot piece making sure the piece was flush to the bulkhead when starting, and used the rest of the piece of wood as a giant lever.  For the bow section rub rails, I cut the angles I needed to make a nice point on the bow of the boat and then mounted that first to make sure the bow looked nice.  After a few clamps were on, I used screws to secure the rub rail since the clamps weren't quite strong enough to keep the rub rail tightly secured.  I cut the remaining lengths of the 1x2 with a jigsaw.

For the benches, I decided to mount them about 10 inches off the bottom of the boat.  This height seemed reasonably comfortable without being to high in consideration for the boat's center of gravity.  I wanted them to be removable so I could use the boat to haul things or have extra space.  To accomplish that I mounted some rails along the inside of the boat that the bench sets on top of.  These rails are pieces of 2x2 that secured with wood glue and screws from the outside of the boat.  After I got all the screws in, I painted over them with another layer of epoxy.  The benches themselves are the same material as the rub rails secured with screws.

The next part of the design was to add something to protect the bottom of the boat while scooting it around on the ground.  For this I simply screwed more 1x2 to the bottom of the boat in a parallel fashion.  I think in hindsight, these actually help the boat's hydrodynamics since the bottom is so flat.  As with the bench rails, I used epoxy over these screws as well.  The last step before painting was to finish off the corners with some cabinet trim. I simply nailed it on with some finishing nails, and then used more epoxy over portions that would be submerged or near the water line.  I also used a small amount of wood putty to fill smaller gaps on the deck of the boat.

Here are some final pictures after a nice paint job with acrylic paint.  I also built small dolly out of PVC to move the boat around when its assembled.

Pallet Wood Foyer Table

The nightstand project turned out so well that I wanted to build another pallet wood piece of furniture for our home.  This foyer table was made to fill a space near our front door.  We use it as a place to put a picture frame, set our keys down, etc.  Its very functional and has the rustic pallet wood look.  The steps to building this are exactly the same as the nightstand. So I have simply just copy-pasted the rest of this post. 

The first thing to do was to harvest all of the pallet wood. These were reclaimed from a construction area where they were all piled up to be disposed of.  Pulling pallets apart is not easy!  The best way is to use a long lever like a shovel handle or something to pry the boards off close to the nails while standing on the pallet.  After the boards were harvested I selected those which were the best (not cracked, split, muddy, or rotten).  Then I used a table saw to mill the boards in to cleanly cut and appropriately shaped boards that were usable for a "furniture" project.  I must say I think my wife was a little skeptical about me building something out of pallets to put in our house!

For this project I wanted to use pocket holes to secure the frame together.  Pocket hole jigs are ridiculously expensive for the simple tool that they are so I made my own.  I used a 4 inch piece of a 2x4 and secured it onto a small piece of plywood for a stable base. Then I used a drill to make several different holes at slightly different angles until I found the one that was appropriate for the thickness of the pallet wood.  I then drilled pocket holes on all the appropriate places in the pallet wood using the jig.  It was definitely crude, but hey, this project is supposed to look rustic.

After the frame was made, the rest of this project was surprisingly simple.  I cut slats and arranged them on the inside of the frame so that was was showing from the outside was a nice inlay.  These were secured with screws.  The top was made the same way.  After all of this was complete, I lightly sanded the top, just so there weren't any sharp splinters hanging out.

Pallet Wood Nightstand

This project is one of my favorites.  Anyone who is into marine aquariums knows the amount of power cords, times, plugs, outlets, controllers, switches, etc can be involved.  Wire management and convenient access to a power strip or switches
is key to having control over different aspects of the aquarium.  One way that some in the hobby deal with this issue is to make a control center where all the switches, power cables, etc are organized, hidden, and protected.  This "nightstand" serves as a power center for my aquarium.  Here is a picture of the final product next to my aquarium.

The first thing to do was to harvest all of the pallet wood. These were reclaimed from a construction area where they were all piled up to be disposed of.  Pulling pallets apart is not easy!  The best way is to use a long lever like a shovel handle or something to pry the boards off close to the nails while standing on the pallet.  After the boards were harvested I selected those which were the best (not cracked, split, muddy, or rotten).  Then I used a table saw to mill the boards in to cleanly cut and appropriately shaped boards that were usable for a "furniture" project.  I must say I think my wife was a little skeptical about me building something out of pallets to put in our house!

For this project I wanted to use pocket holes to secure the frame together.  Pocket hole jigs are ridiculously expensive for the simple tool that they are so I made my own.  I used a 4 inch piece of a 2x4 and secured it onto a small piece of plywood for a stable base. Then I used a drill to make several different holes at slightly different angles until I found the one that was appropriate for the thickness of the pallet wood.  I then drilled pocket holes on all the appropriate places in the pallet wood using the jig.  It was definitely crude, but hey, this project is supposed to look rustic.

After the frame was made, the rest of this project was surprisingly simple.  I cut slats and arranged them on the inside of the frame so that was was showing from the outside was a nice inlay.  These were secured with screws.  The top was made the same way.  After all of this was complete, I lightly sanded the top, just so there weren't any sharp splinters hanging out.  To finish the project, I attached the hinges and knob (not pictured).