Shed Collapse and Damage Repair

2004/01/18 []: A temporary setback occured today - the shed roof collapsed. Hard to describe the feeling of waking up, looking out the window at the shed ( as I do every morning ) and seeing the roof "missing". We did have much more snow the night before than was predicted ( got 15cm instead of 3cm ) but last winter, the shed had at least twice that amount on it before. I figure the extreme cold temperatures ( -30C ) we had the week before weakened the tips of the support posts ( which were damp from the week before that due to rain ) and snapped at the join. I did notice last week that one of the support posts had a large crack at the join which I was going to reinforce today. Anyways, over the next couple of weeks I'll begin to remove the roof beams. There seems to be no damage to the completed half and only some small damage to the half in progress. In the spring, I'll work on a new structure - at the moment I"m leaning towards the 'inflatable shed' that's been discussed a couple of times on the multihull-builder email list.

I consider this setback minor and will continue to work on the bulkheads, rudders, etc during the rest of the winter. My dream of sailing the world is to strong to allow this 'incident' to end it.

Fig 70 The completed hull half seems to have suffered no damage, whereas the half in progress has only some minor damage - the worst of which can be seen in the top right picture.

2004/02/21 []: I was determined to vacuum bag one of the aft bulkheads today. I sanded the join line and all around the edge to get it ready. Had a final look at the plans and then realized I needed a High Density insert for one edge ( where it joins with the centre bulkhead ) - however, both the A1200 Core-Cell and the 3/4" marine ply were both inaccessible in the collapsed shed. What to do... I could order another sheet from Noahs but that would take a week. I could hop out to Home Depot and pick up some normal 3/4" ply - but I didn't want to risk getting a void in the ply ( or spending cash ) so I decided to get the marine ply from the shed. I made a cut in the tarp along the side of the shed to try and slide it out - but it didn't work - to much wood in the way. I then realized it was suppose to be a high of 1C today ( hasn't been above zero in a while ) and I also noticed that the 20cm of snow we got yesterday/today was adding to the shed's collapsed roof weight and was starting to do more damage to the hull half. So it occurred to me to try and help melt the two feet of snow on the roof with the 85,000 propane burner - which I then dragged out from the house and setup in the shed ( BTW, the snow is up to my waste at the moment ). I then crawled around in the shed cutting small holes at most of the low points of the roof tarp to allow the melt to drain. After doing that ( and thankful that none of the roof beams had come down on my head while getting things setup ), I left the heater to do it's job. In the end I don't think the propane burner did all that much even after 6 hours on full, but I was eventually able to drag the sheet of marine ply out of the shed. I also spent a hour or two trying to shovel some of the snow of the roof.

Fig 71 At the moment, this shows probably the worst of the damage suffered by the hull half currently in the forms - it shouldn't be hard to fix once the snow has melted.

Fig 72 Most of the snow from the front 10 feet of the shed roof seems to have collected here into a large mass which I can't get to from outside.

2004/02/28 [2 hr]: Cutout the HD insert for the aft bulkhead and started to cutout the fiberglass for it. I wasn't wearing the right clothes and suddenly discovered fiberglass itch.

Fig 73

2004/03/06 []: Due to some recent warm weather, I've been able to get the snow off the 1/4 front of the shed roof by a combination of shoveling a bit everyday and some melting. I can't reach the rest of it and that'll have to wait probably until mid April before its all gone. Removed the first 4 collapsed wood roof beams from inside the shed.

Fig 74 I've got about the first 10ft of snow removed from the roof, but that white stuff you see is about 3-4ft deep and I can't get to it or move it from underneath - that'll have to wait until it gets warmer.

Fig 75 Some pics showing the current state with the part of the roof that I've cleared raised a bit. Surprisingly little damage occured - my main concern is for the damn MDF forms. I've tried to cover what I can with poly to keep them dry - but some have already been damage.

2004/03/19 []: No real updates recently due to much overtime at work - however I did just find out today that even with all the extra work I've been putting in, I'll be without a job in about 2 months all because my new boss ( due to a company reorg ) is 'uncomfortable' about me working from home - which I've been doing for the last 5 years with no problems. Oh well, that's life.

2004/03/21 []: We've had about 20cm of snow over the last couple of days and -15C temperatures - who says it's spring?

Fig 76

2004/03/24 []: Well, it looks like someone finally threw the change of season switch since it appears that spring is here ( even though it's currently -11C outside ). After today, the 7 day forecast has all the lows above 0 so I expect to be spending alot of time in the shed this weekend getting the collapsed roof sorted out.

2004/04/05 []: Hopefully the last snow storm for this winter...

Fig 77

2004/04/24 []: It was a nice (but cool) day outside so I ended up spending about 5 hours starting to clear away the snapped shed supports and getting the area clear for building a new shed covering ( which will be a totally different design and once up, I'll document fully on my shed web page ). I ended up clearing about half the shed frames away. If the weather cooperates next weekend, I should be able to clear the rest and start on the new shed. I'd like to get it done as soon as possible so I can get going again on the second hull half of the first hull. BTW, I won't be tracking the hours the shed reconstruction is taking since I want the hours I am recording to (fairly) accurately reflect the time to build the F-41.

Fig 78 A view of the first hull half I wasn't expecting to see...

2004/05/01 []: Spent several hours removing all the broken cross beams off the forms/foam. All that's left now to take down are the far side wood supports - I just need one day of sun next weekend to do that. Sunday was cold and rainy all day - so nothing done. I've requested to take a week's vacation starting May 10 - it'll be my first week off work in almost a year - they had better approve it. Also, since more than half of the team I'm part of has quit in the last 3 weeks, it looks like they won't be able to lay me off for another couple of months :)

Rest of May Didn't really get the vacation - 3 hours into my first day off, I was requested to go back to work... Anyways, it's been busy. First attempt at building a new shed didn't work out so good ( sorry - no pictures ). Second attempt is working much better. Once it's up and I'm happy with it, I'll put a bunch more pictures of it on my shed page. It will _not_ be able to hold any snow, so I'll be taking the tarps off before the first snow fall. But it should be fine for keeping the rain off and the bugs out.

2004/05/30-31 []: Started putting up the new 'shed' frames.

Fig 79 The initial set of frames...

2004/06/05-06 []: About 8 hours of work completing the frame and putting the first tarp on. Having some problems with sealing the ends, but I think I've figured out a way to do that which I'll try later this week. I also picked up a cheap 17' Siren sailboat back in February and with some help I launched that on Sunday. It's now moored at a slip at the local sailing club so on those really hot days or when I just need to get away for a few hours, I can be out sailing in 30 mins. Since it's going to take another 3-4 years to finish, I think it's important to be able to get some sailing in and remember why I'm doing all this.

Fig 80 The first tarp on. I still need to tighten it up a bit.

Fig 81 Unfortunately, a couple of the forms got wet during the collapse and now some kind of funky mold is growing on a few of them. I should be able to repair all the damage this weekend. Any forms I do replace will be with plywood - I'll never use MDF again...

2004/06/10 []: Due to a cancellation, some (minor) surgery that I had scheduled for July was moved up to today. I won't be able to do any boat work for a couple of weeks while the incisions heal :(

2004/06/26-27 []: Field Day - my yearly weekend 'camping' trip. I'm the guy wearing the cap in the last picture ( and carrying the gas can in one of the pics in the middle ).

2004/07/03 []: Finally healed enough to get out and do some work :) I've actually been ready for a week or two, but haven't been able to get my schedule to match my helper ( aka my neighbour ) until today. Got the second tarp on the new 'shed' and took the tarps off the hull half from last year and the in-progress one. Spent several hours cleaning, organizing and inspecting all the damage. I still have more cleaning to do plus putting the ends on the shed on Tuesday - but I'm almost ready to start back at it.

Fig 82 A few pics of the new shed. I can remove the 2 support poles when needed. The end coverings will be added in a few days.

All of the damage sustained from the shed collapse is fixable. Some of the foam along the bridgedeck join line got 'notched' out as the roof beams hit it - but these can all be easily repaired and shouldn't take more than a couple of hours. Some of the battens did get knocked out of the forms and will probably have to be reattached from behind - again, no big deal.

But most importantly, the strongback is still straight and level, the center string shows all forms are still true and there is no permanent damage.

2004/07/17-18 []: Finished up the new shed.

2004/07/25 []: Completed all the repairs to the damage that occured from the old shed collapse. Replaced all the broken/damaged foam and battens. Now that I'm back at the point where I was before last winter, I'll be tracking my time spent building again. Here's a few pics of the damage before, during and after repair:

Fig 83 Some pics of the before, during and after repairs of a couple of the damaged foam bits. Just need to sand them a bit and it'll be done. I also still need to trim along the bridgedeck line which is why it's still rough along the edge.