Glen-L.com

I'm in the unique position of having to "re-boot" a new workshop from scratch, and I'd love to hear what you experienced builders think are "must-have" tools, as well as "dream" tools for a good boatbuilding shop. I already have a fair amount of tools, but assume you were starting your own shop from scratch. Where would you start?

A good C&C is essential!! (chair & cooler)

_________________
Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream

A few things I wish I had...
larger band saw
out-feed table for my table saw
more powerful router
large table for more powerful router (could probably be combined with out-feed table for table saw)
collection of different sized hand held routers
central compressed air
central dust collection
Climate control for shop ..err... garage
stationary drum/thickness sander
stationary jointer.
more drawer/storage space to better organize misc. tools and supplies
clamps, lots more clamps.
More power outlets/circuits of both 110 and 220

More space would certainly be nice. I can certainly think of lots more anytime I look at the rockler website.

Bigger DOORS!!!

Hoist!!!

_________________
Bruce.

~~ Do what you love, and love what you do. ~~
~~ To me - only my boat is not yet perfect. Everybody else's is to be admired for I know the path they have walked (Dave Lott, 2010) ~~
Dow's Monaco Project

Wood Rack.
Somebody else with a broom.
Good Lighting
More Room, Of coarse the next project would just get bigger.

Bill

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Mini -Tug, KH Tahoe 19 & Bartender 24 - There can be no miracle recoveries without first screwing up.
Tahoe 19 Build

dedicated paint area or paintbooth

Big fan(or A/C) and heat for winter

_________________
Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream

Got the big fan... (well, medium size, but big enough)... now I just need to finish cleaning out the garage.

Thus the shed in the back yard. Now that that's finished (http://pam-n-mikes-house.blogspot.com/2011/07/almost-finished-on-shed.html), I can clean up my workspace and get back to the boat.

Currently have a table saw, miter saw, and the usual assortment of hand power tools. The router table (to mount the router) is scheduled for my birthday. Wish I had some of the goodies the long-time builders have.

_________________
Mike
http://mikesboats.blogspot.com/
Raleigh, NC

Thanks for all of the input so far! One thing I haven't seen mentioned that I think would be really handy is a decent sized air compressor, and the assorted air tools that go with it. Also, do you folks find yourself using small detail tools like a Dremel?

I agree on the compressor and air tools,I used my D/A sander a lot.

I bought a small tri-angle detail sander...it helps in small areas & corners that are hard to get to

I like my Ridgid spindle/belt sander too!

You actually can build a boat with minimal tools,all depends how much you have to spend, and how much you want to do....in other words,I have bought my wood milled to size on early builds, and bought rough size for this last one after I bought a table saw etc.

_________________
Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream

Forget about dream tools for the shop I just dream to have a shop.

_________________
Malahini, SEAN-NÓS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd6vkPjEy4U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uDVzcVpdhc
crackerbox build http://s753.photobucket.com/albums/xx17 ... =slideshow

Thanks for all of the input so far. What do you folks think about saws for the boatbuilder? I'm assuming a band-saw is darn near a "must have". What about a table saw? Radial arm saw? Hand-held jigsaw? Are there any hand saws that come in particularly handy?

I use a saber (or jig I guess some call it) a lot and now have a table saw (but built two boats w/o one).

I also use the saw you use in a miter-box,back saw I think it's called, to cut notches,battens,chines,and shears

_________________
Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream