Barnstone Island

I started to build my boat with two other guys. One of them was building a 36-foot Cross tri and the other was building a 55-foot Cross tri. We needed lots of room so we rented a "barn". This barn was 110 feet long, 50 feet wide, open span, and open on one end. Temperature became a problem near the middle of the winter and work stopped for a while. I am sorry to say the 36-foot Cross only lasted about 4 months. One day we came in and he was attacking it with a chain saw. Now that is scary stuff! The 55-foot Cross is still there. Ran out of money a long time ago, but still trying to get it done. Big boat, small budget just does not work 

I learned my first universal truth about boat building in that barn. If you intend to get lots of work done, it is more important to be close to your project then to have cheap rent. We only paid 100.00 a month for the barn in 1985, split three ways. Unfortunately, it was 20 miles from my house, on an island, accessible only by ferry. 

I got two floats built that first year. It looked like this was going to take a while. 

I could not handle the drive to the shed any longer. I was wasting a lot of time in going back and forth. Reluctantly, I decided to move. 

By this time, I had two floats built. The did not have any glass on them, but the skins were on and they were sturdy enough to move. 

Now where am I going to rent a truck that will take two floats, that weigh almost nothing, but are thirty some odd feet long. There was only one truck available in all of the Vancouver area that I could rent and drive myself. Everything else was too short, or tractor trailer combinations, that I did not have a license for. 

Got a truck and a few friends and we loaded the floats up, by hand mind you as they could not have weighed more then a couple of hundred pounds, and headed out for Triangle Road.