How do you manage your time in the shed - fitting it around work and family....or do you live the dream and live and work there like Bert Munro? I consider myself a lazy bastard,but in years past my output seemed to be higher.I remember sundays sleeping on the couch...but had 10 bikes all running,and all had needed major work to get them that way.And there was no lights or power in that small shed either. Now I have my dream shed....and in a few short years it's a fucking mess,junk everywhere and stalled projects litter the floor.I'm hardly in there. Tonight I'm trying to put Dynabeads in my tyres....that's too hard,so I go to mount my panniers on their frames....I need some 8mm gutter bolts.So I plant some kale plants and do some weeding.Another attempt at Dynabeads.I've exhausted all my supplies for the gutter bolts - but there is the nail box.I have one wherever I work,and they soon get filled with useful junk.Scraping the top layer I unearth an 8mm coachbolt,near enough,surely there must be another in there? So the nailbox is upended on the floor - and no 8mm coachbolt.So I walk inside. Does anyone else suffer from this random easily deflected method of getting work done? I need a Foreman,and a time sheet to fill in....
I went round to a blokes house to look at some VW bits last night.....he had once of those really big metal barn sheds room for a dozen cars....full of VW shit eveywhere 1/2 finished projects.....I felt alot better. My son thought it was great and asked if we could take the body off...lower it..... Now I realise what my parents went thru......still at least I've talked him out of riding one of those fecking motorcycle things...
A foreman and time sheet is a bit extreme Motu. I have always thought that if you want something done, and have not done it, you just don't want it bad enough.
What you say Dodgy is generally true. But there is another factors at work here too. Some of us have become old farts, who don't have the same physical presence and energy levels that we used to have. Sure, if you want it enough, you'll make time and money sacrifices to achieve your goal. I can relate to Motu. I have an GS850 rebuild project that has stalled through lack of hunger for the end product. I have 2 bikes that are running great, so there is no real pressure/desire to complete the project, apart form getting the parts all back in one place (on the bike again). Actually, I have learnt from past experience to control the stripping process, until I'm ready to work on that particular part of the rebuild. That way engine parts such as cams, bores and cranks don't get surface rust on them. At present, I have only stripped the head off the 850 mill, so that the bores and bottom end don't need oiling up until I am ready to work on them. So, I have a half ported head sitting on my shed bench, surrounded by ali slithers from the porting process. I guess i've realised that this project will produce a more powerful, but less tractable machine!! And then there's other distractions like golf and travelling away for your work which all hamper the drive to complete by......................?
I have suffered from a similar thing, having projects banked up but not making any headway. I've always been conscious of "stealing" time from my family, and have tried to avoid my family getting resentful of my shed time with some success. There have been the occasional jibes from the lovely Mrs H about being a garage widow, but generally I spend time in the shed when there's no conflict with anything else. This is quite limiting! I'm also a bit handicapped by funds at present. The last two years have been quite challenging financially for us. Having both time and money, and having them simultaneously, is currently a beautiful but rare thing. What I have managed to do though is spend a few bux lately on a few specialized items for the shed which will further expand the range of machining tasks i can do at home, and I find that very satisfying.
Projects expand to fill the available shed space. It's a rule of nature. With age comes responsibility . Which buggers up shed time. But really it's mainly because I am grown old and fat and lazy.
My evil ex was not keen on me spending too much time in the shed* so I got up at 5am on saturdays and sundays to get 4 hours in before I went back to the house and made her breakfast. That was 8 hours every weekend of quality time. Then during the week in my lunch break I was making lists so my time could be fully optomised or out getting parts & equipment so there was no hitches when it came to workshop time. Of course any grinding or other noisy stuff had to be done at other times (thank goodness for Shortland St) but where there is a will there is always a way. I don't believe any of you lot are lazy, you just don't want it bad enough. And that is not a bad thing either, it just means there are things that hold greater importance, be it having a rest, quality time with family or just other things higher on the list to do. Who does want to get up at 5am to go into the shed anyway? Someone who wants it pretty bad is who. * It never mattered when I was restoring a car for her though, only when I was doing my stuff
Begs the question: " Whats the longest time you've owned a project or longest taken to get a roundtuit...? I'll kick it off with " My Darmah was off the road between August 1988 and September 4004....a mere 16 years. I'm trying to get shed time in by getting the kids involved....with limited success...althought the 14 year old likes helpiing me make Home Brew...
I have limited 'me' time in the shed. Family, work and study mean that when I could be in the shed I should be in bed. The only project on the go at the moment is the GS which I started in 2007, and has been shelved (again) until I can get the money tree in the garden to grow. We are on one income at the moment, and SHMBO thinks that things like food and clothes are more important than rearsets and GSXR running gear so my shed time has been all about keeping things going and saving money, general maintained on the cars, fix up the clapped out chainsaw, fix the washing machine (again), fix the dishwasher (again), strip and rebuilt the weed eater (again). I also managed to score a couple of free mountain bikes that I have managed to make ride able....... As well as that the moment I do head to the shed some little 'helpers' appear and want to do some 'making' and 'fixing' as well.......................
fix the dishwasher (again),why fix it , isn't that one of the jobs that little helpers are supose to do!!!!
fix the dishwasher (again),why fix it , isn't that one of the jobs that little helpers are supose to do!!!! Thats up there with stories of having no shoes to walk 5 miles to school...... I approved a 32 " TV for the rumpus room and 'they' worked ont he Missus and upgraded to a 42" one.....as 32" was " puny" ( its better than the one we have...has freeview and digital stuff)
wickle - Today, 15:33 fix the dishwasher (again),why fix it , isn't that one of the jobs that little helpers are supose to do!!!! That is exactly what I thought, but to be fair none of them can see over the top of the bench, that and they have tits for hands at the moment and would probably break every dish in the house .......
Shed time? what is that? all I have is an old water tank coverted into a garden shed, full of push bikes, an FA 50, some tools and bits and pieces of my bikes. Having a young family means that most of my "spare time " is spent doing family things. What little time i do have is spent doing little things to my bikes.
Only sixteen years for the Drama? Huh, I can do better (worse?) than that . . . my R90/6 came off the road in Oct 1992 and it's still in bits. In my humble defence, virtually every new and reconditioned part which was lined up for it ended up bolted onto the frame & crankcase of the ex-Dodgy R90S (for those all-important matching numbers!!!). I purchased it from him in boxes in 2003/2004 IIRC, and it was back on the road in June 2006. Kinda, sorta makes up for the R90/6 a little . . .
I tend to use the car port more than the shed. Better natural light and drainage just in case of an in inadvertant spillage. The abandoned piano makes a good bench too. I undersand where you're coming from re projects. I've got 3 that have been on the go for a number of years now and probably wont be finished in my lifetime.
