Winter Canoe Build: 12: Skinning the Shed

November 14, 2020 - Belfast, ME

This is one of the most important days in the calendar for the shed construction: skinning the shed with greenhouse plastic. We’re reusing the same exact plastic as the first go-around in the fall of 2019, because it is not only wasteful to get rid of this enormous sheet of plastic, but because if the integrity of the wooden bows is similar to the first instance, we might line up the plastic and bows in the same spots (I know, hopeful).

Katee (and Massimo) provided the experienced hands we needed, a farmer and worker of the land and someone with some experience we could use! Gary came with his rake and did a mean job clearing out the new space—something we didn’t ask for, but desperately needed (good intuition, Gary!).

Ultimately, we opted for the simple method of tying some found-fishing line (from the 2019 expedition) onto both ends of the plastic, tossed the ropes over the top of the structure, and pulled from the opposite side. We got on tall ladders on either side while Amanda made quick work out of pushing the plastic away from the splintered wood (so that the plastic wouldn’t snag), and we skinned the shed. In my head this took 15 minutes to prep the plastic, ropes, ladders, etc. Then we got to work adding strapping (pieces of wood that we screwed into the bows and floor sills to get a tight seal of the plastic) and stapling the new covering down.

After a productive morning, we successfully covered the shed on all sides (and would fill in the gaps later—this was good for now), used a box-cutter to cut out holes for the doors, and called it a day. Thanks Katee, Gary, and Amanda!