That says it right there - "had." A lot of us "want" to get into the garage - especially when the water is hard. If woodworking or building things is not something one enjoys doing then it would most certainly be a time-suck of lamentable proportions.
When I am at home I essentially live in my shop and always have. Before retirement I was only home long enough to change clothes before I was in the shop. Nowadays, even if I am just diddling around with little projects, it’s dang near office hours, 7am to 4pm. earlier if I skip the morning newspaper, later if I remember to have lunch or have reached some can’t-stop-now point with varnish or epoxy.
Not just the diddly boat projects, our house runs out of my shop. My office is in the shop; bills and filing paperwork and files and computer needs all run through the shop. So does trash and recycling, mail and packages, firewood and kindling. And cat doors.
If it’s smaller than a refrigerator every household fix-its come out to the shop, where benches and tools and good lighting are available. Much easier than trying to fix something in-situ two floor away, hoping I brought the right tools, parts and materials with me. Never have managed that, usually a 3-trip minimum. Five minutes to fix it, 20 minutes of walking back and forth. ARRGGHH!
If you have to buy all the tools and you don't plan on building more than one then that can cost you a lot of $$!!
I probably have all the tools needed to build a stripper, even clamps. And scrap wood for a strongback and some plywood for forms. And have gotten better with cloth and epoxy work and varnishing and etc. Never gonna happen for a lot of reasons.
Quoting Cruiser from the Lightweight Solo Tripper Build
also challenging myself in the shop, I find it very tough to just repeat a build, I want to learn and do something new each time.
I’m sure building a stripper would be a new challenge. I appreciate learning and doing new things in the shop, especially things I have hmmmm puzzled out on my own, or at least seen the error of my ways and later improved.
But I know how snail-slow I am (and enjoy being) in the shop, and the idea of walking out to see a half-built canoe for X-number of months might be too much of the same project day after day, or keep me from the little shop funsies and oddball experiments I really enjoy.
Whether I’m “building” things, thwarts, yokes, seat drops, sanding or varnishing things or making dry bags, table tops or minicel consoles, half the fun is doing a mini-production run; if I’m doing one I might as well make a few while all the tools and materials are already out. And, if I like the result, make another “improved” batch next time around.
I can see how that could grow to be a lot of strippers.