The Workbench

The normal boatyard workbench, pallet style. (Australia 2014)

When working on a boat, it is important to have a table or the like where you can put  things that are being worked on.  In a boatyard, that usually consists of something scrounged like a pallet or boards and if you are lucky, maybe a sawhorse or two.

Marina Island is different.  People are here for years working on their boats, and we may be also.  After all, we made the investment to buy a car and we really do like it here in Malaysia.

If you happen to be carrying carpentry tools on the boat, it is easy to knock out a table or bench.  Our woodworking tools reached the end of their lives in Mexico and since the voltage here is 240 volts, anything that I buy will be all but worthless in the US.

I had the opportunity to buy a workbench from Andy on SPRUCE that was originally built by Jeff.  The price was a reasonable $90 US and it was even equipped with a vise.  In the end, I will end up selling it to someone else and recoup some of the cost.

Even rolling on wheels, it was a hard push

The really nice thing about the bench is that it has locked storage underneath.  Instead of chucking tools in the car at the end of the day, everything can be stored in the bench.

This thing is really heavy.  It has to weigh 250 pounds and is built from some type of local tropical hardwood.  A forklift would have been nice to move it from the shed area to Tortuguita but since there wasn't one, we examined all the options to move it about a hundred yards.  We found an engine hoist on wheels sitting around and commandeered it to do the heavy lifting.

Workbench, vise, all out of the sun and rain in our catamaran garage

Now we have a proper workshop under Tortuguita which is so much better than the rickety pallets that we have used in the past.

My only regret is that I can't keep it.  Sure would look nice at home in the US.