: After building a Coho in my unheated Minnesota garage last winter, I am
: moving indoors this winter to build a Spring Run. I am building the boat
: in an un-used bedroom. I am not sure what I will need for a work bench.

: Space will be a little tight. If I build the boat diagaonally in the room, I
: will still have 2' on either end (yes, I can get the boat out of the
: room).

: Will I need a 17'bench of some kind to clamp strips to when planing? I have
: my strong back built and have considered builing some kind table under the
: strong back. Do people use c-clamps to hold the strips when you are
: working on them, or will a bench vise work OK on long strips?

: Thanks for any ideas.

You have some semi cramped quarters, so a little planning is going to help big time. And you have jumped right in the mire of discussion about the relative merits of external and internal strongbacks especially as pertaining to small workspaces. So the question is what type did you build? If its the spring run one then its external and then you already have a long workbench and the basic question is answered.

If you built an internal (which I really would do for cramped quarters), I would place it above 2 inline screwed together sawhorses on casters (say 3 or 4 uprights to the internal)so you can slide the yak back and forth the 2feet, giving 4ft at ea end whenever you want. Maybe I'd screw clip on shelving track down the legs of ea sawhorse and put on clip on shelves to hold the various colours or grains or lengths of strips you'll be using so you can lift them right off.

For planing strips, a shallow 1/4in wide dado in the edge of a long 2x4 clamped in a workmate makes a decent grabber.

I don't have much space either (much smaller room but way smaller yak), and while only occasionally working on it the yak is now hanging from the ceiling, so lots of free space. I used a castered sawhorse in the earlier process so gained space when and where I wanted it also.

-mick