I know we all get tired, burned out, or otherwise just need a break sometimes.

Over the last couple of weeks, between life, work and a very nice vacation to see friends and family, I had a "break" from boat building.

I don't really know that it was a good thing. One of my reasons to build is the enjoyment I get. The flip side is that, like anything, it can have its frustrations, but having time to get out, do something physical with my hands, enjoy time with Dane and generally be away from a desk and computer is a good thing for me.

After 2-3 weeks of little if any boat work, I reach the point of "avoiding" it. The habit to get up and get out there has fled. It becomes something that worries at me and makes me feel guilty if I'm not working on it, but I don't have the "get up and go" to get it done.

Well, thankfully recent days have worked to let me get back out there. That first time was tough... I honestly didn't really want to do it, but figured I should. Well, after getting the tools dug back out and making some progress, I didn't want to stop.

The next opportunity wasn't nearly the struggle, and progress came faster.

Just a little bit of hands on and the feel of success let me get moving again.

When considering a build, one piece of advice that I was given, and thankfully followed, was to have the build site be close-by. If you're too far from the site, you will avoid working on it. I now can really appreciate this every time I can step out the back door and get to work.

So, if you're building a boat, be careful of "downtime", at least if you're prone to get distracted from it like I am. Stay busy... get a little done each day/week. Don't take long periods off unless you know you're ready to get started again. There are a lot of half-finished hulls sitting around the country, and I can better appreciate how they got there.