Workshop when living in a condo?

[MauleSkinner]

I’m thinking about my retirement shop...not going to be a condo (I hope), but probably some significant RV time. A low (sitting height) bench and a couple of Japanese-style toolboxes of hand tools is probably going to cover most of it.

[BrokenOlMarine]

After my first career living in base housing, I learned that all it took was one Karen in the area to ruin it for everyone.  The first house, post military, I bought was 30 minutes out on an acre.  Workshop I put in a 10 x 14 outbuilding.  I could drive to the beach, the lake, and the river when I wanted.  But I walked out to my shop every evening.

Next house was a little farther out, on 8 acres, bigger shop, added acreage.  Still drive to the water, but I could work in the shop there at 4am and no one cared.  My place on 15 acres in the country? Cost the same as a condo in a modest neighborhood.  When we moved THIS time, we moved farther out. Lol.  We can walk to the pond, and the shops. 


The ocean is a long, long, drive.

[Handplanesandmore]

Real woodworking never happens in a condo. If you're already in your 60s or even 70s, you want to use power tools for the grunt work. 

I'd rather take classes than spending the money on renting a place to do woodworking.

Simon

[Scott W]

If it's your hobby and you love the beach then it's a trade off. Hobby means fun and I had the most fun of any of my shops in the smallest one. It was about 9ftx7ft utility room. It had a window to outside and that made a world of difference.  I think being at the beach is a nice trade off for a nice shop.. of course it depends how close you are. That being said I would make sure I had SOMETHING....even a small utility room. I even had a shop on a balcony before. Mostly a turning area. 

Hope you find what you need.

[paulWoodworker]

After my first career living in base housing, I learned that all it took was one Karen in the area to ruin it for everyone.  

That is exactly what I was going to say.
No matter how considerate you are to your neighbors, someone is likely to complain.
I live in a normal neighborhood, the Karen across the street from me complains to the HOA any time she sees me do anything.
I had to replace my front door. she called HOA to complain about that, etc, etc.
People are just not that nice anymore.

Hey OP, I think you need to decide, what's more important, Hilton Head or woodworking?
As someone else said, consider living somewhere near by and then drive to the beach when you feel like it.
I have never lived on the beach, but I imagine the novelty of being able to walk into the ocean wears off after awhile.

Another small/quiet operation might be veneering? Get a vac pump and bag, veneer up some pieces of plywood and make small stuff out of that?
I guess you'd still need a tracksaw though, at minimum