Closing in the Crossbeams

The crossbeams for the boat have been in progress for what seems like an inordinately long time, but little-by-little, they are coming together in the garage shop in Jackson when I find a bit of time here and there to work on them.

I've mentioned this before, but the way these crossbeams are designed, they are quite a project to put together, especially if you are planning as I am to sheath all the exterior surfaces in fiberglass. The Tiki 26 beams, being an older design, have many more surfaces to fillet and fair than the newer Tiki 30 beams. This is because many of the stringers (bottom and back sides) are exterior to the enclosed triangular box sections formed by the plywood components. On the Tiki 30 beams, more of these stringers are inside, resulting in a cleaner surface and an assembly method that goes together faster.

But despite this, I'm steadily closing in on the beam construction and the front fairings are now on the front and aft beams. The mast beam will be done later after the dolphin stay rigging that has to be fitted inside first is completed.

Here is the first fairing assembly clamped into place for gluing.

In this photo you can see the second faring going on and the fillet that has been made at the fairing to top plate joint on the first beam.

This is where the beams are today, with the aft and front beams closed in and shaped, and the end plates on. The mast beam is in the center. There is still much work to be done in faring and fiberglassing all the beam surfaces, but I think this glass sheathing is essential to insure long life in these parts. Rot in the crossbeams has been a problem plaguing many Tiki 26 owners. Maybe part of the reason is that builders don't take the care when building these peripheral parts that they do on the hulls themselves.

And speaking of Tiki 30 crossbeams, I'm heading back to south Florida tomorrow, where I will spend a week or more working on David Halladay's Tiki 30 project. The plan is that with the help of a one or more of his shop crew, I will build the mast for the boat and whatever else we can get done in the time I'm there. I'm looking forward to seeing the project again, as the hulls are done and I'll be able to get an even better comparison of the size differences between the Tiki 26 and Tiki 30. And while my project will be on hold while I'm gone, it's nice to be able to earn money for my own boat by building another Tiki.