Element II: A Wharram Tiki 26 Catamaran

Test-fitting the Cockpit with Seat Box Additions

2012-01-26T20:33:00.000-06:00

I finished fiberglassing the exterior of the cockpit box yesterday, so it was rigid enough to move it back around to the boat today to hang it from the beams and check the fit. This was necessary to measure for the hatch coamings in the under-seat compartments and for the flanges on either side where the cockpit will mate to the hulls.

Even with the added seat boxes, the cockpit is not too heavy for me to handle single-handed. It is awkward because of its size and shape though: 8 feet long by 6 feet, 3 inches wide. I tipped it off the saw horses where I'd been working on it and moved it with a dolly to the backyard. There I was able to pull it over the grass to position it between the hulls and fit the forward edge to the mast beam:

I got it up to the lip on the mast beam by lifting it from the front with a rope and reaching over the beam with a ladder to pull it into place:

Then I lifted the stern end up high enough to put a small saw horse under it:

With it in this position, I could then set the rear beam in place, tilt the beam back while reaching over it with one hand to grab the top of the motor opening, and lift it up high enough to lock the beam back in place. I really like the way the cockpit is captured by the beam flanges. It's a simple and secure design. In this photo you can see the two 1.5-inch scupper holes I drilled in the aft end of the cockpit for drainage.

Here's a view from above showing the new compartments. There will be lots of storage space in these.

Looking forward, the board on the starboard side is just a scrap used to test the seating position. The gap between the cockpit edges and the hull sides is just a few inches. Today I came up with a simple and elegant solution to sealing this off in a way that will allow for dry storage compartments under the seats and no spray shooting up from the bottom when going to weather in rough conditions. I'll begin work on that tomorrow and will post when I have new photos.

Great Weather for January

2012-01-24T08:27:00.000-06:00

It's been unseasonably warm here for this time of year, so I've been taking advantage of the good conditions to move forward with the cockpit sheathing and other epoxy work.

I completed the under-seat storage boxes that I added to the cockpit last week. All the interior joints have been filleted, a fairly big job with a surprising 56 linear feet of fillets to make, counting the vertical joints and both sides of the center dividing partitions. Those interior compartments will also get fiberglass sheathing, but first I wanted to flip the cockpit over and glass the exterior. This will allow me to safely move it around to the boat and hang it in place for a final measurement before continuing with the seats that will also serve as hatch covers for the compartments.

All exterior corners were first rounded over with a router and filling and fairing completed where necessary. As you can see, there is a small "chine" on each side of the bottom where the bottom panels of the side boxes overlap the main cockpit floor by one inch. I did this to for ease of assembly when adding the side compartments and for additional stiffness and strength. The overlap required a fairing fillet to allow the glass to transition smoothly from one surface to the next. I've also wrapped the end support ledgers on the forward and aft ends of the cockpit in glass, bonding them to the panels with a strip of glass cloth that transitions from the bottoms of these to the panels over a small fillet. The bottom of this cockpit is so big the sheathing has to be done in stages - at least for someone working alone. I'm using 6oz. glass cloth in a 50-inch width.

Here's a view from the aft end of the cockpit, and you can see I've also moved the forward deck into the carport to get it out of the weather so it can be completely sanded and then treated with an oil finish. The cypress deck has been exposed to heat and cold, sun and rain since I built it in October, so this allowed me to see how the wood was going to hold up and revealed a couple of bad planks that are wanting to check. I'll replace those, but everything else looks great.

Here is the finish that will be applied to the deck: Deks Olje D.1, as recommended by my friend David Halladay, of Boatsmith. This is a saturating oil that is applied in multiple coats until the wood cannot soak up any more. It will preserve the natural color of the cypress and help prevent checking and other problems, while still giving the footing advantages of a raw deck.

Other ongoing projects include finishing up the beams. Since I added the forward deck, I had to make and install lashing pads on the mast and forward beams to support the longitudinal stringers under the center of the deck, and these have to be glass sheathed, faired and painted. On the aft beam, I've added a ledger/rail on the aft side of the beam that will support the central boarding ladder and its rails and provide a place to drill lashing holes for the aft trampolines on either side of the ladder. The rail is teak so that holes can be drilled without worry about rot. The entire assembly is wrapped in glass and bonded to the beam fairing and bottom.

On the inboard sides of the hulls, I've glassed in 1-inch by 3/4-inch Doug fir stringers that will support the side flanges that will mate up to the cockpit edges at the level of the seats. There are many different possibilities when it comes to how to join the cockpit sides to the hulls. I had a long discussion with David about some ideas on this the other day. An issue is that in rough conditions or at speed, water comes up through any gap in this transition, so the gap needs to be minimal, but tolerances cannot be so close that assembly and disassembly becomes too difficult. Drainage for rain and spray running down the inboard sides of the cabins also has to be taken into consideration, especially if you intend the under seat lockers to be dry storage, as I do, rather than wet lockers with drains. I have some ideas I'm still working out on this transition and the design of the locker lids/seats. I'll make a final decision as soon as I can hang the cockpit back on the boat after I finish glassing the outside. Here's a view of one of the inboard stringers:

Cockpit Under-seat Storage Compartments

2012-01-17T14:47:00.000-06:00

I made a trip to New Orleans last week to pick up what should finally be the last two sheets of Joubert marine plywood to finish my boat: one sheet of 6mm to get out the bottom and side panels for the under-seat storage compartments and one sheet of 12mm to make the lids for these. This lids will also be the seats and must be stiff enough to walk on and not warp or break - hence the 12mm for this purpose. I went with the 6mm for the sides and bottoms of the boxes rather than foam core like the main cockpit floor or 9mm like the cockpit sides, since these will not be stepped in or carry excessive weight.

I debated long and hard about whether or not to add these fixed seat boxes to the central cockpit structure or build them as separate components to make transporting them easier. In the end, I decided to make it all one unit as it will be stronger and easier to maintain overall, as separate boxes on either side of the cockpit would would require an extra wall of plywood and would create contact spots that would probably lead to maintenance problems in the future.

I began by glueing the bottom panels of the compartments to either side of the existing cockpit floor, then turning the whole assembly over and making the panels for the bow and stern ends, as well as a middle bulkhead that is cut-away to allow storage of long items like boat hooks and oars. This assembly went together really fast since I used the super glue and accelerator I've mentioned here before to tab these parts in place rather than the more time-consuming stitch-and-glue technique.

Once the bulkheads and end panels were in place, I then attached the outside panels. The completed boxes are 12 inches wide. At this stage, I was able to begin making the structural fillets that would hold all this together and allow a smooth transition from bottom panels to sides for laying down fiberglass. The glassing will be done after the fillets are completed. The outside corners will also get a radius to allow glass sheathing over them. In this photo you can see that I have temporary blocks of wood screwed to the central portion of the cockpit to allow it to hang between the mast and aft beams. This was to check alignment as pictured in my last post so I could make and install stringers for the inboard cabin sides where the seats will bridge from the cockpit to the hulls.

In this photo, the temporary end stringers have been removed and the permanent ones glued in place with epoxy. These will also be glassed into the rest of the structure for strength. After this has cured, I will hang the cockpit on the boat again for another alignment check and to measure for the seats/covers that will enclose these compartments.

The seats will be split into four separate covers - two on each side. To keep these compartments dry in rain or spray, the seats will have one-inch side lips all around that will fit over raised coamings I'm going to build into the openings of the compartments. They will hinge from the inside of the cockpit and overlap a flange permanently attached to each cabin side where it meets the cockpit. More photos to come in the days ahead will make this clearer. It's more work to make these cockpit seat boxes watertight, but it will be worth it to have the option of sealing them. They will also be fitted with drain holes and removable plugs.

Test Fitting the Cockpit

2011-10-30T17:33:00.000-05:00

After finishing the forward decks, I completed the basic assembly of the cockpit box and temporarily fitted some stringers on the ends so I could hang it from the beams and check the alignment and fit of everything.

This is just the basic center section of the cockpit, built to plans with a foam-sandwich floor. This floor is lightweight and incredibly stiff, with no signs of flexing when walked on. Hanging it in place allowed me to scribe an accurate line on the inboard sides of the cabins, for the placement of the rails that will support the outboard edges of the seats. There is clearance on either side of the 4-foot wide cockpit box to accommodate a 12-inch wide under seat storage box on each side. These will be dry storage areas closed by the hinged seats, and will provide a place for the batteries and other essential gear.

The extra-long-shaft Nissan outboard sits high and dry in the cockpit well, where it will be well-protected and easily accessible.

The 25-inch shaft length makes it possible to mount it this high and still have the prop deep enough to minimize cavitation in choppy conditions. You can see here that it will be well under water, yet not deep enough to strike the bottom before the hulls do:

After making sure this fit was good, I then cut out the opening in the aft end of the cockpit that allows the motor to be tilted clear of the water when it is not needed, which hopefully, will be most of the time.

Now the cockpit is back in the shed on saw horses for all the finish work on the fillets and glassing, as well as construction of the seat boxes. Like every other part of this project, the assembly of the parts is a small percentage of the real work that has to be done before the parts are finished and painted.

Building the Forward Decks

2011-10-24T21:06:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile since my last post here, and a lot has happened in the meantime. Most significantly, I lost my father two months ago and have been adapting to life without him - a man who was truly my greatest teacher and certainly one of my best friends. I was fortunate to have lots of time with him right up through his last years, but being so close makes losing him harder still.

Besides that life-changing event, I've had a new book released this month, and I'm right in the middle of writing the next one and about to sign a contract for the one after that. The current project I'm working on is a novel, and it will prominently feature a Wharram catamaran in the story line. More on that later. I've also been working on the Tiki 26 parts mentioned in my last post that I contracted to build for another owner. These are coming along nicely and the remaining work to be done on the beams, rudders and mast is mainly fiberglassing and fairing. I'll post some photos of that project soon as well, but for now I wanted to focus on the slatted forward deck, as I have been asked how I was going to build it

Working with the cypress and assembling the decks has been a pleasant job over the last few days, as it has involved little epoxy work and no fiberglassing or fairing. I've documented the process with photos that show the various stages of construction from layout and design to trimming and sanding.

First, I laminated four athwart-ship deckbeams from the the same cypress stock the planking was milled from. The deck beams consist of two 2 1/2-inch by 1-inch thick planks laminated together to form 2 1/2-inch by 2-inch beams set on edge. These four beams are not strong enough alone to support the deck, since the span is as wide as 8 feet between the hulls at the forward end of the deck. To prevent them from sagging or breaking in the middle, I also made two fore-and-aft beams of the same dimensions, lag-bolted to the bottoms of the four main beams and hung from under the forward and main crossbeams by lashing cleats. Here you can see the rough framework clamped into place for alignment and measurement, the two fore-and-aft beams are the middle two. The extra two near the hulls on each side are temporary for alignment only.

Next, I made and installed cleats of 18-mm plywood to support the fore-and-aft beams - two on the aft side of the forward crossbeam, and two on the fairing side of the mast beam. Now that the location of these has been determined, I can glass-sheath the cleats, and finish fairing and painting these two beams.

After temporarily securing the beams to the cleats so the structure would support my weight, I began working out the plank widths and spacing. I wanted most of the planks to be 2 1/2-inches wide, as planking much wider than that is subject to cupping, warping or splitting as it cycles through extremes of wet and dry and hot and cold. After deciding on a gap of 3/4-inch between all planks, I then made the port and starboard margin planks and two middle planks that are in line with the lashing cleats. The forward ends of the margin planks, of course, have to be quite a bit wider than the standard 2 1/2-inch plank width, as the outer edge is cut to follow the curvature of the hull as it tapers into the bow.

Once these four planks were secured to the beams with counter-sunk screws, the entire structure was then rigid enough to remove without getting it out of square. Here you can see it upside-down on the sawhorses. The longitudinal beams have been shaped and rounded over with the router on the bottom. The clamps you can see on the ends of the deck beams are for gluing on fitted spacers under the ends of each beam where it rests on the toe rail. Each spacer is different because of the curvature of the sheer line. The idea is to distribute the weight evenly across all eight contact points and four beam lashing points. The result is a very rigid deck that shows no sign of flexing when I jump up and down on it. I was trying to achieve this with the minimum amount of framing, in order to save as much weigh as possible.

With the finished framework back in position, I then cut and installed all the remaining planking, using spacers made of little blocks of 3/4-inch plywood to maintain a consistent gap. This spacing is close enough to keep most items on board, but wide enough to allow water to quickly drain off in rough conditions.

The finished planking, with two counter-sunk screws per plank to beam joint, for a total of 8 screws per plank. Now I had to make 210 cypress plugs to fill all those screw holes.

This went fairly quickly with a 1/2-inch plug cutter chucked in a drill. I had plenty of scrap cypress to get them out of.

Here, the plugs are all in, dipped in epoxy and tapped in tightly with a hammer:

After the epoxy cured, I cut them flush with a sharp chisel and then did a quick, preliminary sanding to see how it was going to look. More detailed sanding will be done later. I think this deck is going to greatly enhance the livability of the Tiki 26 by providing a secure working area to handle ground tackle and sails and more uncluttered deck space at anchor. There is a weight penalty as opposed to a trampoline, but it's not that significant because of where it's located, as most Tikis need some weight forward of the cockpit to trim out properly.

Here's some different perspectives of the deck:

Note that with this design, the deck beams are carried nearly as high as the bottoms of the main crossbeams. The only parts lower are the two fore-and-aft beams. This will minimize taking wave tops off with the deck beams, though I'm sure that beating into rough seas will be wet. But it would be wet with a trampoline too.

Planing Deck Lumber and Building Parts for Another Tiki 26

2011-08-11T20:18:00.000-05:00

I spent the afternoon surfacing all the cypress lumber that will be used for the slatted forward deck and aft boarding ladder. This is something I planned to do a long time ago, but just got around to it. It was a big job with my little 13-inch bench-top planer:

It's getting hard to find clear cypress like these select planks that are 8 and 12 feet long. Even this stuff has a few knots and splits, so I bought and processed more than I think I'll need to get all the support rails and deck planks out.

Good cypress like this is not cheap, but it's a whole lot less than teak, and while it might not look quite as good or last as long, it's also much lighter weight than teak and I think it will certainly make for a nice deck.

The other thing I've got going on out in the boat shed is a paying job building Tiki 26 parts. These are for a friend who is refitting his Tiki 26 in preparation for extensive cruising. I've contracted to build two new rudders, the mast and the three connecting beams. Yeah, I know I said before that building these Tiki 26 style beams is a major pain because of the difficulty of glassing them, but here I go again - building another set exactly to plan. Here are all the center webs:

The cutting and assembly of these goes fairly fast. It's all the filleting, glassing, fairing and sanding that seems to take forever - just like everything else on these boats. In a couple more days, I'll have all the basic assemblies done:

Here you can see I've cut the rudders out of a sheet of 18mm Joubert ply. Since I still have not hung my own rudders, also shown, I was able to use one of them as a pattern.

This job will of course cut into my building time, but will also add funds to my project. It's a welcome change of course, from all the book writing I've been doing. I just finished up the final revisions for my latest book that will be released in October, but I have a deadline for the next one looming in less then 6 months. My plan is to work on my own boat alongside the construction of these parts, and hopefully complete the cockpit and decks and get the mast stepped during that time period.

Beam Sheathing is Finished

2011-05-01T20:47:00.000-05:00

At last tedious work of wrapping all the beam parts in fiberglass is finished. I'm now in the process of fairing and priming them:

Here are a few photos showing some of the steps in sheathing the webs, top plates and front fairings:

This photo shows the front beam to the left, with the custom anchor roller brackets I made, and the aft beam to the right. In the middle is the much smaller aft netting beam. The mast beam is holding the hulls together, so I have to swap them around and work on two at a time while one is on the boat.

Fairing all these surfaces is multi-step process of sanding and applying epoxy fairing compound.

At this point in the build, I've come to rely on these tools for just about all filleting and fairing: They are all flexible blade drywall/putty knives of various sizes. The round ended ones like the one shown here are made by shaping these cheap blades with a belt sander. After using cardboard, wood, plastic and other filleting tools, I've discovered these work best and make the neatest fillets. Best of all, they can be used indefinitely if you either wipe them clean when the epoxy is still uncured or sand it off afterward.

Right now, the partially-assembled cockpit box is serving as a work table and catch-all space for tools and supplies:

Here's a couple of shots of the aft netting beam, which still looks rough because it needs a lot of sanding:

I've added lashing cleats to the inboard sides of the hulls at the sheer stringer. Since it is not part of the structure holding the hulls together, this beam will only get lashed on the inboard side.

Some Overdue Photos

2011-04-12T20:38:00.000-05:00

I meant to post this months ago - a neat photo of the assembled boat that my sister took with her cell phone camera. I like the way this turned out:

Despite the lack of posting here, some progress is still being made. Lately this has been work on the three main beams and the aft net beam. I've had fiberglass sheathing and fairing to do on all of these, as well as building added parts that go on them like the mast step. Looking back at my last post that included photos, I realized too that I never got around to posting cockpit pictures. I did get the foam sandwich floor for the cockpit laminated last fall, and most of the basic box is built. I have yet to build the under seat storage boxes and complete the motor mount. I need to take more photos of the assembled cockpit, but here are some showing the beginning of laminating the foam core to the plywood skins:

First, I glued solid wood spacers around the perimeter and the motor well cutout. Solid blocks were glued into the corners where scuppers will later be drilled. All these wood parts are made of cypress.

Then, the 3/4" Divinycell foam was cut to fit within the borders, and plenty of holes were drilled in it to allow excess air to escape during the lamination process.

I used everything heavy I could find for weights to hold it in place while the epoxy cured. It takes a lot of evenly spaced weights to insure that the air is squeezed out and the foam is in good contact with the plywood gluing surface.

The top layer of 4mm plywood was then glued on after this cured. I didn't get photos of that though. Other work I've been doing lately is all the tedious glassing of beam surfaces and the add-ons like the anchor roller on the forward beam, shown here with unsanded fairing compound:

Here's a shot of the teak mast step, almost complete except for some final shaping and reinforcing fillets.

These old style Tiki 26 beams take forever to sheath in fiberglass because of all the unnecessary exposed surfaces. I would advise anyone building a new Tiki 26 to incorporate the newer Tiki 30 beam design, in which all the structural parts are inside the plywood panels, making for a smooth, triangular surface that is about 10 times easier to glass! But one day in the near or far future, I will at last have these beams glassed, faired and painted.

Project Update

2011-03-15T08:29:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a long time since I've posted here and you may wonder what's going on with the Element II build. Near perfect weather has returned and now is the time for boatbuilding here. Look for new photos soon as I will be moving forward with the cockpit and other parts of the connecting structure in the coming weeks.

The main reason I haven't had time to work on the boat is that I've been so busy with writing projects. My latest book was just released at the beginning of this month and I have a contract for another one that is due to be completed by July 1. In addition, I am simultaneously working on a novel that I also hope to complete around the same time. Here is the cover of the recently released Getting Out Alive: 13 Deadly Scenarios and How Others Survived:

It is the latest in a series of survival-related books I'm writing for Ulysses Press, of Berkeley, California. The first was Bug Out: The Complete Plan for Escaping a Catastrophic Disaster Before It's Too Late, which has been a great success and is in it's second printing and soon to go into a third.

Some of you may wonder why I'm writing all these survival books and not more boat-related books, as paddling, sailing and boatbuilding are my true passion. The fact is, while I don't consider myself a "survivalist," my previous experiences have put me in a unique position to write about these topics for those who are interested in them. There has been a huge surge of interest in anything to do with survival here in the U.S. in recent years, and it shows no sign of slacking up. I've found that this subject matter is currently the best way for me to reach more readers, which is of course, the ultimate goal of any writer.

Getting Out Alive is aimed at the armchair reader as well as adventurers who might need to know how to survive certain scenarios. Check it out if like me, you like reading about other people's close calls and harrowing ordeals.

My biggest challenge now is to find a way to balance writing time with boatbuilding time. With the change to daylight savings time this past Sunday, I should be able to start making progress on the boat again.

Net Beam, Anchor Roller, Cockpit, Motor Mount and Deck Mock-Up

2010-10-08T07:29:00.001-05:00

The weather has been spectacular here in Mississippi since I moved my hulls out of the shed. They haven't seen a drop of rain so far, and the humidity has been low and the temperature just right for epoxy to cure. I'm working on a lot of miscellaneous projects that had to wait until the boat was assembled for correct measurements and final decisions on details. One of these projects included mocking up the cockpit by temporarily hanging the side panels in the space between the mast beam and the aft beam. I was then able to screw a temporary 2 x 4 in place to represent the height and fore and aft placement of the motor mount, so I could check clearances and make sure it would be the right depth in the water when down and still tilt up high enough clear the surface when sailing. The motor I'll be using is a Nissan 6HP Extra-Long Shaft 4-Stroke.

I think it's going to work out fine in the space shown for the motor well in cockpit drawing in the plans. Because of the 25-inch shaft, I can mount it a bit higher, which will help prevent it from drowning out in big waves. It will still be pretty low overall in relation to the top of the aft beam, as you can see here:

The 25-inch shaft will keep the prop deep in the water, with cavitation unlikely. Mounting it forward of the aft beam will also help with this and with proper weight distribution. The board laying across the skids that the hulls are resting on in front of the prop shows that the prop can't hit bottom before the hulls do.

I've also designed and built the aft net beam in the past few days. I scrapped the idea of using the aluminum pole I had for this, as a wood-composite beam will be easier to mount things to and to finish in a way that matches the boat. I used a V-shaped lamination for the bottom, fit into notches cut in the stern post. The other board is the inner top plate, beveled to fit into the V.

Here is the next assembly step, putting the inner top plate in place with epoxy.

This view of the unfinished end shows the final cross-section of the beam. Built of Doug fir, it's plenty strong and stiff while still lightweight because of the hollow area. The piece of wood on the forward edge that stops at the inside of the sternpost is a teak trampoline lashing rail that will be drilled on 3-inch centers for the aft tramp lacing. I'm using teak for all the lashing rails as the holes will be exposed to the weather and most other woods would rot in this use. The sharp edges of the beam corners will get a smooth radius and then the entire beam will be sheathed in fiberglass cloth.

Here's view looking aft to show how the beam fits. The triangular design with the low, flat top will allow plenty of clearance for the tillers. There's a lot of usable space back there between the sterns and the aft beam. I can't imagine not having a net beam to take advantage of it. Mine will have a drop-down ladder in the center with tramps to either side.

Anchor handling and storage is often overlooked in the building phase of these boats, but any cruising boat, no matter how simple, relies on good ground tackle, and that ground tackle must be accessible and easy to handle. To that end, I've built a custom anchor roller for the forward beam that nicely accommodates my 22 lb. Delta plow anchor. Anchors in this configuration are difficult to stow anywhere but on a roller, as they are bulky, awkward and take up too much space inside lockers. The roller housing is assembled here for fit, but will be removed for finishing before it is then filleted and glassed onto the beam.

Here's the anchor, salvaged from my previous boat, a much heavier 26-foot monohull. The Delta should be more than adequate as the main anchor on the Tiki. If I were buying a new one, I would probably go with the highly-regarded Rocna design. As it is, I have this one, as well as a smaller CQR and a large Danforth. All three will be on board with appropriate rodes. At the top of the beam, there will be a teak block to receive the shank and hold it in position, and a cleat to secure it with a short line through the forward eye.

Another big project will be building the slatted deck forward, between the mast beam and the forward beam. I've decided to go this route in lieu of a trampoline, as it is so much better to work on and will last longer. It will also cost about the same or less, as I have ordered locally-grown select-grade southern bald cypress for the material. I considered teak, like David used on his Tiki 30 forward deck, but prices have really gone through the roof, especially for what little teak is available in my area. The cypress will be lighter weight anyway, and should last a long time with care and proper construction. Below, I have mocked up some of the longitudinal stringers out of scrap wood just to get accurate measurements on the amount of material I will need. The longitudinal stringers will hang under the mast and forward beams. Then deck beams across will support the planking, which will put the top of it about even with the built-in ledge on the aft side of the forward beam, making it about 3 inches higher than the adjacent decks on the hulls. The whole assembly will be easily removable as a single unit to aid in disassembly of the boat.

Beams Meet Hulls!

2010-09-27T19:48:00.000-05:00

Hey, check it out, this thing I've been building all this time really is a catamaran!

Yesterday, I brought the crossbeams from the garage where I built them down to the shed where the hulls were built.

Today the hulls were rolled out into the open and aligned in the middle of the space between the shed and the house, where I have enough room to work and to step the mast later when it's time for that. I leveled them and blocked them up using the two-wheel carts I made and a hydraulic floor jack.

All this went surprisingly well, even single-handed, again making me glad I went with the Tiki 26 instead of a larger design. I can easily manipulate these hulls for maintenance in the future.

These beams are still unfinished, of course. I have a bit of glassing and lots of fairing to do before painting them, as well as the completion of the extra bits for the mast beam, such as the mast step reinforcement and the dolphin striker.

At this point, the beams are just strapped onto the inside lashing cleats to keep everything level and secure. I will use rope lashings as in the plans for the final assembly. The beam blocks on the decks will have to be shaped to fit the underside of the beams for a secure contact surface. This could not be done until I reached this stage where the hulls are aligned and leveled with each other. Before the final fitting, I'll fine tune everything with a water level to be sure they are exactly level at all four ends.

Another project will be finishing the paint job on the stern decks, which have non-skid and primer, but no finish coats. Then I'll hang the rudders and paint them in line with the bottom paint and topside paint. And then build the tillers and the tiller bar.

And, there's the small matter of the cockpit and cockpit seats with storage under, and the motor well. Then forward decks, aft boarding ladder, tramps, etc.... But it's starting to look like a boat, and that's inspiring.

Port Hull Outside

2010-09-18T21:08:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I moved the port hull most of the way out of the building shed. I was able to install the remaining two windows in each hull this week, despite my injured foot and ankle, so they are now fully "dried-in" and able to be left out in the open. The starboard hull will come out next week after the sealant has a couple more days to dry. I'm leaving the stern decks under cover until I get the non-skid and paint on them. In the meantime, there is a lot of detailing to do on both the deck paint and the green topsides now that I have them out in the open where I can see and work free of the dust in the shed. Here are a few pictures so you can see one of the hulls unobstructed for the first time:

The first step today was to wash all the dust off:

You can see that the stern deck here is not yet painted, only primed.

I really like the way these flush-mounted windows came out....

This view shows the companionway hatch and opening hatch forward. This is one Tiki 26 that will have lots of natural light and ventilation inside.

Window Installation Steps

2010-09-08T16:12:00.001-05:00

I completed the installation of the two smaller forward, smaller windows at the beginning of the week. Here are a few photos showing the procedure, as several people have emailed to ask about it since my last two posts. This is my first installation like this, having learned the technique from David Halladay. After asking him all my questions over the phone, I proceeded with it and it turned out great and was easier than it sounded.

First, here's a view of the prepared inner flange, as it might not have been clear from my last post how this was built. The flange itself is made of 6mm ply, and is 1 1/4" wide all the way around the inside perimeter of the opening. You can see from the shadow that it is set back from the inside of the opening. This is because of the 6mm plywood spacer sandwiched between the flange and the opening. This spacer allows a generous bed of the DOW 795 sealant to fit between the acrylic window and the flange. The space is necessary to allow movement of the acrylic, which expands and contracts at different rates than the wood/epoxy around it.

The painted area around the window opening is then masked with clean-release tape that won't damage the opening:

The acrylic window, which has been pre-cut and fitted, is now prepared for installation by Super-gluing several flat blocks of plywood to the paper backing that comes on it. These blocks around the perimeter will hold the window panel flush with the outside of the cabin surface.

On the inside surface it's best to remove the paper backing and tape it with masking tape so it can be pulled off easily after caulking. The masking tape is cut back to the edge of the inner flange. The glue surface of the acrylic and the inner flange is sanded and cleaned prior to application of sealant.

This photo shows how the window is held into the exact position in the opening by the glued-on blocks of plywood. Paper masking tape is applied over the clean-release tape, as it glues better than the blue tape. Then blocks of wood are Super-glued to the boat on the paper tape to hold the window in the center of the opening. There is a 3/16" gap all the way around the perimeter of the opening, and these blocks will maintain that position while the sealant cures overnight.

The forward window on the starboard side was done at the same time. After getting the blocks set up, the sealant was applied to the flange and the windows set in place. At this point the inside edge can be finished from inside the boat and the blue tape on the inside surface pulled away.

The next day, after the sealant has cured enough to bond the window in place, the blocks and the brown paper backing are removed. Then the painted surfaces and the edges of the windows are re-masked with blue tape.

The last step is to thoroughly fill the outer perimeter of the window, forcing the caulk into any voids left in the first application. The excess caulk squeeze-out is then removed, and the perimeter is tooled with a small filleting tool for a nice, slightly-coved seam.

At this point, the tape is pulled and the installation is done:

No screw holes to crack the acrylic or eventually leak, and no outer frames to trap water that could lead to rot.

Just a clean, flush surface that blends right in to the rest of the cabin sides. With the huge amount of DOW 795 that it takes to fill between the flanges and the acrylic, there's little chance windows installed this way will ever leak or give any other kind of problems.

Final Word On Portlight Configuration

2010-08-30T12:22:00.000-05:00

Once again, I've made a change to how the fixed portlights in the outboard sides of the cabin will be installed. My portlight saga is beginning to resemble Neil Hawksford's long-lasting "tumblehome saga" in the building of his Tiki 38, Gleda.

This is the final change though, and the modifications have been completed and the window panels will be installed this week. I decided against the overlay method as described in my last post because with the outer ring frames removed, the openings were of course larger and to have enough bonding surface for the overlay style of installation, the plastic window panels would have to be 1.5 inches wider than the openings all the way around the perimeter, creating disproportionately large windows that would adversely affect the lines of the boat. Though it took a bit of extra work, I decided to do it the right way and the way that windows are installed in practically all modern boats and yachts - with an inner flange for bonding so that the window will be flush with the surrounding cabin side surface. This is what David Halladay recommended from the beginning and I should have listened to him then. It is also the way the windows are fitted in the GRP Tiki 8-Meter, a design David and the Boatsmith crew have now built three examples of, counting the new one under construction in his shop now.

Following David's instructions over the phone, I made new inner flanges from 6mm ply. The flanges must overlap the inside cabin surface around the hull by 1 1/4 to 1 1/5 inches to have sufficient glue surface. Then they must overlap the opening by 1 1/4 inches to allow for enough bonding surface for the acrylic window panel, which is cut 1 1/4 inches smaller than the opening all around the perimeter to allow for expansion. The two adhesives of choice are Sikaflex 295UV or DOW 795. I'm using the DOW 795 as it does not require a primer and seems simpler to use. Both are incredibly strong and quite capable of permanently bonding the windows with no fasteners. The key is to bed the window panels on a sufficient thickness of the sealant to allow for movement. To achieve this, I laminated a spacer layer of 6mm ply between the cabin sides and the inner flange rings. That way, when the windows are installed, there will be a 1/4" bed of sealant and the window itself will be flush with the outside cabin surface. More explanation of this later when I do the actual installation and take photos. Here, I am laminating the ring frames with the spacers to the insides of the cabin:

And this is how the inside frames look now that they are glued in with epoxy. I don't have a shot of the interior side, but on the inside the frames were finished to a nice radius with the router and will be varnished along with everything else inside the cabin.

The 1/4 inch smoked cast acrylic that I ordered for the companionway drop boards also arrived last week and I cut those to shape using my plywood patterns: The inboard sides of the cabin are not completely faired or painted and won't be until I move the hulls out and fit the beams. Because I don't know the exact dimensions of the cockpit and where the seats will land on the cabin sides yet, I will wait until I can mock that up for accuracy before making and installing the rail upon which the seats will rest on the cabin sides.

The opening Lewmar portlights for the aft cabin bulkheads have also been dry-fitted and will be installed this week.

Moving Backwards and Forward at the Same Time

2010-08-20T07:33:00.000-05:00

I've managed to put a lot of time into the project for the past several days, although it may not look like much from the photos. The list of things to do in order to get the hulls completely closed in with all hatches and portlights installed has been long and seems to be growing. But I'm looking at having both of them out of shed shortly, it's just a matter of getting all the paint coats on the various parts done and then installing these components and waiting for the sealants to cure.

I took a few steps backwards on the portlights, but I think it will be well worth it in the end. I regret all the hours I spent messing around with a plan that I've now scrapped, but better to correct it now than have to do it sometime down the line when I'd rather be sailing. The problem was the ring frames that I made to sandwich the portlights between. For one, I didn't design them with enough clearance between for a proper thickness of sealant, and two, I made the mistake of glassing the outer frames on first, requiring the ports to be installed from the inside. Attaching them from the inside is problematic in many ways, first to make this attachment strong enough, and second, to get a good seal. Another reason for scrapping this idea is that further research and conversations with David Halladay regarding the materials used led me to the conclusion that Lexan is not the preferred lens material and that the ports should be instead made of cast acrylic, which is what all the major hatch manufacturers use.

So to fix all this, I first had to grind off these nice exterior rings that had been so time-consuming to glass and fair into the sides of the cabins:

After a few hours with the belt sander and then the 6-inch random orbital sander with 60-grit, I was back to a flat cabin side surface:

The new portlights will be the overlay style, the perimeters of the lenses overlapping the openings by 1.5 inches all the way around. There will be no holes drilled and no screws or other mechanical fasteners - the lenses will instead be bonded with sealant the same way that most all modern portlights are attached. I was skeptical of this at first, until I realized that this is the way large, heavy glass panels are often installed in skyscrapers and other structures, and until I saw first hand how well it has worked on some of the windows David and the Boatsmith crew have installed. The recommended sealants are either Sikaflex 295UV or DOW 795. I'm going with the DOW 795 because it is a one-part sealant that doesn't require special primers, as does the Sikaflex.

My order of cast acrylic to make these from arrived yesterday. This is great stuff compared to the Lexan I had before. It comes with a heavy paper protective cover on both sides that's easy to mark and stays in place while you're cutting and sanding. Here you can see my plywood patterns used to mark the outline of the new windows. The small piece in the foreground is a scrap from which I peeled away the paper. It is smoked gray in color, a shade darker than the smoked gray Lexan I had. This cast acrylic is more U.V. resistant and more scratch resistant than Lexan. It's also stiffer so that it wont flex if a wave hits it, which could break the seal. That's why hatch manufacturers use it. If you step on a deck hatch it won't flex under the weight. The only area where it is not is good as Lexan is in impact resistance, which is why Lexan is used in bulletproof windows. Hopefully, no one will be shooting at me, so it's not an issue.

This material cuts and sands well. I cut out the ports with a circular saw, then rounded the corners with the belt sander.

Another job completed yesterday was some major sanding of the stern decks, toe rails and sheer stringers, and then the application of the first coat of primer to those areas. Everything on the hulls and decks is now either painted or primed. Today is the first sunny day we have had here in over a week. I will spend the morning putting another coat of paint on the cabin sides, companionway hatches, and other small parts.

Back at Work....

2010-08-12T14:30:00.000-05:00

Once again I've had a long absence from posting here. I miss the days when I was tackling this project every day with enthusiasm, and this blog was the only thing I had to do on the computer and online. Lately I've just been putting in too much screen time researching and writing my newest book, which is coming along but still far from done. It's hard to spend any extra time taking photos, processing them and posting on blogs, but I hate to leave those who may be building their own Tikis waiting indefinitely for my updates. So to let you know I am still working on the boat, here is the latest:

The decision to switch from the standard shroud lashing pads in the plans to regular bolt-on, external chainplates created a lot of extra labor and expense. But regardless of that, I firmly believe it is well worth it for the secure means of attaching the Precourt terminators and deadeyes I will be using for my shrouds, as discussed in an earlier post.

I fabricated the chainplates myself to get the exact dimensions and fit I wanted. They are 3/16" thick by 1 1/2" wide, and 12 inches long. 316 stainless steel plate is hard to drill, bend and polish, but eventually it was done, and I'm well-pleased with how they look. I didn't want a highly-polished glittering yacht look, just the rugged purposeful appearance that externally bolted-on chainplates exude. (Note that I painted over part of this section of the topsides when painting the sheer and cabin sides. The green topside paint will be brought up to the bottom edge of the sheer stringer. I just wanted to get everything in the way of the chainplates painted so I can permanently bolt them on. It's easier to bolt them on at this point, before I install the portlights, as I can reach through the window openings to back up the lock nuts on the inside - important considerations since I'm working alone).

This morning I completed the backing plates for all the chainplates and bolted them up to check fit. They will be removed and then permanently installed with 3M 5200 as soon as I polish the backing plates a bit. Then the windows can go in as soon as that's done.

Here you can see the clearance at the tops of the chainplates for the Precourt terminators. None of the ready-made chainplates I could find, like Schafer's, had enough length above the sheer to keep the terminators from hitting the cabin when the shrouds go slack. These do. Note also that the pin size for the terminators is 1/2 inch. This will certainly be as strong as any part of the rig. Each chainplate is through-bolted with four 5/16" bolts.

Here's a view of the inside backing plates in the starboard hull. I didn't want to use individual fender washers for this application, as it is all too common to see them literally compressed into the wood by the strain that is put on the chainplate bolts under load. (This part of the interior is still only epoxy coated. It will get sanded and faired and then finished with varnish).

I'm also preparing to permanently install the companionway hatches. Here, they have just received the first coat of paint after fiberglassing, fairing and priming:

The cabin tops and coamings are done. It's hard to see the edges in these photographs, but I've laid-out a non-skid pattern for the walking surfaces on the cabin tops.

Here you can see the non-skid somewhat better. This was the final paint coat that I applied this morning. When this has had time to completely dry, I will permanently install the Bomar hatches in the openings on the forward ends of the cabins. I placed an order yesterday for the remaining primer, paint and sealants to complete all these jobs. Within a couple of weeks I should be moving these hulls out in the open to make room in my shed to bring in the beams that are still in my girlfriend's garage where I built them. I still have some sheathing and fairing work to do on the three beams before they are ready to prime and paint.

Still Working to Close in the Cabins

2010-05-29T15:50:00.000-05:00

This week I've been able to get back to work on Element II on a daily basis, at least for a couple of hours each morning. As some of you who have stopped by my other website or blogs may know, my latest book, Bug Out: The Complete Plan for Escaping a Catastrophic Disaster Before It's Too Late, has just been released this week. I am now on a mostly full-time writing schedule working to complete my next book, which according to my contract has to be done by September 1. Since I won't be taking on any other outside work until at least that date, I now can devote some time to the boat, as I certainly can't spend all day writing. This is a good time of year to make progress too, as epoxy and paint cures fast. Since I'm doing the boat work first thing in the morning, the temperatures are not unbearable. I'll try to update here a little more often, but most of my keyboard time will be spent working on the new book and promoting the just-released one.

Here's a shot of where I'm at today with the hulls - after just putting a first coat of paint on the cabin tops and sides:

The walk-on surfaces of the cabin tops will get non-skid on the next coat, laid out in patterns similar to those on the foredecks.

Other than endless sanding, filling and fairing to prep all these surfaces for paint, the other jobs I've been working on this week were fitting the main companionway hatch covers. This involved making and shaping teak receiving blocks for the stainless steel tubing upon which the hatch covers slide.

When building the coaming for the forward ventilation hatches a few months ago, I planned the layout so that there would be just enough room for the hatches to fit comfortably aft of the Bomar hatches when slid forward and resting on the cabin tops in the open position.

I can't imagine sleeping below in a Tiki 26 in a hot climate without those forward opening hatches. While sleeping aboard the Tiki 30 Abaco in the Florida Keys a couple of weeks ago, the open Bomars funneled the breeze right onto my bunk, forcing me to look for covers before morning. The Tiki 26 should have such hatches shown in the plans. If I had an older boat without them, I would be figuring out a way to retrofit them if I were sailing South.

Here's another view of the cabin top with the main hatch closed. The sliding system works beautifully.

After making sure all the angles were correct and pre-drilling and fitting the teak receiver blocks, I took all this off and proceeded with fiberglassing the hatch covers. Abaco's varnished teak hatches are fine to look at, and mine are trimmed out in teak as well, but I want no bright work to maintain above decks, so mine will be glassed and painted.

Photos from the Rendezvous

2010-05-21T08:54:00.001-05:00

I'm really glad I made the trip to Islamorada last weekend to attend the 3rd. annual Wharram Catamaran Rendezvous to be held there. What a great bunch of people and an inspiring collection of Wharram catamarans. Here are a few highlights, as well as a link to a slideshow of all of my rendezvous photos:

The anchorage near the beach at the Lorelei Restaurant is a perfect location for a gathering of Wharram cats.

Shallow-draft catamarans can come right in to the dining area, as David Halladay's Abaco did throughout the event, picking up and dropping off passengers interested in test rides.

There was a decent breeze all weekend, allowing for some fun Tiki 30 sailing with the spinnaker up:

One of the highlights of the show was this nicely-built Tiki 21 trailered down from North Carolina by Rick Hueschen, who built the boat, sewed his own sails from nothing but the plans, and designed and built a custom, expanding trailer that allows him to easily launch and retrieve the boat. Rick and his wife and daughter slept aboard the boat using a custom deck tent he also designed and made.

Here's a comparison view that gives a somewhat distorted idea of the size difference between the Tiki 30 and Tiki 21. I was using an ultra-wide angle lens, so the difference is not really this extreme.

And out in the anchorage, here's a shot of Greg Russell's Pahi 31 and Gene Perry's Tiki 26:

Greg Russell, with the help of his friends Paul and Matt Garcia, sailed the Pahi 31 down to Islamorada from Panama City, in the panhandle of Florida. In light winds, the trip took 7 days. They are somewhere out there on the way back now.

Gene Perry is an inspiration to us all, still sailing his Tiki 26 at age 85. He sailed down from Hobe Sound with the help of a friend.

Dan Kunz, who keeps a Tangaroa Mark IV Plus in the marina at the Lorelei, worked hard to put this event together and organize everything so that it went really smoothly. I hope this spring rendezvous continues as a tradition for many years to come.

I also got a chance to take a look at a Tiki 46. This is Kitty Wake, sailed by the Kittles family, who built her in Michigan and now live aboard full time. They did not make it to the rendezvous, but were moored nearby in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon.

To see all of my rendezvous photos, check out this slideshow hosted on my photo site:

http://photography.scottbwilliams.com/p102437205/slideshow

Headed to the Wharram Rendezvous This Weekend

2010-05-11T20:23:00.002-05:00

I'm leaving Thursday to drive down to Islamorada, Florida for the Spring Wharram Rendezvous. I've missed all these events since I started building Element II, but this time I'll be in attendance, although without a Wharram cat. I'm planning on staying aboard Abaco, David Halladay's Tiki 30, which will be there along with several other Florida Wharram cats. I will be taking my 17-foot Arctic Tern sea kayak, so I can get around the area and to use it as a platform for photography. I have at least three and possibly four magazine articles lined up that I will get material for on this trip.

Hopefully, hanging around all those finished boats and committed Wharram sailors will give me some inspiration to get back in gear on my own build. I've been at it very sporadically. I just signed another book contract with my publisher and have to complete an entire manuscript by September 1. With other work to do as well, this doesn't leave much time for the boat.

Since my last post, I've assembled the companionway hatches. Here they are sanded and shaped, then coated with epoxy. They will also be sheathed with fiberglass cloth. The plywood is 9mm okoume, and the solid wood trim is all teak. You'll notice the 1-inch diameter holes in the extended sections on the outboard ends. This is for a one-inch stainless steel tube, upon which the hatches will hinge and slide - Tiki 30 and Tiki 8-Meter style. I decided to go back to this method of securing the hatches after much internal debate over the pros and cons. In the end, the convenience and elegant simplicity of this method won out over any advantage a forward-sliding hatch would offer.

Modifications for Chainplate Installation

2010-03-20T11:29:00.000-05:00

I've made most of my standing rigging decisions and have ordered some of the components. This was necessary at this stage of the project, since switching to chainplates to anchor the lower ends of the shrouds required some modifications that needed to be done before finishing the fairing and painting. This mainly entailed removing the plywood shroud lashing pads that had been installed as shown on on the plans and adding in their place teak backing blocks for the lower ends of the chainplates, where they extend below the doubled section of the sheer stringer. You can see the need for these backing blocks in the photo below. This is not an actual chainplate, but rather a full-size pattern made in aluminum.

The chainplates will be a total of 12 inches long, allowing enough length on the upper bent section to provide clearance between the cabin side and the Precourt chainplate terminator. The #316 stainless steel blanks in the background will be used to make the actual chainplates. These will be more than strong enough, at 1 1/5" wide by 3/16" thick.

Here are some of the Precourt chainplate terminators and matching deadeyes. I ordered these directly from Erik at Precourt and received great service. These are the Small Series, which are even larger than needed for a Tiki 26, but are sized in a way that will allow me to rig with either 1/4" Amsteel Blue or 7mm Dynex Dux, either of which will provide a higher working load than the SS wire specified in the plans.

There are several reasons I'm going with synthetic rigging instead of wire, including saving weight, the ability to reliably splice the rigging without any hardware required, and the ease of carrying plenty of spare rigging material that will weigh hardly anything. Once the deadeyes are purchased, the most expensive part of this system can be used again and again, as these never wear out or have to be replaced like turnbuckles and wire rigging fittings. Aesthetically, I think the deadeye and synthetic rigging system just looks right on these boats, and is in keeping with the Wharram philosophy of minimizing hardware and keeping things simple. Of course the chainplates and deadeyes cost more than the simple lashing pads as shown on the plans, the advantages are worth it in my opinion, as it is easier to get better rig tension and the secure lower shroud connections add a measure a safety when stepping and unstepping the mast.

Sail and Rigging Decisions

2010-02-25T09:19:00.000-06:00

While the weather here has been consistently cold for efficient outdoor epoxy work, I've been putting together my materials and gear lists for the final push to completion and the outfitting of my boat. As always, I need more epoxy and fillers. This is endless it seems, and I don't even want to think about how much I've spent on this stuff. The last big piece of the boat to be built is the cockpit, and with a more complex design incorporating lockers under the seats, it will take a good bit of epoxy, fiberglass and fillers to build it.

Having sewn my own jib from a Sailrite kit, I'm now debating whether to order the mainsail kit or order a complete main from Rolly Tasker Sails in Thailand. Buying a complete one would save a week or more of labor. Buying the kit would save a few hundred dollars. It's more a matter of deciding which final product I would like the best. I'm impressed with the Sailrite jib and putting it together was straightforward, the greatest difficulty being the lack of an adequate large space that would have made sewing the panels simpler.

I'm also waiting on a couple of quotes on synthetic rigging components, as I will definately be rigging the boat with Dynex Dux or Amsteel synthetic standing rigging, and Precourt or Colligo terminators and chainplate distributors. I'm doing away with the plywood shroud lashing pads and replacing them with custom-fabricated SS chainplates, as this will make stepping and unstepping the mast easier and more secure.

Other things that need to be ordered now include the main watertank for the port hull, which will be connected to the pump in my built-in galley sink, along with the pump and plumbing fittings for that. I've decided on a flexible bladder tank for this as this type will allow me to fit a larger capacity tank in the limited space under the bunks, forward of bulkhead #3.

I need another piece of 1/4 inch Lexan to get out the companionway drop boards, as I sized the openings too large to cut them from the piece David Halladay gave me last time I was in the Boatsmith shop working with him.

There's still a good bit of fairing and filling to do on the cabin sides and tops, as well as the stern decks, before I can finish priming and painting. Then I can install the fixed and opening portlights and hatches, and build the companionway hatches, and at that point - at last - the hulls can be moved completely out from under the shed to free up that space for finishing the beams and cockpit. What I need most of all for that is warm, dry weather - and the free time to work on the boat.

Good Weather for Fairing

2010-01-24T08:05:00.001-06:00

We finally had some fine weather here this past week, after a prolonged cold spell. I took the opportunity to get back to the filling and fairing process on the cabin tops. If you recall from my last post way back when, all fiberglass sheathing has been done on the cabin tops and sides, and except for making the companionway hatches, all that remains is to fair, prime and paint.

I use a combination of wide drywall blades to spread the epoxy fairing compound, working off of a piece of scrap plywood for a palette.

Here, the big fillet fairing in the coamings for the Bomar ventilation hatches is touched up with another pass of the filleting tool.

The joint between the laminated plywood companionway coamings and the surrounding cabin roof gets a small fillet. The coamings will also be sheathed in fiberglass to prevent checking and water penetration.

Here, you can see large areas of fresh fairing compound spread on the aft cabin bulkhead and aft part of the roof.

Work on the boat has been sporadic and at a minimum over the last three months. The primary reason has not been the cold, but rather the huge amount of work I've had to do to complete my latest book in time for the contract deadline. That writing has been completed. The manuscript was finished by January 1st and as of last night I just finished the revisions and final additions. My publisher is rushing to get this book into print by the scheduled publication date of May 1.

Readers who have been following this blog from the beginning will realize that it was exactly three years ago today that I first posted here with photos of the first load of plywood and first parts cut out for the boat. Three years would have seemed like a long time if I had thought it would take that long or longer when I started building. But looking back on it, the time has passed so quickly that I don't know where it went. The bottom line is that it really doesn't matter. A project like this takes both time and money, and life is full of other commitments and distractions. The important thing it that I'm still enjoying every hour I get to work on the boat, and I'm closer than ever to sailing it. I'm expecting to get the final push to completion into high gear soon.

Hatch Openings and Companionways

2009-12-05T07:50:00.010-06:00

I've had the main hatch/companionway structures complete for awhile now, and have also built level hatch landings for installing the opening Bomar hatches on the forward ends of the cabins.

For this type of hatch to be watertight and to keep it from distorting, it is essential to have a dead flat surface to mount it on. I incorporated the longitudinal carlins under the cabin roofs (as shown in my previous post) as part of the hatch opening framework. The raised section above the cabin roof is topped with a 9 millimeter plywood ring cut to match the hatch perimeter. It was then faired to the cabin roof with a large fillet, as shown below:

These opening hatches with their screens are going to make the interior infinitely more pleasant while sleeping at anchor.

For the companionway openings and drop board arrangement, I opted for the sleeker, more modern design of the Tiki 30, rather than the Tiki 26 style. One big difference is that with this design, there is no external framing for the drop board, and the top of the drop board extends straight up to the top of the coaming, unlike the Tiki 26 style with it's horizontal section.

This requires gluing spacer blocks to the insides of the openings, to provide enough clearance for the 6 mm drop boards.

Another inner flange in line with the openings in the cabin sides retains the drop boards. Here you can see the slot between the cabin sides and this inner flange, where the drop boards fit in. At the bottom of the opening, a raised inner retaining flange prevents water draining down the drop boards from entering the cabins. At the top, the flanges fair into the adjoining hatch coamings.

The coamings themselves are made of two layers of 9mm ply, laminated together for a total thickness of 18mm. Triangular blocks of solid teak reinforce the corners. After these were glued in and the tops of the coaming were leveled off, I used a router to radius the edges so that a layer of 6 oz. fiberglass can be laminated over them.

Here's view of the coamings looking from the outboard side of the port hull. The glass sheathing has not been done yet, but the structure is all finished and shaped.

Here is a view of the port companionway with a temporary drop board of plywood in place. The final drop boards will be made of 6mm Lexan. As it turned out, the Lexan panel I had for this was about an inch too short to get these out, so I have to order some more. These ply drop boards will be carried on board as spares. One disadvantage of the straight drop board design like this is that it can be lost overboard if gets dropped through the slot between the cockpit seat and the cabin side. David Halladay found this out the hard way on his Tiki 30, Abaco. After that incident the drop boards are always placed below on a bunk when not in use.

At this point, all that remains to be done on the hull exteriors, other than building the main hatches is more fairing and then priming and painting. It's been unusually cold here for the last couple of weeks, and today the forward decks are covered with about two inches of snow. But there will be some warm days here and there where bit by bit I can finish these details.

Closing in the Hulls

2009-09-27T07:08:00.006-05:00

It was a good feeling earlier this week when I permanently installed both cabin roofs - at last completely closing in the hulls and marking the last big pieces to go into the construction of them. They had been cut and test-fitted as I wrote about in a previous post a few weeks ago, but now they are glued on, trimmed and edge-shaped, and awaiting fiberglass sheathing.

Here's a view of the completed undersides of the roof panels taken earlier this week. The longitudinal carlins were glued and filleted in place to provide the necessary stiffness and to define the sides of the front opening hatches and the outboard side of the companionway hatches.

The carlins, combined with the slight camber I've addd to the tops, has made them incredibly stiff even before fiberglassing. The next step, other than sheathing these, is to begin building the landings for the forward hatches and the framing for the companionway hatches and dropboards.

Fiberglassing the Mast

2009-09-27T07:04:00.006-05:00

It's been an unbelievably long time since I finished building the mast and last posted about it here in (October 2007). Things do get in the way, despite best intentions when undertaking a project like this! Anyway, the mast has been hanging from the rafters all this time, covered in the dust of building and fairing the hulls. I lowered it down last week and pulled it out enough to get to the masthead end and begin the tedious task of sheathing it in fiberglass:

Round objects are not the easiest things to fiberglass, but it's not as bad as it would seem if you plan in advance and use the masking tape method to avoid epoxy runs and ragged fiberglass cloth overlaps. As seen above, the masthead section has the additional complication of the shroud hounds to go around, as well as the mast cap and crane.

The other sections, as shown below, are simply round and are best done in by going around half of the circumference at time. After the epoxy cures, the tape is cut away, a weave-filling second coat is applied, and the mast is rotated 180 degrees to complete the other side. I'm working in 4-foot sections, as the roll of 6-oz. glass cloth I have on hand is 48 inches wide.

There are specially-made fiberglass sleeves that fit on like a sock that some people use for processes like sheathing round masts, but with the hounds and mast step protruding from each end of the spar, it seemed to me like this might be difficult to get on. In addition, these sleeves are much more expensive than ordinary glass cloth. At any rate, by using the taping method, this is a straightforward operation and will result in neatly-sheathed spar when it's all complete and the cloth has been filled, faired and sanded. The mast will be painted the same Off-White as the decks.

Below, the top 12 feet or so is now sheathed. The short PVC pipes protruding from the masthead are the wiring conduits, which will be cut shorter and capped off with PVC elbows to keep rain out once the wiring is run.

Emerging from the Shed

2009-09-04T20:10:00.011-05:00

Well, part of the way at least. Today I moved the hulls out approximately 10 feet. This was made possible because of finishing the foredecks this week - not the final coat of paint, but enough to protect them and allow mounting of the forward hatch covers and inspection plates.

I've been wanting to move the hulls out this far for awhile now, to make it easier to finish the cabin interiors and fair and paint the cabins and stern decks. Controlling dust in the back part of the shed has been a continuous issue.

Before proceeding further with painting the decks, I first had to lay out the non-skid patterns for the walk surfaces. Most of the foredeck area got non-skid, except for where the crossbeams go and a 1-inch margin around the toe rails, hatches, inspection plates, etc.

The non-skid I used was the Petit non-skid additive - really just fine, uniformly sized grains of sand. I mix it thoroughly into the paint and apply two coats with a foam roller, allowing to dry overnight between coats.

Additional fill coats over the non-skid that are applied when painting the rest of the deck surfaces help to fill it in some and take the edge off, while still leaving it very effective. The decks will get a couple more coats in the final finishing stage. It's a bit hard to discern the non-skid areas in these photos, but they are quite visible despite the fact that everything is the same color. For ease of maintenance and to keep the decks cooler, I chose to paint all deck areas the same off white.

Below you can see the forward hatch covers and the horizontal partitions that fit in the forward holds after a final coat of paint was applied to these.

After painting the foredecks, I also had to bring the topside paint up to the cut line at the bottom edge of the sheer stringer. I had left the top 3-4 inches bare while working on fiberglassing the decks, to allow bonding the deck glass to the layer already on the stringers. I like the way the green contrasts with the off white. The topsides will also get additional paint coats when the hulls are completely finished.

Today I finished the assembly of the two-wheeled carts I had started early in the build.

The V-cradle of the cart fit to the mid-section of the hull perfectly. With the carts strapped in place just slightly aft of the balance point, the hull was easy to move single-handed. I raised it up with my webbing straps hung from the rafters to lift it out of the stern cradle.

Since I had the hulls on wheels and could move them easily, I pulled the port hull out farther to take this photo. It's hard to photograph a 26-foot boat in a 28-foot shed!

Now that the bows at least can see the light of day, I feel like I'm getting closer to moving the hulls all the way out. The next step is to get the cabin interiors finished so I can install portlights, the cabin roofs and hatches, and build the companionways.

Fitting the Cabin Roofs

2009-08-28T06:25:00.004-05:00

Sorry for another long break between posts. I have been working on the boat some during this time, although nothing major. In July, I signed a publishing contract for another book, and this one is due to be completed in just six months. It will be my top priority until then, but there will be time to work on the boat here and there, and the best weather for building here is between now and December.

Most of what I've been doing on the boat is not worth photographing, as it has been the seemingly endless little tasks of filling and fairing, sanding and priming of the foredecks and cabin sides. I put the first coat of paint on the foredecks so I could see the last of the tiny imperfections and fill them. Now, I'm ready to make a trip to the coast this weekend to buy more paint and non-skid additive so I can complete them.

Below is a photo of the port hull with the cabin roof temporarily fitted with screws and the forward deck hatch sitting in it's approximate location. I fitted internal carlins that will support the hatch from below, the outboard one also defining the outboard edge of the companionway opening. Notice too the camber of the coachroof. I like the way this came out, and it will actually make the roof stiffer than it would be if it were flat, as in the plans. The edges are untrimmed here. After installation, they will be cut flush with the router and rounded over like the deck edges.

Here's a view from inside the port companionway, showing the carlin that supports the outer edge of the opening. This will aid in building the hatch coaming as well. Again, you can see the camber in the roof. The companionway opening is 26 inches long by 24 inches wide - small enough to be strong and seaworthy, but large enough for easy entrance and exit.

It will still be awhile before I permanently install the cabin roofs. I want to complete as much as possible in the interior while it is is still open, especially the final sanding and and the installation of the fixed portlights.

Deck Hardware

2009-07-07T20:24:00.005-05:00

Last week I finished rounding up the various parts and pieces that will enable me to finish enclosing the hulls once the cabin roofs are installed. This includes a large hatch over each bunk in the cabin roofs and an opening portlight in each aft cabin bulkhead.

Other deck hardware includes mooring cleats. The two larger ones in the photo below will be the bow mooring cleats. The sterns will be fitted with the same. The smaller cleats will be mounted on the cabin tops, near the outboard sides for use as midships mooring cleats; good for attaching spring lines, fenders, etc. You can never have too many cleats on a boat, and after sailing Abaco to the Bahamas, I like the way David has his cleats located on the decks. In order to mount the two bow cleats, I am having to install a small, 4-inch inspection plate forward of each forward bulkhead, so I can reach in with a wrench and through-bolt the cleats to the deck. Large backing plates will be used on the undersides of the decks.

The big deck hatches that will be fitted over each bunk near the forward ends of the cabins are manufactured by Bomar and the opening size is 16 x 16 inches. This is large enough to get in and out through if necessary, and will let in plenty of air. The hatches can also be locked in the vent position, allowing some air into the cabins, while keeping out the rain when the boat is left unattended.

The opening portlights are the Lewmar Standard series in size 0. Though small, they will help greatly in allowing a cross-flow of fresh air down below, and they come with insect screens for those shallow water anchorages close to the beach. In addition to the two that will go in each aft cabin bulkhead, I'm considering adding one each on the inboard cabin sides forward of the main bulkhead and just above the cockpit seats and jib sheet tracks.

In the photo below, you can see that the outer cabin sides have been primed in preparation for painting and installing the fixed Lexan portlights. The starboard foredeck is a bit ahead of the port one in that it is now primed and most of the little fairing issues have been taken care of. Both foredecks will be painted soon, then the bow access hatches and bow cleats can be mounted permanently.

We finally got a break here just yesterday from a two-week long heat wave in which afternoon temperatures have been at 100-103F every day. After living with that for awhile, today's high of only about 88F felt like a taste of fall!

Insights from a Tiki 30 Delivery Trip

2009-06-19T13:32:00.008-05:00

When building or outfitting a boat, it's always helpful to spend time actually cruising on similar vessels to get a better understanding of what works, what doesn't, and why. Taking David Halladay's Tiki 30 Abaco over to Nassau, Bahamas from West Palm Beach, Florida, was just such an opportunity. The non-stop 24-hour first leg of the trip, plus a couple more nights of living aboard both at anchor and at the dock gave me some new ideas about outfitting my own Tiki 26 and steered me away from certain ideas I had been planning all along.

For example, the bar-mounted sliding hatches shown on the Tiki 30 plans seemed like a logical modification to incorporate into my Tiki 26 build. They are slick in operation and offer several different opening configurations. In the real world, however, they become a royal pain and are subject to being torn off by the wind (this has already happened once on Abaco). They can also become head-cracking deadfalls in any kind of a seaway if they slip off the prop sticks that hold them in the half open position. In the fully open position, flipped back on the retaining cords as shown in the photo below, a gust of wind from outboard can also send them slamming down. It's clear to me and to David Crawford, who went with me on the trip and who has logged over 1,000 miles on Abaco that hatches that slide forward would be a better option. So, having learned this from experience, I'm back to planning hatches similar to the ones shown in the Tiki 26 drawings.

One feature on David's boat that I've always known I wanted on mine is the aft net beam and aft tramps on either side of a boarding ladder. I can't imagine being without this as it proved so useful while cruising. It's essential, however, that the tramps are made of good, solid material that can be comfortably stood on, just as those on Abaco are. These tramps become a perfect "back porch" for emptying buckets, washing dishes or whatever, as well as an extra margin of safety for anyone falling out of the cockpit.

Interior space is at a premium in all the smaller Wharrams, especially the Tiki 26 and Tiki 30. One thing that helps is having a place for everything and keeping everything in its place. I've never been a big fan of Wharram's "flexi-space" concept, as an empty hull without built-in shelves and other organization results in a pile of junk. Who wants to live on top of their clothes for days or weeks at a time, or have to move everything out of the way to get at something stored under a bunk? In my opinion, shelves are essential, and though I've already built in a few, after this trip I have begun making and installing even more.

The shelves on each side of the main bunk in Abaco's starboard hull can be seen here. They do not intrude into usable space, due to the shape of the hulls, but are infinitely useful for keeping stuff you need close at hand.

Other essentials that can be seen in this photo are the opening portlight on the inboard side of the cabin, and the opening deck hatch over the forward part of the bunk. In the tropics, getting some air flow into the boat makes all the difference in the world in liveability. Abaco is also equipped with 12-volt fans over each bunk and in the Nav. station and galley.

This view of the Nav. station shows the mounted DC circuit panel that controls all the onboard electrics, as well as other equipment such as an AC inverter, solar panel charge controller, VHF radio, and barometer. After we were offshore, however, I was dismayed to learn that there was no bulkhead-mounted clock onboard, but thankfully, I had my watch. Also lacking was a ship's logbook, but that's another story and has more to do with the racing versus cruising mentality.

Note also the opening portlight in the aft cabin bulkhead. Element II will be fitted with a similar opening port here as well, made possible by the 4-inch increase in cabin height that I built-in back in the early stages of construction.

Back at home this week with a couple of days available to work on the boat, I've been shopping for parts such as portlights and hatches, and working on the additions such as the extra shelves with high fiddles shown below. The portlight frames to the left in the photo are the inner trim rings for the fixed ports on the outboard sides of the cabins. This is the final coat of epoxy before they will be sanded again and varnished prior to installing the Lexan ports. I'm also working on pre-fitting the cabin roofs and planning the companionway openings. My major goal for the next few weeks is to finish the fairing, priming and painting of the decks and cabins, get the hatches and ports installed, and move the hulls out in the open where I can spread them to assembly width.

For photos and more about the trip to Nassau on Abaco, read my post on Scott's Boat Pages here.

Yes, I'm Still Alive....

2009-05-25T12:41:00.006-05:00

But despite the title, I'm making no apologies for not posting here for two months. I've been incredibly busy with other writing and computer projects, not to mention my other carpentry work besides working on my boat. This has been a period of many new ideas and opportunities that I have had to take action on. Work has continued on Element II, although at a more sporadic and slower pace. I'm not concerned about time frames however. Since the beginning I've known how I wanted to build this boat and the quality standards that I have to adhere to, so there is no particular rush to speed things up in time for some arbitrary launch date. When it's ready it will go in the water, and not before. That being said, a lot has been completed on this project and an awful lot remains to be done. The best way to build a boat is to enjoy the process, and that I have done from the beginning.

I don't have a lot of new photos to post today, as much of what I've been doing is tedious filling and sanding in the fairing process. A small project has been making and installing the crossbeam locating blocks on the decks, as you can see below.

I cut these out of some heavy teak boards David gave me on one of my trips to work for him in the Boatsmith shop. One still had the bark on one side. I made these beam blocks just a little thicker than on the plans, adding almost an inch to the height above the deck so that the top of the mast beam will be closer to the level of the raised fronts of the cabin tops. An added advantage is that extra bit of clearance this will provide for the cockpit over the water.

The blocks are squared off on the top now and matched to the contours of the deck where they are epoxied and screwed in place with large countersunk SS screws. When the boat is spread to assembly width and the beams are fitted, I can grind the top profiles of the blocks down to match the undersides of the beams. Meanwhile, the sides of the blocks and all the rest of the deck surfaces can now be primed and painted.

Last week, while working on a residential carpentry project, I scored a great find for my boat in the form of an abandoned aluminum tube that will be just right for making the stern net beam. The owner of the house gave it to me, as it was going to the dump if I didn't want it. It's 14 feet long, 3 1/2" in diameter, and has a wall thickness of 4mm. Cut down to length and capped off on the ends, it should be perfect for the net beam and will save me the labor of laminating one out of wood. I'll have to prep and prime it, of course, so that it can be painted, but at least its one more part I won't have to build from scratch.

Fairing, Fiberglassing and Priming

2009-03-23T07:10:00.012-05:00

I'm in the middle of a labor-intensive stage of boatbuilding at the moment - still working on all the details of fiberglassing, fairing, sanding and eventually priming and painting of the decks and cabin sides.

The cabin roofs have still not been installed, as I am waiting to finish up some more interior details before closing them in and making access more difficult. But in the meantime I am working to completely finish all other exterior glassing of the cabin trunks and details such as the hatches and lashing cleats so that the decks can be painted. This involves spreading lots of fairing compound (see below) and sanding it smooth so the glass can be laminated over it.

All the joints between the decks and cabin bulkheads get a strip of fiberglass tape to reinforce them in addition to the sheathing on the main surfaces.

The outer surfaces of the hatch coamings, being made of plywood, also have to be sheathed with fiberglass to protect them from checking in the sun and to bond them to the surrounding deck surfaces.

The twelve beam and four shroud lashing cleats are also made of plywood and are separately sheathed with the cloth wrapping around the radiused edges to prevent delamination.

These small details are time consuming but essential to the longevity of the boat.

All the corners of the cabin trunks are reinforced with a separate strip of fiberglass.

And then the main surfaces are sheathed, as you can see below in the example of the aft bulkhead of the starboard cabin.

Working from the bows back, I'm slowly getting the fairing finished and have began applying the undercoating primer, as seen here on the forward part of the foredecks, stems, and bow hatches.

Fairing and priming the decks and cabins is a much bigger job than the hulls, as there are so many surfaces to work around. After the final coats of primer are applied and sanded, the green topside paint will be cut in to the bottom of the sheer stringer. Everything from the sheer stringer up will be painted an Off-White, with symmetrical patches of non-skid on the decks.

Installing The Inner Cabin Sides

2009-02-24T07:37:00.004-06:00

Most of the detail tasks I've been completing on the boat have had little visual impact and things have looked much the same for many weeks. Yesterday, I changed this when I installed the inner cabin sides. I've been holding off on this until most of the interior work was completed, as these will make it harder to get in and out of the hulls with my low shed roof overhead. But at this point it was time to get them on so as there is a lot of finishing work to be done on the inboard sides that can only be done after the sides are on. Having the sides on will also discourage my cat from hanging out in the hulls, (I hope) and cut down on the amount of dust and other trash getting in there.

Here's a view from the inside of the port hull, looking through the drop board opening towards the starboard hull. You can see the top shelf/step under the opening, and just forward of that, the lower shelf where the two-burner stove will live.

Here's another angle looking forward inside the port hull, the corner of the sink barely visible in the foreground, stove shelf on the inboard side, and the unobstructed inner cabin side in the bunk area. I'm thinking that instead of a fixed shelf on that side, I will make custom canvas storage pockets.

Here's a view from forward in the port hull, looking aft into the galley and main companionway area.

A similar view from forward in the starboard hull shows the companionway steps and the hinged attachment point for the drop-down chart table on the inboard side.

I'm a step closer to having enclosed cabins, but there is still much work to be done before the cabin roofs go on. I will be ordering hatches for the forward ends of the cabin tops and portlights for the aft bulkheads in the next few days.

When the closing in of the cabins is complete and hatches and ports installed so that the hulls can be closed tight against the rain, Element II will at last emerge from the tiny shed I'm building here in so I can spread her hulls to their assembled width and put the beams in place.

Fiberglassing Outer Cabin Sides and Hatches

2009-02-24T07:27:00.002-06:00

With the Lexan portlights cut out and ready to be installed, I realized I've got some catching up to to in preparing the cabin sides for the installation. Before the ports go in, I want the outer trim rings completely finished with glass sheathing, primer and paint - that way I won't have to risk damaging the ports working near them with sanders and other tools. So at this stage, I went ahead and applied the fiberglass sheathing to the outer cabin sides. I want to install the ports before the cabin tops go on, as it will be easier if I can reach inside from the top, and will eliminate needing a helper to do this.

Using my usual method of applying masking tape to define the perimeters first, the glass was epoxy saturated and then cut away on the inner sides of the tape.

Before doing this, I built up smooth fillets around the edges of the raised portlight trim rings, and sanded them to a nice transition into the surrounding cabin sides. There were no issues with getting the 6-ounce cloth to conform to the different levels with these fillets in place.

While in the fiberglassing mode, I also removed the front hatches and laminated a layer of 6-ounce on them.

While sanding the fillets on the outer cabin sides, my 5-inch random orbital sander gave up, so I had to make a quick trip to the local building supply and get a replacement. None of these sanders of this design hold up very long to the continued abuse of building a boat. But they are relatively inexpensive. I bought the same model that I purchased about this time last year. This one might see me through to the end of this project if I'm lucky, but keep in mind, I also use my tools for paying work on other people's projects as well.

I have larger sanders for the big jobs, but I find this 5-inch size indispensable for many of the tight spots on the boat. The semi-soft pad allows it to conform around fillets and smaller overall size gets it into many places that otherwise would have to be sanded by hand or my Fein Multimaster.

Teak Toe Rails

2009-02-10T17:45:00.003-06:00

While I was in Florida working with David, I had two opportunities to go sailing on his Tiki 30, Abaco. The boat sailed great and many of the extra additions he made from the basic design worked out really well. One small detail that is missing from the Tiki 26 and 30 designs are simple toe rails on the decks that make going forward (and aft on the stern decks) much safer. This is a detail I had planned to add anyway, and after experiencing firsthand how useful they are on the Tiki 30 when going forward to handle the spinnaker, anchors, etc.; I would not be without them.

The plans do show rails on the inboard sides for the trampoline lashings. I used the same dimensions given for these to make toe rails for both the inboard and outboard sides of the foredecks, forward and aft of the front beam, and for the inboard and outboard sides of the stern decks. The inboard rails will be drilled for lashings later, when it is time to fit trampolines.

I used teak to make the toerails for two reasons: one, I spent an excessive amount of time chiseling away and replacing rotten Doug fir trampoline rails when refitting my Tiki 21, Element, and two, I have plenty of it on hand, also given to me by David as bonuses for various jobs I've helped him on. The teak will be there from now on, and drilling through it for trampoline lashings will present no problems. It will also be epoxy coated and painted, even though this is not necessary, simply because I don't plan to spend any time maintaining exterior varnish or keeping raw teak sanded.

Below are the sawn rails, cut to 3/4" by 1" just as the plans show for trampoline rails.

After cutting to length, the rails were radiused on the tops with a router and drilled for screws with 1/2" countersunk bung holes.

Here is a shot of the foredeck rails on the port hull, dry-fitted with screws before removal for final installation with epoxy.

Here, all the foredeck rails have been installed with screws and epoxy; the holes plugged with 1/2" teak bungs.

After the plugs were cut and sanded flush, the rails got their first coat of sealing epoxy. Although they are only 1-inch high, these toerails afford a great degree of safety as you can brace a foot against them when the boat is pitching, making it much harder to slip overboard. There will, of course, be non-skid paint on the walking areas of the decks as well when the paint work is finished.

A closer view of the rails showing the clearance opening for the front beam. There is a good two inches on either side of the beam location to allow for quick drainage of any seas that come on board. Before painting, the inboard sides of the rails will get a nice transitional fillet to the decks so that no water can collect in the corners.

The rails for the stern are also ready for installation, but first I had to finish the fiberglass sheathing over the edges of the decks to the sheer stringers. This is now done and the rails will go on during the next work session.

Cutting out the Lexan Portlights

2009-02-10T17:07:00.002-06:00

I was away for the last two and a half weeks of January, working in Florida with the Boatsmith crew on a big interior refit of a 1929 Alden schooner, the Summerwind. The job went well - as always, I learned a few new tricks from David and his guys, and earned another influx of cash that I can sink into Element II. David gets deep discounts marine supplies due to the volume he buys. I needed Lexan for my portlights and companionway drop boards so he picked it up for me at his supplier and then gave it to me for my bonus.

I cut out the portlights right away after I got back to work on my project. I had plywood templates already made from cutting the trim rings some months ago, so it was a simple matter to transfer the shapes and cut them with a jigsaw. The portlights are small and well-reinforced by the trim rings, so they are made from 1/8" Lexan, the same as David used on his Tiki 30. This thickness allows expansion room and a space for sealant on both sides, as the cabin side thickness is 1/4". Since the drop boards will be larger and are less supported, they are made from 1/4" Lexan.

Below are the finished portlights for both hulls, two of them taped for protection and the other two yet to be taped so you can see them. The protective plastic covering that comes on the Lexan was not staying in place well enough, so I removed it and used blue masking tape. This will be left in place until after installation, except for the perimeters where the Lexan comes in contact with the sealant.

The next step before installation is to get the outsides of the cabins faired and filled and sheathed in fiberglass, so they can be primed and the portlight trim rings painted. This way once the portlights are in I won't have to worry about getting epoxy on them or accidently hitting the surfaces with a sander.

Bunk Filler Doubles as Chart Table

2009-01-11T20:09:00.003-06:00

I'm getting close to finishing the built-in shelves and other interior parts that will make this boat workable for my intended use. With each addition, I am well aware of the added weight and am carefully trying to keep each component as lightweight and small as possible, yet still sturdy enough to perform the desired function. Some sort of chart table that can double as a work station for a laptop computer was deemed essential. I did not want something that would take a lot of time to set up and take down each time it was used, and at the same time I wanted to minimize the amount of extra parts and pieces that have to be carried in the cabins. The chart table solution I decided on utilizes one of the bunk filler boards for the foot well area in the starboard cabin as table that attaches to a small hinged shelf on the inboard side.

Below is a view looking forward from a seated position on the raised cover that fits over the head, described in a recent post. From this seat I have full headroom and the table, when hinged down, is at the right height for a work surface.

Looking at the table from the other direction, you can see that it hinges down just forward of the companionway steps, attached to small shelf on the inboard side of the hull. This location allows it to hinge up against the inboard cabin side, and the length of the table gives it just enough clearance to fit into the inner corner. When in the up position, it is completely out of the way and will not interfere with entry and exit through the companionway. (Note that the companionway drop board opening has not been cut, as this is just a temporary fitting of the inner cabin side as described in the previous post.)

The table is also quite usable from this position, facing aft with your feet in the foot well. In this photo the unsupported edge of the table is propped up from below with a piece of scrap wood. When finished, it will be supported by a short length of chain or line from a hook on the shelf above the instrument panels or from the upper cabin side.

Here is a top view of the table, looking down from the position of bulkhead No. 3. You can see the small shelf attached with a piano hinge, and the two bolts that hold the table to it. These bolts are secured with wing nuts on the bottom for quick disassembly. In reality, the table will rarely be removed as it is not in the way when folded up and the aft bunk in this hull will not likely be needed.

Here is another view of the table in the folded up position. It will be secured in the up position with some kind of latch, but will likely be kept down and ready for use while underway, except when access to the forward bunk area is needed.

Here is the small hinged shelf with the table removed. It flips back over on itself to form a narrow shelf with a built-in fiddle rail if the table is not attached.

In this last photo, you can see the table fitted into the foot well opening to form part of the aft bunk. Another, shorter section completes the bunk if needed, when the porta-pottie and wooden seat covering it are removed to the cockpit. You can also see the hinged table shelf flipped back in the upside down position, where it is out of the way.

Glassing Stern Decks, Fitting Inner Cabin Sides

2009-01-11T19:44:00.006-06:00

The stern decks have been neglected for awhile as I've been working on fitting cabin interior parts in both hulls. I had planned to put this off for later, but an usually warm day for January yesterday gave me the idea that I should go ahead and get the protective sheathing on the decks. Condensation in the shed caused by changing temperatures has been giving me problems with discoloration of unprotected wood, so getting these decks glassed sooner rather than later was a good thing.

I taped off the perimeters and did the big, main sections of the decks first. The edges overlapping the sheer stringers can be done at a later time. Below is a view of both decks with epoxy-saturated fiberglass extending out to the tape lines. I used fast hardener and spread it quickly with a squee-gee so that I could get the second filler coat on the same day.

Here is a another view of the stern decks a couple hours later. The tape has been cut away and the second coat of epoxy, thickened with silica and phenolic microballoons, has been applied to fill the weave of the fiberglass. This was left alone to fully cure until another day, when it will be sanded fair before applying the edge sheathing.

Today I fitted both of the inner cabin side panels. Since they are straight at the top edge, it is a simple matter to offer them up with temporary screws holding them in line with the top corners of the bulkheads. The curving bottom edge is then scribed from the inside so the panel can be cut to fit when it is removed.

Here is a view of both inner cabin sides temporarily fitted. The gap at the bottom front corners is caused by the panels being cut slightly over sized and resting on the outside of the sheer stringer, rather than fitting on the top edge of it as they should. For final fitting I will belt sand the bottom edges to a matching bevel until the panels slide in place nicely against the bulkheads. After this test fitting, the panels will get epoxy coated on the inside, but will not be permanently installed until the few remaining cabin interior details are completed.

Shaping and Glassing the Rudders, More Beam Glassing....

2009-01-06T16:31:00.009-06:00

I spent most of the holidays away from the building shed where I have the hulls, but I was able to get back to work on some of the parts I have stored in my girlfriend's garage. As detailed in a post long ago, the rudders have been drilled for lashing to the sternposts and epoxy insets made to prevent rot from the lashing holes. The main rudder blades for the Tiki 26 are cut from 18mm plywood, with 6mm doublers on each side in the upper area above the waterline to the top of the posts where the tillers fit on. The lower sections of 18mm ply have to be sanded down to a hydrofoil shape on the trailing edge to decrease turbulence. This was accomplished with a belt sander first, and then the random orbital sanders shown below. The glue lines between the layers of ply serve as a guide in maintaining a consistent thickness.

Here the rudders are resting across the three crossbeams while the first coating of epoxy cures.

You can see the sanded tapers and the epoxy insets with lashing holes drilled.

Cold weather forced me to move the rudders inside for fiberglass sheathing. I'm fortunate that Michelle is a creative person who always has projects going in her studio and doesn't mind an occasional boat sub-assembly in the house.

In the photos below the fiberglass sheathing on the lower blades of the rudders has been laminated with epoxy. The upper areas with the doublers will be sheathed as well. The corners on the upper parts are well-radiused to receive sheathing all the way around. Every ply part of the boat that is exposed to the sun will be sheathed in 6-oz. fiberglass.

Back in the garage I worked on the crossbeams as well. Sheathing them is a multi-step process because of all the surfaces involved.

This application of fiberglass is on the top plate of the forward beam. Masking tape put on in advance of the fiberglass and epoxy defines the edge and allows it to be cut straight. The next application of fiberglass on this beam will overlap the edge of this layer and extend down over the front plywood fairing, wrapping around the leading edge to the bottom. The sheathing involves lots of steps and filling the weave and fairing all this out will be a considerable amount of labor as well, but worth it to prevent possible checking and water intrusion into the beams.

Starboard Interior Work

2008-12-22T06:13:00.016-06:00

There are many compromises to be made when laying out the interior of a small boat. This is especially true in the narrow V-hulls of a Tiki 26. Wharram's philosophy of "flexi-space" addresses this problem in the simplest manner - no fixed interior features at all. This is fine for many people but in some ways it is less practical for certain on-board necessities, such as the stove, navigation and other electrical equipment, and the head (if there is one at all).

I don't like portable toilets and would probably not carry one at all if not for the convenience it will afford for my girlfriend and other guests, and to meet legal requirements for a holding tank in some of the waters I intend to sail. At sea, the bucket is the way to go, and in port, one can just as easily use shoreside facilities. But since I am carrying a small, 3-gallon portable, it has to live somewhere. I know that some Tiki 26 owners simply shove it back in the aft berth area when not in use and pull it out when needed. But in my experience with these things, they sometimes leak and usually smell. It's a pain to have to move it and put it back after every use, especially if it ever gets used while underway. I would rather have it below bunk level and in a secure position where it cannot move around. My original intention for the placement of it is shown below, in the forward half of the footwell in the starboard hull. Here, it is in the deepest part of the hull and sits flat on the floor, the top even with the bunk. It takes up a lot of foot room here though, and makes it difficult to get into the main bunk forward, which will be the one most often used.

The only logical solution is to place it in the aft end of the footwell, shown here. I had originally built a fixed bunk section over this area, but the side support rails under extended all the way back to the aft bulkhead. So I was able to remove the section with the router and still leave the rails so a removable section can be dropped in if the aft bunk is ever needed.

One problem with locating the portable toilet here is that the hull begins to narrow and lift as you move aft, so the width of the floor here is insufficient to allow it to sit flat, as it does the forward part of the footwell. The other issue is that it sits higher, about 2 inches above bunk height. The good thing though, is that since the cabin roof is at its highest point aft, I can still have full sitting headroom over the toilet in this position, even with a covering box/seat over it when it is not needed. To get it up high enough so that it does not rest against the inner hullsides, I built a small rack, shown below, that straddles the opening floor panel and will solidly support the portable toilet.

Here is a view of the portable head in the new location. In the rare event that I ever need the aft bunk in this hull to accommodate an extra guest, the toilet can be simply lifted out and placed in the cockpit for the night. A drop in bunk board will complete the bunk.

Since this aft part of the cabin will be used for seating while doing such things as chartwork, it was necessary to come up with a solid cover for the portable toilet that is strong enough to sit on or step on when going down below. It was also necessary that this cover could be easily removed but would lock in place and not slip or slide around when on. To this end, I built it like a box lid, using 9mm ply with side rails that rest on either side of the opening on the bunk edges. Teak locating blocks on either side are fitted with 1/4" through bolts that drop down through locating holes drilled in the bunk support rails on either side. The bolts lock it solidly in place. The front edge of the box also drops far enough down over the portable toilet to prevent it from sliding forward. An bungie cord will be used for additional security when sailing offshore.

Here is a view looking aft into the main cabin with the portable toilet in its new location and the covering lid/seat in place. I can sit full upright on this seat without touching the cabin roof. Note also the beginning of the companionway step assembly for this hull. Parts for the steps were cut and fit in place, assembled with Super Glue, then removed for epoxy fillets and coating.

Below are all these parts in various stages of epoxy coating and assembly. From left: the companionway steps with hardwood stiffeners being glued onto the inboard edges; the toilet seat cover; and the rack that it sits on.

Here is the completed companionway step assembly. It's virtually identical to the one I installed in the port hull. The hardwood trim is all teak.

Below is a view of the installed step assembly. Temporary screws through the top step into the sheer stringer, and a weight on the second step hold it in place while the fillets to the hullsides cure. The area forward of the steps will have a lower shelf that extends to the middle bulkhead. This shelf will be hinged on the outboard side and will use the bunk filler board as a drop-down chart table that will span across the cabin and be usable from a seated position over the toilet or facing aft from the end of the forward bunk. I finished working out all the details for this yesterday and made all the parts, which are being coated with epoxy before installation.

Double Coaming Hatches - Continued

2008-12-15T19:27:00.012-06:00

A couple of days of warmer, but still wet and cloudy weather have allowed me to make a fair amount of progress on the boat. Many of these jobs are hardly worth posting about: such crawling up into the ends of the forward and aft bunks to make interior epoxy fillets in the hard to reach deck to hull joints there. I've also made some changes in the starboard hull that include relocating the head (more on this later) and have started the starboard companionway steps.

The double coaming hatch project was finished today, except for final fairing, finish work and painting. The first step in completing these was done yesterday, when I finished both outer coamings with the installation of the forward pieces, shown below:

Although I'm a big fan of Wharram's rope hinges, such as those used to hang the rudders, I chose to use stainless steel piano hinges on the forward hatches. One reason is that David Halladay gave me a bundle of these in various lengths and sizes that he intended to throw away while cleaning up his shop. It was a simple matter to select two of these in the right width and then cut them to length with a Dremel tool and cut-off wheel, and then radius the corners with a belt sander.

The hinges have to be mortised so that the hatches will sit flush on the outer coamings. Since the coamings are already installed on the boat, I let the hinges into the aft lip of the hatch lid. This required a mortise 3/16" deep. One of the neatest tricks I've learned from David while working on various Boatsmith jobs is his quick and easy method of setting up router templates with Super Glue. This is the same InstaCure, gap-filling glue I've mentioned here before that I often use for assembling parts prior to making epoxy fillets. It can also be used for temporary work such as attaching templates to a work piece. Here, I marked my line 3/16" from the edge of the hatch lip, then glued on a straight piece of 9mm ply by spraying the accelerator on one surface and putting just two drops of glue on the other surface. Used this way, the glue lets go cleanly when forced but will hold the template in place while doing the routing.

The mortise was cut using a top-bearing, straight pattern bit in the one-hand laminate router.

Here is the finished mortise, showing the hinge installed. The hatch lips touch the coamings all the way around. Since it is the inner coaming which keeps water from entering the hatch opening, is doesn't matter that the hinge is not waterproof. Note the two drain holes in the aft corners, which are the lowest points of the inner channel between the coamings. I located the hinges on the aft side since this is the side least likely to get hit by the full force of green water coming across the decks.

A view of the closed hatch, showing the hinge and drains aft. The hatches will be secured by either hatch dogs or hasps and locks on the forward end. There is a clearance of several inches between the foward ends of the hatches and front crossbeam.

Here is a view of the open hatch with the hinge temporarily installed. It took some work to get everything aligned and at the correct height, but now when the hatch closes the lips on the lid sit flat on the outer coamings and the bottom of the lid itself also closes flat on the top of the inner coaming. It will be very difficult for water to get inside these hatches.

Another view of the open hatch from the bow. With the hatch covers permanently attached like this, unlike on my Tiki 21 and Hitia 17, I won't have to worry about losing a cover overboard while getting stuff out of the forward holds.

After the final fitting and alignment was done, I removed the hinges and coated the coamings and insides of the hatch covers with epoxy. When this cures larger fillets will be made between the outer coamings and the deck, then glass cloth will be laminated over them to reinforce them. The outsides of the hatch covers will, of course, also be sheathed in fiberglass cloth. The other epoxy-coated part that you can see curing on the deck here is the beginnings of the companionway step assembly for the starboard hull.

One reason for the focus on the foredeck and forward hatches at this stage is that once these areas are finished and coated with at least primer, if not paint, I can then move the hulls about ten feet forward out the front of my shed so that I'll have room in the back to work on such parts as the cockpit. At the same time I'm working on both cabin interiors to I can move forward to closing in the inner cabin sides and installing the coach roofs. I'm about to have to spend some money at this point on Lexan for the portlights and companionway drop boards, as well as the additional manufactured deck hatches and port lights I intend to install. In each coach roof at the forward end there will be an opening deck hatch of at least 16"x16". An opening portlight will be installed in each aft cabin bulkhead just above the aft crossbeam. This kind of cross ventilation is necessary to make this boat inhabitable in the hot climates in which I intend to sail.

Sailmaking Weather Again

2008-12-11T12:35:00.011-06:00

I returned from Florida this week with renewed enthusiasm to get back to building, but working in an open shed this time of year is hit and miss. Tuesday was a fairly nice day and I did some work on the starboard hull companionway steps and made some other interior layout decisions. But yesterday was a whole day of steady cold rain, which turned to snow this morning. By noon today everything was covered, but it won't last long as temperatures are rising again.

The jib that I assembled last spring from a Sailrite kit has been stored away awaiting the finish work that must be done by hand. I got it out yesterday and started to work on the corners. The Sailrite kits utilize sewn brass rings for reinforcing the tack, head and clew rather than pressed rings. Installing them takes some time, but is rather pleasant work, hand sewing with the help of an awl and sailmaker's palm.

Below is the sewn-in ring for the tack. I had already completed the installation of the wire luff, which is also hand-sewn into the corner of the sail.

After the ring is sewn in place through all the layers of Dacron reinforcing patches in the corner, it is then laced to the thimble of the luff wire using about 40 turns of waxed sailmaker's twine.

The final step in finishing the corner is to dress it in protective leather. This was also done with an awl and sailmaker's twine. The photo below shows the tack. The head of the sail is treated the same way, and is also complete.

The clew of the jib is done a bit different, as there is no wire or thimble to reinforce. Instead, a larger #9 brass ring is sewn into the corner and then using a die set and hammer, a #9 brass eyelet is pressed inside the ring to form a smooth, chafe-proof interior for attaching the jib sheets. The outer corner is protected by a strip of leather.

There are two more rings like the above one at the clew that must be sewn in at the reef point tack and clew. Then I have to install the grommets for the reef points and hanks and then the hanks, and this sail will be finished.

Boatsmith Raises the Bar

2008-12-11T10:55:00.005-06:00

I've just returned from four days of working for David Halladay at the Strictly Sail Boat Show in St. Petersburg, Florida. This time the job did not involve making sawdust or even picking up a power tool. Instead, we spent the entire time hanging out on Abaco, his Pro-Built Tiki 30, showing her to crowds of visitors who steadily streamed in and out of the cockpit and climbed down in the hulls to look around. Surrounded by gleaming production yachts such as Catalinas, Tartans and Island Packets, we spent a lot of time explaining the Wharram design philosophy to the many who were fascinated by this very different craft.

It was indeed the differences that drew all the attention, and Abaco showed very well with her superb fit and finish that far exceeds the typical homebuilt Wharam cat. Awlgrip paint, professional canvas, custom teak woodwork and top notch gear and fittings put this Tiki 30 in a class all by itself, and David has gone out of his way to insure that it can live up to the quality Boatsmith is known for.

I had not seen the boat in person since last April, when I built the mast and the hulls were just being turned upside down for sheathing. Needless to say, I was blown away by the finished results, which can only be appreciated when viewed as a whole package.

David has made a commitment as the first licensed U.S. Wharram builder to raise the bar when it comes to the quality of these fine boats in an effort to attract more people to the designs. While many homebuilt examples are also finished to a standard of excellence, there are also far too many on the other end of the spectrum that give these boats a bad rap among the general sailing public.

Seeing the final product, has of course, inspired me to get moving again on my own Tiki 26 build. David has incorporated many of the ideas I had planned to use on my boat and has come up with many of his own. In an effort to remember everything I saw, I took lots of pictures of the details. Since there are far too many to post here, I've put them in an online gallery so others who are interested can check them out. There are probably ideas and inspirations here for all Wharram owners, regardless of the size boat:

http://picasaweb.google.com/teaksmith/BoatsmithTiki30AtStPetersburgBoatShow#

Another thing that I found quite positive and encouraging about this boat show was the number of people who came to see it who were Wharram owners or builders. Over the course of four days we met folks who owned or had owned just about every popular size and model of Wharram cat. The Tiki 30 also appealed to sailing newbies who could just sense that it felt right when they stepped aboard, as well as quite a few old salts who said they knew a good sea boat when they saw one.

Double-Coaming Bow Hatches

2008-12-02T18:32:00.000-06:00

As you may have guessed from the length of time since my last post, work on the Tiki 26 has slowed due to other obligations and considerations. I'm expecting to pick up the pace again shortly, despite the arrival of colder weather which interferes with the curing of the epoxy.

One project that I have been working on is building the double-coaming hatches that provide access to the forward storage compartments in the bows. These compartments are sealed off from the main cabin areas by watertight bulkheads that go from the keel to the deck, so having totally waterproof hatches here is not absolutely necessary. It will be nice, however, to not have to worry about these compartments filling in rough situations where solid water might sweep the decks, so I have elected to go to the extra trouble of building double coaming hatches, rather than the simple lid hatches shown in the plans.

This type of hatch is the most waterproof design you can build with wood and epoxy, and does not require a gasket-type of seal to keep the water out. The design consists of a high inner coaming and then an extra outer coaming about half as high that meets the overhanging hatch trim. The outer coaming turns away most of the water, but if any gets in, it is stopped by the inner coaming and then drains back out via a couple of drain holes in the rear of the outer coaming.

The first step in building these was to make and install the inner coamings. These are 3 1/2 inches high and made of two layers of laminated 6mm ply. The first layer was screwed into the sides of the deck stringers that run under the decks parallel to the hatch openings on each side. The second layer was laminated on from the outside and filleted to the adjoining deck surface. This makes for a very strong and rigid inner coaming.

The front and rear pieces were then fitted to the adjoining sides, with epoxy fillets in the corners to reinforce them. After the clamps were removed, epoxy fillets were made all the way around to the decks, then the outside corners were rounded off to a nice radius with a belt sander.

An overhanging lip of 6mm ply cut to 3/4 of an inch in width was epoxied on the top edges of the coamings. The extra 1/4 inch of overhang is designed to further aid in turning away water that might otherwise squeeze between the top of the coaming and the hatch cover.

To insure that the hatch lid lies completely flat on the coaming, I sanded across the finished coamings with a rigid longboard to take down any high spots and keep everything level.

The hatch lids were then built using 9mm ply and an outer, overhanging lip of 1/2-inch ply to match up to the outer coamings. These hatch lids are larger than the inner coamings by about 3/4 of an inch all the way around, to allow for a channel between the coamings where any water that gets in can be contained and then drain away.

The first step in building the outer coamings was to align the hatch lid over the opening and then carefully mark the locations of the two outer side pieces. The installed outer sides of one of the outer coamings is shown here. The extra length will be trimmed when the athwartship pieces are fitted.

Here is how the hatch lid fits over the coamings. When closed the flat panel of the lid will rest on the top of the inner coaming. The outer lips of the hatch lid will mate with the top edges of the outer coamings all the way around.

Fitting the front and rear pieces of the outer coaming was the most difficult part of the job, as the bottom edges of these have to match the deck camber and the fore and aft placement of them has to exactly match the locations of the hatch lid overhangs. Here is a view of one of the rear pieces. You can see the drain openings cut at each rear corner. These are the lowest spots on the coaming and being to the rear are less likely to get wave action forcing water through them.

This is the other rear outer coaming. I installed both of these today, so now the hatches only lack the forward pieces before they are complete. When finished, the hatch lids will be attached using stainless steel piano hinges along one side and a locking latch on the other. All of this is a lot of work, but it will be nice having these large storage holds that are both dry and lockable.

I'm heading to Florida tomorrow to help David show his Tiki 30 at the St. Petersburg Strictly Sail Boat Show. I'm looking forward to a few days of hanging out on a boat, particularly a Wharram, and talking to people about sailing, boatbuilding and design. Reuel Parker will be there as well, so I'm sure that after a good dose of inspiration from him and David, I'll be ready to get back to work on Element II.

Sailing On Beat's Tiki 38 in San Francisco Bay

2008-10-13T07:16:00.008-05:00

I almost made it to the launching of Beat Rettenmund's Tiki 38, Aluna, back on September 21, as David Halladay of Boatsmith had a big job going at nearby Bay Ship and Yacht in Alameda and I was invited to help. That trip didn't work out, but as it turned out there was some additional work to be done on the job a week after David took his crew back to Florida, so he asked if I could fly out and meet him to help out for 2 or 3 days. This time I was able to make it happen and I'm glad I did. Not only was the project last week at Bay Ship and Yacht an interesting learning experience, but I also got a chance to meet Beat and go for a sail on Aluna.

Aluna is the first Tiki 38 I've seen up close. It is a big boat compared to the Tiki 26 or even the Tiki 30. Beat has done a fine job of building her and Aluna is beautiful without the flashy high-gloss yacht finish many builders fret over. There are lots of nice artistic touches like the axe-shaped stemheads (see below) and the sunburst rays of non-skid applied to the decks.

Aluna has lots of slatted wood deck space and a protected steering station in the pod. Twin motor wells are fitted near the port and starboard hulls forward of the pod. You can see the open motor wells below. That's Beat sitting to starboard and David Halladay standing in the port motor well. At the present time Beat is using a couple of older model gas outboards for auxiliary power. He plans to switch to electric power as soon as he works out the details.

To go sailing in the bay, we motored out a long channel, straight into the wind and chop using the one functioning outboard. It sputtered and cavitated, but got us out to deep water, where at last we could shut it off and bear off on a reach under the unique crab-claw rig.

The crab claw rig requires a lot of fine-tuning and adjustment, and Beat still does not have the final version of the spars, which will be made of bamboo, nor sufficient turning blocks for adjusting the sheets. Despite this, Aluna quickly got up to speed off the wind, feeling much like the smaller Tikis I've sailed. Tacking and pointing into the wind did not go so well, but the rig is an experiment and will take some time to iron out.

It was a great afternoon sail and we were able to return to the dock without using the engine. I needed this, as it has been too long since I've been sailing and too long since I've been on the water anywhere besides the Gulf of Mexico. I'm back at work on Element II today, looking forward to that great feeling Beat must be experiencing now that he is enjoying his new creation finally in her element.

For more about Aluna, visit Beat's website here: http://web.mac.com/mobeyprod/iWeb/Alunatheboat/Welcome.html

Fiberglassing the Foredecks

2008-09-27T20:08:00.009-05:00

I've finished up the fiberglass sheathing of the foredecks and have started making parts for the forward hatch coamings. The fiberglass work was actually finished last week before the Boatsmith crew stopped by to visit, but I've since done some more fairing and filling work and have finished prepping the stern decks for their layer of 6-oz. glass cloth.

The first step in sheathing the decks was to get another layer around the sheer stringers, from the point where they join the topsides, wrapping all the way up to overlap the decks by about an inch and a half. This insures a good double layer of glass on the potential impact areas along the sheer and helps reinforce the deck to hull joint. To do this I taped off both sides of where I wanted to cut the glass strips and then laminated them on oversize, trimming to the tape with a razor knife after the epoxy cured enough so that the glass would not pull away.

The first two photos below show the wetted-out fiberglass overlapping the tape that defines the width of the finished strips:

After the edge sealing strips were cured and second coated with epoxy to fill the weave, the main decks were sheathed with the fiberglass overlapping the edge strips.

Again, masking tape was used to allow a neat edge to be cut at the overlap. After removing the tape and excess glass, the cloth was filled again with a second coat of epoxy thickened with phenolic microballoons and silica.

After the second coat of thickened epoxy had cured and was sanded, the decks looked like this. Final fairing will be done by adding more epoxy fairing mixture with a drywall knife and then sanding everything smooth. But before that is done, I will build the hatch coamings for the forward stowage compartments.

Boatsmith Crew visits the Element II Project

2008-09-27T20:01:00.004-05:00

Thursday evening I had the opportunity to show Element II to my good friend David Halladay, and his entire Boatsmith crew. This unlikely visit out in the middle of nowhere in Mississippi happened because David and his crew were en route back to their home base in Jupiter, Florida, after completing a large teak deck project in the SanFrancisco area. Needless to say, they were worn-out from days on the road, so the visit was short, but the guys got to see the boat project I've been telling them about for so long, back before they built the first Boatsmith Tiki 30.

In fact, it was my project and this blog that finally pushed David over the edge back at the beginning of this year, inspiring him to build a Wharram cat as he had long wanted to do. The result was his fine Tiki 30, Abaco, documented on Pro-Built Tiki 30 and launched this year at the Mystic Wooden Boat Show. This all led to David's meeting with James Wharram and becoming the only licensed professional Wharram builder in the U.S.

Below: David Halladay, at right, with his well-trained crew of boatbuilders crowd into my tiny shed between the hulls of Element II. I should have flattened the tires on their truck so they couldn't leave. If only I could afford to pay these guys to help me finish up, I could be sailing before the middle of October!

David and the crew hung around about an hour and a half, inspecting my work and looking over the Tiki 26 design with interest. He's hoping to get started building another Wharram in Florida soon, and thinks the Tiki 26 could be a good seller, appealing to a lot of customers.

Likely the next time they see Element II it will be somewhere on the water in south Florida, as that will be one of my first destinations for my shake down cruises.

Decking the Sterns

2008-09-23T19:51:00.011-05:00

The stern decks are now installed and I am in the process of fairing and filling them in preparation for fiberglass sheathing.

Before they could be permanently glued in place, I first completed the painting in the stern buoyancy compartments and the varnishing in the aft bunk sections. The inspection plates were installed in bulkhead No. 1 in each hull, as well as the thru-bolts that reinforce the aft beam lashing pads.

As in the bow buoyancy compartments, I painted the sealed stern compartments gloss white to make it easier to inspect the interiors with a flashlight. The natural finish in the aft bunk areas is actually a satin finish polyurethane with U.V. inhibitors. I think the satin finish will be nice in all the main cabin areas.

The decks were glued down using thickened epoxy on the deckbeams and along the sheer stringers. Temporary screws were used to hold them in place until the epoxy cured.

Once the epoxy was cured and all screws removed, I began the process of filling the screw holes and sealing the deck to hull joint with thickened epoxy. After this cured, I sanded the excess epoxy away and then used a small router with a 1/2-inch round-over bit to put a radius on the deck edges. This will make it easier to wrap the 6-oz. fiberglass sheathing over the sheer stringer to overlap the hull-side sheathing.

The decks were shaped and filled around the stern posts. After this initial filling is cured it will be sanded and more fairing compound applied to smooth it out.

Here are the stern decks where I left them at the end of the day today - mostly filled and faired, sanded, and coated with a first sealing coat of epoxy prior to fiberglassing.

I've also been doing some final fairing and sanding of the bow decks, getting them ready to fiberglass as well. This should begin tomorrow if all goes as planned.

Stern Decks and Starboard Cabin

2008-09-09T18:01:00.000-05:00

The current priority in the construction is to get the stern sections of both hulls decked so that I can focus on finishing the cabin interiors. As with the forward decks, the compartments beneath them will be completely finished before the decks go on, so that once these sections are covered with decks they will be out of sight and out of mind. Completing entire sections like this is always a good feeling as I can then move on to other areas without having to think about this again.

Stringers of Doug fir were first cut to length and fitted in the deckbeam notches. These stringers all have radiused corners on the bottom edges where they will be exposed. They were held in place by temporary screws while I marked and cut the deck panels, which are made of 6mm plywood.

There are only three stringers supporting the deck in these stern sections, but their stiffness will be enhanced by large fillets bonding them to the underside of the deck panels. Combined with the sheathing of 6-oz. fiberglass on the top surfaces, this will make the decks plenty strong while keeping them lightweight.

Here you can see the assembled deck panels with the stringers glued and filleted in place.

Below are the completed stern decks ready for installation. All the parts have been sanded and second coated with epoxy. They will be installed later this week after I get the final coats of paint in the stern buoyancy compartments and varnish in the aft bunk areas.

The outer cabin side for the starboard hull has also been installed and filleted to the shelves and bulkheads.

There will not be as many built-in fixtures as in the port hull. In addition to the panels for the electrical switches and the VHF radio and other instruments, there will be a removable chart table that will span across the navigation station and a hinged seat back that will allow comfortable seating at the chart table. Companionway steps identical to the ones in the port hull will be built on the inboard side.

More Deck and Interior Progress

2008-08-24T11:26:00.012-05:00

Work is ongoing on the port and starboard cabin interiors, as both forward decks have now been on for several weeks and the plan is to work my way aft with completing the main interior areas and then making and installing stern decks. The port hull is still a bit ahead of the starboard, as can be seen below. Here the galley sink and shelves have been installed and the outboard cabin side is filleted in place. Only a small amount of cosmetic filleting remains to be done in this area.

Here's a view looking into the port galley hull from the area where the companionway will be. Another small shelf will be added on top of the middle stringer on either side of the sink, to utilize an otherwise wasted space. The companionway steps are also installed but not visible from this angle.

Here's an exterior view of the port hull with the outer cabin side installed.

From this angle you can see the plywood portlight trim rings and how they have been filleted to the cabin side. These will be fiberglassed over right along with the surrounding surfaces. The Lexan will be fitted from the inside with matching trim rings to hold it in place.

Below is a view of the port foredeck just after installation. The temporary screws have been removed and the holes filled with epoxy.

Here's the starboard foredeck after fairing and pre-coating with epoxy. The decks will be fiberglassed next and then the hatch coamings will be built.

Inside the starboard hull I'm working on the layout of the shelves and panel faces that will house the 12-volt switch panels, battery voltage monitoring meter, VHF radio, SSB receiver, stereo and an AC inverter.

Most of these items will be mounted under the shelf in the companionway area of the hull, where you can see the open vertical framing here.

Removable panels of teak-faced 6mm ply will be screwed to the outside of this vertical frame. The instruments will be fitted in the removable panels, and all wiring organized inside under the shelf and accessible by removing the panels. Now that these sheer-level shelves have been fitted in the starboard hull, in the next couple of work sessions I can finish and install the outer cabin side.

Upright and Moving Forward

2008-07-20T20:01:00.011-05:00

Now that the drudgery of fairing and sanding the hulls is behind me, I've been having so much fun boatbuilding that I haven't wanted to take the time to blog about it. Since my last post I've turned the hulls upright and with several days available to work lots of progress has been made on various interior parts and the decks. The port hull, which I built first, is still a bit further along than the newer starboard hull, but I've cut and fit the foredeck and I'm working on finishing out everything below this deck area so it can be installed. Below is the starboard foredeck during initial dry fitting.

After aligning and fastening the deck stringers with temporary screws, the deck was removed for gluing on the stringers and filleting them to the deck undersides. All these surfaces were then coated with two coats of epoxy.

In the hull itself I began making and fitting the removable shelves in the hold compartment, like the ones I designed for the port hull. This division of space will make this huge storage area much more usable.

Back in the port hull, I finished the fitting of the custom-made galley sink and drilled it for the drain fitting, and then cut another shelf to continue the line of the sink counter forward into the front half of the cabin.

You can see this shelf with its fiddle rail fitted, below on top of the starboard deck. The smaller shelf in the foreground fits below it, on the interior hull stringer. The other assembly in the background will become the companionway steps for the port hull.

Here are the above parts installed. The galley sink and adjoining shelf forward, and the small shelf below it (just above the cordless drill in the photo). The clamps around bulkhead 3 are holding on a narrow trim strip of teak that is being laminated to the inside cutout of the bulkhead. A second laminate on top of this one will build it up to sufficient thickness. In the foreground below the bulkhead 3 cutout, you can see that the counter assembly for the stove has also been installed.

Moving forward in the port hull, here is a view of all the sections below the foredeck. The aft section is the foot of the bunk, and is varnished because it is part of the cabin interior. All areas above the bunks in the cabins will get 2-3 coats of marine spar varnish to protect the epoxy from U.V. light. Next is the bow hold compartment, with shelves removed in this photo. It is painted the same off-white that will be used on the decks. In the bow the sealed buoyancy compartment is painted white to allow easy inspection.

I finished today by installing the port fordeck Here it has been glued down and held in place with temporary screws. No fasteners will be left in as there is plenty of gluing surface for the epoxy along the sheer clamps and deck beams, and the edges will be reinforced with fiberglass wrapping to the bottom of the sheer clamps.

The foredeck hatch has been cut-out and a watertight double-coaming style wooden hatch will be fitted on each foredeck.

Portlight Frames

2008-07-10T08:05:00.006-05:00

Back in February, I wrote a post describing the custom portlight frames I was making with the router. Here is the original post: http://tiki26element2.blogspot.com/2008/02/frames-for-portlights.html

While working on the hull fairing and prepping for paint recently, I had some drying time here and there allowing for other projects. Finishing up these portlight frames was one of those. Below you can see all of the frames: A set of inner and outer ones for the small forward and larger rear portlight. The solid pieces to the left are the templates for the actual Lexan portlights.

Both outer cabin sides have already been cut and pre-fitted when the hulls were upright, so I could now go ahead and glue on the outer portlight frames. Putting them on first before installing the cabin sides on the boat will make it easy to create a nice fairing fillet around the outer edges of the frames. The frames will be sheathed with the same fiberglass covering the cabin side, and the fillets will make a nice transition possible. When the cabins are done and these sides are faired and painted, the Lexan will be installed from the inside with a silicon sealant. The inner frames will then be screwed into place to secure the Lexan.

Hull Topside Color

2008-07-10T07:28:00.006-05:00

I've finished the hullside fairing from the waterline up to about 3 inches below the sheer. As mentioned before, I'm holding off on finishing the sheer area. This is because the fiberglass sheathing from the decks and cabin sides will wrap around the outer sheer stringer and terminate in the joint where the angled bottom of the stringer meets the hull topside panel. A lot of work remains to be done in both hull interiors before the decks and cabins are on, but that will be the next phase of the project.

I've painted this completed area of the topsides at this stage for two reasons: to check the work so far for fairness and to eliminate the need for turning the hulls completely upside down again once the decks and cabins are on. I'll put one more coat of bottom paint along the waterline while they are inverted, and by the weekend they will be ready to turn upright.

This first photo shows the prepped topsides after a coat of high-build primer and another sanding, just before the first coat of paint.

Here is the first coat of topside paint. I'll only put on one coat at this stage while the boat is in construction and still in the shed. The final coats will be applied when the decks and all other parts are complete and ready to paint.

The first coat of glossy paint revealed a smooth surface that I'm quite satisfied with. Additional sanding between coats and a couple of minor fills in some imperfect areas will bring it up to standard. The color is a custom mix I've used in the past for a couple of small boats. The paint is Petit Easypoxy, which is available in a limited range of colors, especially greens. This color is made from two equal parts of Off White and Jade Green. The color reminds me of the clear waters of the Bahama banks and the Caribbean, where I plan to sail Element II. I wanted a color that would not get too hot in the tropical sun. Decks and cabins will be Off White.

First Coat of Bottom Paint

2008-06-29T20:10:00.003-05:00

I rolled on the first coat of bottom paint on both hulls yesterday, after sanding the final barrier coat of clear epoxy to 80 grit and washing with soap and water to remove any trace of blushing. I was quite pleased with how the hulls below the waterline turned out. They are fair and smooth, and the Petit Vivid bottom paint was pleasure to work with, much better than any other anti-fouling paint I've tried. I took it to my local hardware store and had a friend who works there put the gallon can in their automatic paint shaker, and when I opened it I found it just the right consistency for rolling. The color coverage was good, as you can see in the photos. This is just one coat.

One coat took less than a quart of paint. I guess I bought too much, buying a whole gallon, but it's cheaper to buy a gallon than three quarts, and I was afraid two would not be enough. At any rate, I'll have more than enough to do three coats before launching and if the shelf life is any good at all, enough for the first bottom job a couple years later.

The plan now is to finish fairing the hull topsides from the waterline to the sheer, and then to get primer and a first coat of topside paint up to at least the topside chine overlap. When this is done, I'll put a second coat of bottom paint on before turning the hulls right side up. The third coat will be put on when everything is finished, shortly before launching.

Beam and Shroud Lashing Cleats

2008-06-27T08:13:00.005-05:00

With both hulls turned back upside down, my goal now is to finish everything from the sheer down so that I can paint the bottoms with anti-fouling and prime and first-coat the topsides with paint. The reasoning behind this is that all the details that are easier to do upside down will be completed, eliminating the need to invert the hulls again, so that once I turn them right side up, I can focus on the cabin interiors and deck structures.

The beam and shroud lashing cleats, or pads, are part of those details that are easier to complete with the hulls upside down. The reason for this is that it is essential to completely seal the undersides of the lashing surfaces created behind the cleats. This is a common source of rot in the smaller Tiki designs.

Below are all the lashing cleats - a total of 12 for the beams, inboard and outboard sides, and 4 for the shroud lanyards. I had planned to install chainplates instead of these lanyard pads for the shrouds, as is shown on the Tiki 30 plans and as the previous owner of my Tiki 21 had done. In the end I decided to stick with the simpler and practically free way of attaching the shrouds that is shown on the plans. Four chainplates of adequate size and strength plus the four shackles required to attach them would have been close to $300. That cash can best be spent elsewhere on the boat. Wharram's methods of eliminating such expensive hardware are brilliant.

Yesterday I installed all the beam and shroud cleats, gluing them well with epoxy and using temporary screws to hold them until the epoxy cures. The screws will be removed and replaced with 1/4" stainless carriage bolts after the cleats are faired and ready to paint. The thru-bolts pass through the extra layer of plywood backing already glued on the inside of the hull at each lashing point. They will be secured with large fender washers and self-locking nuts.

Here is a close-up of one of the lashing cleats, taken this morning after an initial coating of epoxy. Each plywood pad is made of 18mm ply and all corners are rounded and the edges are radiused to 3/8" so there are no hard edges exposed. The next step is to round over the bottom edges of the teak sheer doublers on either side of each pad. Small fillets of epoxy with wood flour and silica will be made on each side where the pad meets the doublers and sheer stringer, and a small fillet will be carefully made and smoothed on the inside edge of the pad. This is why it is easier to complete this job with the hull upside down. All surfaces in contact with the lashing lines must be as smooth as possible, as well as completely sealed from water intrusion. Sheer doublers made from solid teak will help greatly in preventing rot in this vulnerable area.

When all these lashing areas are completely faired, sanded smooth, and sealed with epoxy and primer, I'm going to thoroughly wash the hull exteriors and apply the bottom paint below the waterline. The first coat of topside paint can also be applied up to the bottom edge of the sheer stringer. The stringer itself will remain bare until after the decks and cabin sides go on, as I plan to wrap the fiberglass sheathing from the deck surfaces around the stringer to give a double layer of protection to the sheer and reinforce the deck to hull joint.

Starboard Deckbeams

2008-06-20T06:24:00.007-05:00

The hull bottoms were finished last week up through the final fairing and sanding, and then barrier coated with a clear coat of epoxy to ready them for bottom paint. Next week I will pick up the bottom paint, a relatively new product from Petit, called "Vivid." This is a bottom paint that can be applied at any time during the construction, as it is formulated for boats that are sometimes stored out of the water and does not lose its effectiveness when dried out like most bottom paints.

In the meantime, with nothing left to do to the bottoms until I get the paint, I turned the starboard hull back upright to begin the process of fitting out components like deckbeams and other parts needed to get it to the same stage as the port hull. This is going much faster than on the first hull, as all these parts were either already cut or at least marked out on the wood they would be cut from when I made the first set for the port hull. Below you can see the five deckbeams; cut, sanded, and epoxy coated prior to installation:

The beams were epoxied in place leaving the un-trimmed bulkheads protruding above.

When the epoxy cured and the clamps were removed, the excess bulkhead plywood was trimmed with a router, using a flush cutting bit to follow the curves and notches of the deckbeams.

Another project on the starboard hull was gluing on all the sheer stringer doublers at the beam landing locations. These are made of teak and were also cut out while making the set for the port hull.

Many other tasks are also underway as the epoxy cures on these parts, mostly filling and fairing inside, cleaning up the fillets and prepping the forward storage and buoyancy compartments for primer and paint.

Marking the Waterlines

2008-06-10T05:56:00.006-05:00

I spent most of yesterday morning setting up a water level and marking the waterlines on both hulls. This is a project I wanted to get done while in the fairing process, as the hull surfaces below the waterline will be covered with a thicker anti-fouling paint and therefore to not have to be sanded to perfection like the topsides that will be painted a high gloss.

A simple, jury-rigged water level is the most accurate means of establishing a true waterline on a boat hull. I bought 35 feet of clear plastic tubing with and I.D. of 3/8." Total cost: 8 dollars and change. This is better than an expensive laser level that can't "see" through the hulls. A water level allows you to mark all sides of the hulls all the way around in one set up. Wharram's plans for the Tiki 26 include a sheet with waterline measurements, showing the height of the bow and the height of the stern (both at the sheer) above the waterline. These measurements are vertical distances above the water, however, and cannot be measured on the hull. Since my hulls are currently upside down, what I had to do is establish an arbitrary waterline at a level within the range I could hoist or lower them with slings. I marked this line on a clean piece of wood taped to one of my shed support posts, as shown below. I then marked the distance from the waterline to the bow and to the stern by measuring vertically from the arbitrary waterline mark. Since the hulls were upside down, this meant measure down from the line - 31 5/8" for the bow, and 25 3/4" for the stern. I then adjusted this for the maximum load waterline by subtracting 3 inches from these numbers.

The water level consists of nothing more than a bucket of water and the clear hose. The bucket is filled, then lifted up with the hose on the ground and one end secured inside the bucket below the waterline. The hose is filled by starting a siphon until the water flows freely from the open end. Then the open end is picked up and held higher than the bucket to prevent air bubbles in the line. The water level is now operational, and the water in the hose will match the waterline in the bucket.

I started by taping the hose to the side of my marked pole. Then I lowered the bucket until the water level in the hose matched exactly the mark for the bow. The open end of the hose was then moved to the first hull, and using my webbing slings I lifted the bow until it matched the waterline in the hose, and of course, the marked line on the pole. This was repeated for the stern, adjusting the bucket to the mark for the stern. It took a couple of back and forth operations to get the hull exact, bow and stern, then I leveled it athwartships by crawling under it with a spirit level and blocking it in position with scrap wood. With the bow and stern now the correct height above true waterline, I then readjusted the bucket until the waterline in it matched the marked waterline on my pole. When this was done, all I had to do was take the free end of the hose to the hull and make marks all the way around both sides about every foot or so. The marks were then connected by carefully pulling a line of masking tape through them. I masked above the marks, so I could paint a swath of dark gray primer above the actual waterline, then remove the tape and still be able to see it clearly.

In the first photo below, the bucket is set at the height of the waterline and the clear hose standing vertically against the hull in the background is being used to transfer the marks (already painted in this photo).

Here's a view from the bow showing the port hull with waterline marked with primer. You can also see the side of the starboard hull to the left. The other hull in the top right of the photo is a 19-foot woodstrip canoe I built years ago and have no where else to store. It's somewhat in the way, but hopefully it won't be long before I'm pulling the Tiki 26 hulls out in the open for assembly with the beams.

Another view of the starboard hull shows the straight waterline, with gray primer above. This line is 3 inches high to accommodate a fully loaded boat. Waterlines are always optically deceiving viewed like this and do not usually look straight when the boat is upside down. But using a water level is fool proof and the boat will sit on it lines when launched if the numbers given in James Wharram's plans are correct.

Bottom Jobs

2008-06-10T05:25:00.009-05:00

After laminating the 1708 biaxial tape onto the keel of the starboard hull, as described in my last post, I turned port hull upside down as well to give it the same treatment. I decided at this point to go ahead complete all the work on the bottoms of both hulls, all the way through painting the anti-fouling below the waterline. That way I won't have to turn them back upside down when the decks and cabins are completed and the hulls are much heavier.

Below you can see the fairing process of building up thickened epoxy to smooth the transition between the heavy 1708 tape and the rest of the hull surfaces.

In addition to the bottom of the keels, I also laminated the 1708 tape around the leading edges of the skegs and around the stems all the way from the keel to the stem heads above the deck. This will provide a degree of protection if I should hit some floating object in the water, or bump the bows against a concrete dock as I did once with my Tiki 21.

This heavy biaxial tape conforms easily around a tight radius like the stem edges, but requires a lot of filling and fairing to blend in the transitions.

Here you can see the tape with the first fill layer of epoxy mixed with phenolic microballoons and silica. This thickened layer was brushed on to fill the weave completely. The subsequent fairing layers were applied with drywall finishing knives.

In the photo below you can see that most of the transition has been faired. There is still some minor filling and more sanding to be done, but once it is complete the biaxial tape will be indistinguishable from the rest of the hull sheathing.

I'm closing in on the fairing, as shown below, but there is still more minor filling and lots more sanding to do to get the hulls ready to paint.

It's summertime in Mississippi now and at least 90 degrees in the shade every day. Sanding and fairing the hulls is hot, dusty, and monotonous work. This part of the project is probably the least fun aspect of building a boat, but I'll soon have it behind me and will be moving on to more interesting phases like completing the decks and cabins.

Reinforcing the Keel

2008-05-26T18:42:00.006-05:00

I'd been pondering for quite sometime the various options for building up the keels of my Tiki 26 to reinforce them for occasional intentional beachings and inevitable unintentional groundings. Most Tiki 26 builders add some kind of keel reinforcing strip, sacrificial wooden shoe, or strip of metal or PVC plastic. The problem with some of these add-on materials is they often requires screws penetrating into the glassed-over keel to hold them, or they are glued on with epoxy or bedding compound but can eventually work loose. The other problem is that it would be difficult to keep bottom paint on a metal or plastic surface, and difficult to fair it in to the rest of the hull for a smooth entry through the water.

To keep it simple, I decided to use 1708 fiberglass tape, a heavy biaxial fabric with a mat on the inner side. This thick tape, in the 6-inch width, holds a lot of resin and will add a very strong layer of protection to the keel. It may eventually wear down from abrasion, but that will take a long time, and it can be easily replaced. I don't plan on much beaching and when I do nose the boat up to the shore it will only be for brief visit as I always anchor off for any extended stay or if there is a sea running.

This tape is so thick it is necessary to first wet it out completely from the inside before applying it to the hull. I did this on some scrap plywood panels shown below. I also sanded, cleaned, and coated the keel area of the hull with wet epoxy before laying the tape on.

Here, you can see the 1708 tape in place on the keel. Since it reaches 3 inches up on either side of the keel, it provides additional strength all along the bottom, which could help if I ever find myself aground on a reef or rocks.

Fairing this stuff into the hull is quite a job. After laying down the tape strip and making sure it was completely wetted out with pure epoxy, I went back over it with a first layer of epoxy thickened with microballoons and silica. This was applied with a drywall knife, but is still thin enough to fill the weave well. As you can see, more epoxy putty will be needed. The next round will be thicker to build up a deep enough coating to sand it smooth.

I plan to go ahead and turn the port hull over again as well, to give it this same treatment. I will then fair and prime both hulls before proceeding with the decks and cabins.

Sheathing the Starboard Hull

2008-05-19T06:15:00.005-05:00

My plans for attending the Florida Wharram rendezvous changed when I decided that my truck would likely not be capable of trailering home the trimaran I was going to Florida to bring back here for a repainting job. I decided to pass that job on to my friend, David, and his crew at Boatsmith. So, with the cost of fuel being what is is, driving almost 2,000 miles to Islamorada was less appealing. Instead, if they have a summer rendezvous there this time next year, I plan to sail there on Element II.

Staying home had it's benefits, as the weather was perfect for fiberglassing. I got one side of the starboard hull sheathed yesterday and will do the other side today. As with the port hull, I found it easier to do this with the hull suspended and laid over on one side, so that I'm not fighting epoxy runs as I work alone wetting out this fairly large area.

Lots of sanding was required first, smoothing out the fairing compound I used at the transition of the keel and stem and skeg where I added extra layers of fiberglass a few days ago.

Here the dry cloth is draped on the hull in one piece. I bought 18 yards of this 50-inch wide cloth just for this purpose when I visited the Raka Epoxy warehouse in Florida last month.

Wetting out the cloth went smoothly and was easy to keep in control, as I worked from the bow back, pushing out trapped air and smoothing the cloth with a rubber squee-gee. I used slow hardener for this, again since I'm working alone and need the extra time.

After the cloth was saturated, I waited a couple hours and applied a second coat of epoxy (not shown) using a mix of phenolic microballoons and silica to slightly thicken it and fill the weave. This coat was done with a medium fast hardener, and by evening yesterday it was cured. Today I'll trim the excess cloth on the edges and sand the transitions, then roll the hull over in the slings and do the same for the other side. Other work that has been going on while waiting on epoxy to cure includes gluing on teak sheer doublers at the beam locations on the port hull and making the lashing pads. I've also applied another coat of paint in the forward hold of the port hull and a coat of varnish in the forward part of the cabin under the foredeck.

Florida Wharram Rendezvous

2008-05-15T19:37:00.004-05:00

I'm heading to the Florida Keys tomorrow, just in time to make it to the Florida Wharram rendezvous in Islamorada by Saturday. I had not expected to make it to this event, but another job opportunity involving transporting another multihull back here for refinishing will put me in the area anyway, so I might as well attend.

I'm looking forward to meeting other Wharram enthusiasts - both sailors and builders - and for the opportunity to see a range of Wharram sizes and designs I have not yet seen in person. My friend David will be there with his family, though the Tiki 30 is not ready to show as he had hoped. But he is bringing a really cool dinghy he just built that should be of great interest to Wharram sailors. This boat is a 14-foot Reuel Parker designed periagua - a slim, lightweight and good looking rowing craft that will fit easily across the decks of most Wharram designs from the Tiki 26 size and up.

If any of the regular readers of this blog are planning to be at the rendezvous, I look forward to meeting you.

Nissan Outboard

2008-05-15T19:33:00.003-05:00

Fiberglassing the starboard hull this week didn't happen as planned. Yesterday, I went to Mobile, AL to purchase a slightly used Nissan outboard that will be the auxiliary engine for Element II. This is the exact model I had planned to purchase new: the 6hp, 4-stroke with extra-long 25-inch shaft and built-in charging alternator. It will be the ideal power source for a Tiki 26, as it is lightweight, at only 60lbs. and will push the easily driven hulls quite economically.

I had the 5hp model on my Tiki 21, Element, and it performed flawlessly. I recommended the above model to Thomas Nielsen, when he was building and outfitting Tsunamichaser and he as been well-pleased and satisfied with the performance and agrees it is ideal for this boat.

This particular engine was only used a couple of hours by the previous owner, who had fitted it into the outboard well of a Pearson Commander that he subsequently sold. The discoloration on the shaft and foot is anti-fouling paint he applied as the engine could not be tilted clear of the water on that particular boat. This turned out to be a great deal and I'm looking forward to the day I'll get to try it out when I launch Element II - thanks again, Jerry!

The other thing that disrupted my plans to get my starboard hull glassed was a phone call that came while I was still in Mobile, and an opportunity for work transporting a Farrier trimaran back here from south Florida for repainting. The good thing about this opportunity is that the timing works out so that I can make the Florida Wharram rendezvous in Islamorada this weekend. More about this in the next post....

Keel and Skeg Reinforcements

2008-05-13T07:55:00.009-05:00

The first task I'm facing this morning is a dusty one - sanding the entire starboard hull that is now almost ready for fiberglass sheathing. Yesterday I completed the keel, stem and skeg reinforcements. I did this by taping off a few inches above the keel on either side and laminating 2 layers of fiberglass cloth over it. This was carried out to the aft edge of the skeg as well to strengthen the joint where the skeg exits the hull panels.

The keel reinforcements were done in two steps, with the second layer over lapping the first by a good 2 inches.

After the epoxy cured enough for the edges of the fiberglass to be cut and the masking tape removed, I applied a layer of filling compound made by mixing epoxy with silica and phenolic microballoons.

This first filling layer is now ready to sand this morning. I've also used the same mix to make small fillets at the topside chine joint and the bottom edge of the topside stringer. After sanding completely, there will likely be additional filling needed in places to get a smooth enough surface for wetting out the fiberglass on the entire hull.

Here's a view from the bow showing the filling around the stem. If the sanding goes well and the second layer of epoxy cures fast enough, I may get one side of the hull sheathed today.

Sheathing the Crossbeams

2008-05-09T19:35:00.005-05:00

I've spent a considerable amount of time this week on a task that is quite tedious and doesn't show a lot of progress for the amount of labor involved - that task is sheathing the crossbeams with fiberglass. This is a necessary step, I believe to insure longevity in these essential structural components of the boat, but the way they are designed is certainly not conducive to covering in fiberglass.

I just returned from Florida last week where I was working on David's Tiki 30 and as I've mentioned here before, there's quite an improvement in beam design on the newer Tiki 30. The difference is all the solid stringers are inside the plywood panels, creating a closed triangular box section that is easy to 'glass. The Tiki 26 beams, on the other hand, are a fiberglass lay-up nightmare, requiring hours upon hours of prep work and sanding the fillets smooth, then applying the glass in partial segments that can wrap around all the exposed edges. In retrospect, if I had it to do over again I would build scaled down Tiki 30-style beams for the Tiki 26 just because of this issue. Nonetheless, the beams I have must be sheathed, and that is what I'm doing. Structurally, they are just as sound in design as the newer beams, so once this job is done I won't worry about them.

In the first photo you can see the aft beam with the top plate covered in wetted-out 6-oz. fiberglass. I used tape lines like the one at the top of the fairing to cut the fiberglass in straight lines. This layer slightly overlaps the previously applied layer that covers the front fairing.

In order to be able to wrap the fiberglass fabric around the corners, I used a router to cut all the corners to a 1/2" radius. The beam on the left is the aft beam again, showing how the glass wraps around the top plate to the upper part of the vertical plywood web.

Below is the aft beam again, now with all exposed surfaces sheathed. The fabric makes a lumpy mess in places - hard to avoid with so many overlaps. In the photo below this has been faired out with a skimming compound of epoxy mixed with phenolic microballoons and silica. It will take some work, but when the beams are all sheathed and all surfaces faired and sanded smooth, they will once again be smooth and beautiful and will look great when painted.

Shaping the Rudders

2008-05-09T19:03:00.002-05:00

I've spent so much time sanding and fairing fiberglass this week on the crossbeams and doing paint and varnish prep work on the Backwoods Drifter I'm finishing up that I had to have a change of pace for an hour or so this afternoon.

I got out the rudders that I had been storing in the house to keep them from warping and using the belt sander and my 6-inch random orbital disc sander, shaped aft edges to the foil section as specified in the plans. This was pleasant work and the shape came out well. The next step will be sheathing these and hopefully one day soon, hanging them on the sterns of the two hulls.

Shaping the rudders begins with removing material with belt sander first, then smoothing with the disc sander. The glue lines between laminates in the plywood help maintain consistency in material removal.

This weekend I will get back to the hulls. While in Florida I visited the Raka Epoxy warehouse and bought the fiberglass and epoxy necessary to sheath the starboard hull, which is upside down and ready. Hopefully that will get done this coming week. I've also found a great deal on a practically brand new Nissan outboard motor for the boat and will probably pick it up in Mobile, Alabama one day next week. It's the exact model I planned to buy anyway - the 6hp 4-stroke extra-long shaft with built-in alternator - and it only has 2 hours of run time on it.

Closing in the Crossbeams

2008-04-18T07:35:00.001-05:00

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.

Trampoline for Element I (my old Tiki 21)

2008-04-18T06:54:00.007-05:00

The new owner of my Tiki 21, Element, which I sold last year, recently contacted me to inquire if I knew where he could have a new forward trampoline made for the boat. I had planned to replace the trampoline when I did the refit of the boat, but at the time it was still in decent shape and so I sailed with the old one. Since I had made the custom rear tramp I designed for the boat, I told the new owner I could make his replacement forward tramp. After all, I did just spent $800 on a Sailrite sewing machine to make my sails, and it wouldn't be a bad thing at all if the new machine could start paying for itself.

Here is the finished result, which I just shipped out this week.

The Sailrite Ultrafeed's zig-zag stitch capability is especially nice for this application, as trampolines, like sails, are subject to high loads at the attachment points and the zig-zag stitch distributes the stress better. The perimeter of the trampoline is also reinforced with a heavy-duty 2-inch webbing. The grommets are the "spur" grommet type, which are much stronger than ordinary washer grommets.

I'm still undecided about a forward trampoline for Element II. I am considering some sort of slatted, more permanent deck, but will make the final decision after the boat is assembled in the yard and the cockpit is done. I will have a rear trampoline for sure though, connected to an extra aft beam near the stern. There are stronger and more long-lasting trampoline materials available than this standard black mesh that is so common on beach cats, and I'll probably use one of those.

In the meantime, if anyone reading this is need of a new trampoline for their Wharram cat, I can give quote and try to fit it in among my many other projects.

Painting Begins at Last

2008-04-10T09:19:00.001-05:00

When you're building a boat it's always a good feeling when you start applying finish coats of paint for the first time. On the Tiki 26, painting the interior of the port bow hold and forward buoyancy compartment is only a small step in painting the whole boat, but at least this is one area that is closer to being finished. This is actually not the final coat of paint in these areas, they will get at least one more, but the high gloss white is really brightening things up in here and I'm one step closer to getting the deck on this section.

In these photos you can see the new location for the inspection port opening that I moved as described in a previous post. The ring for the plate is not installed here, just temporarily stuck in place. Aft of the plate you can see the large bow hold and the permanently mounted shelf section I installed. Forward of that shelf, there are two removable shelves not shown that rest on the stringers and form a solid horizontal divider to make the compartment more usable. The two forward shelves are sized so that they can be taken out through the deck hatch for access to the larger area below.

Aft of these two painted compartments, you can see the natural wood surface on the other side of bulkhead 4. From here back, in the living quarters of the cabin, the wood will all be finished bright with varnish.

While working on these below deck areas of the port hull, I've also been filling and fairing the inverted starboard hull, and it is almost ready for fiberglass sheathing, after I do a bit more shaping and sanding.

Close Call with a Tornado

2008-04-10T08:51:00.001-05:00

Last Friday, at around noon, I had just finished applying another coat of epoxy to the interior of the Backwoods Drifter I have almost finished building in the garage shop in Jackson. I was about to start back to work on the crossbeams for Element II, which need fairing in preparation for fiberglassing when my girlfriend, Michelle, told me we were under a tornado warning.

The sky was dark, but there was no rain yet, just a thick, warm humidity hanging in the air. Warning sirens begin to sound and I started to close the garage door in case rain should blow in on my fresh epoxy, but when I tried, the power suddenly went off. I stood in the open garage door looking out, and out of nowhere a tremendous wind began gusting and I began to hear the sound of snapping trees. I saw branches flying horizontally through the air and heard thuds of small objects hitting the roof and sides of the house. I ran inside and found Michelle and her daughter, Jasmine, huddled on the floor in the hall. The sound of breaking trees was intense, as the house is in an old neighborhood with many tall pines, oaks and other hardwoods. I went back to the garage to try to get the door down manually and just as I looked out heard another loud breaking sound and watched as the entire service line on the street in front of the house went down. This is the view from the garage:

I knew the storm was over when the wind subsided after maybe ten minutes and the warm humid air was replaced by a sudden cool. Checking around, I found that the house did not get hit by any trees, but we had a near miss with this one in the backyard that thankfully missed the kitchen by a few feet and only took out part of the fence.

Trees like these were down all over the neighborhood, many on top of or through the framing of houses. Later that day, as we got out beyond our immediate area, we were to find out that the damage was widespread in the city and surrounding area, and more than 700 homes were damaged, including 50 that were completely demolished. 90,000 people were without power, as utility poles everywhere were trashed as bad as ours.

I found out later that is was a near miss indeed. The National Weather Service determined that the storm front that passed through the area generated five tornadoes. The one that did all this damage was an F2 tornado that passed just a few blocks north of us, and stayed above the ground, cutting a 900-yard wide path of destruction. If it had been on the ground, the results would have been much worse. As it turned out, no one was killed by this tornado, but a lot of people suffered property damage. The power was just restored yesterday, and phone service will not be back until tomorrow. When I get back to the work in the garage later today, the first thing I have to do is clean out all the debris that was blown in the open door and sand the stuck leaves out of my cured epoxy.

Preparing Port Hull for Foredeck Installation

2008-04-01T06:28:00.000-05:00

With the starboard hull upside down and now protected from moisture and humidity with a coat of epoxy on all the exterior surfaces, I turned my attention back to the port hull, as I want to get the foredeck on and then work my way aft to the cabin sides and stern deck. The starboard hull is going to require lots of filling, shaping and fairing in preparation for fiberglassing - all monotonous hard work, so this port deck and interior work was a nice break from that.

Today I broke out the primer for the first time on the project, having finally gotten a least a couple areas ready to be primed and painted. You can see the forward buoyancy compartment here, with the first coat of primer on it. It's not necessary to paint inside here, and many Tiki builders do not, but I wanted a bright white interior in here so that a flashlight shined through the inspection port can reveal the condition of this inaccessible area. This is also important for clearing customs in some areas where officials looking for contraband might want to cut their own inspection holes if they can't see inside a sealed area. I'll have this area packed with sealed, empty plastic water bottles for extra floatation in the event of a holing, but these will be clear and the white interior should reflect enough light back to reveal that the bottles are all that's inside.

Note the inspection hatch opening that has been moved up closer to the deckbeam on the forward bulkhead.

This photo below shows the original location of this inspection port opening. This is the location shown on the plans and it was cut when I first cut out all the bulkheads and other hull parts. I moved it because I wanted to add the lifting partition panels you can see below at the level of the lower hullside stringer. This large area aft of the bulkhead is the forward bow hold, a storage area accessible only through a deck hatch. It is a huge, deep compartment with no division whatsoever on the plans. I decided it would be more useful to divide it with these panels, which form a shallow compartment high in the hold for lightweight items needed on deck like fenders and extra line. The partition is designed in three parts, with the forward two removable so that the large bottom area can be accessed through the deck hatch as well, and larger items stashed down there.

Moving a 6-inch hole in a bulkhead is no big deal with epoxy construction techniques. I first used the hole itself to trace a pattern for a plug on a piece of scrap 6mm ply. Then, using a few drops of the B.S.I. Super Glue that continues to prove so handy, I glued three temporary blocks on the forward side of the bulkhead to hold the plug, and then glued the plug to the part of the blocks overlapping the hole.

Working from the other side of the bulkhead, I filled in the gaps between the plug and the edges of the hole be forcing thickened epoxy in with a putty knife. When this cured, the temporary blocks were knocked off the other side with a hammer, and both sides were sanded, filled completely and sanded again until fair. A layer of 6oz. fiberglass cloth was laminated on the forward side to reinforce the plug. The new, higher hole was then marked and cut.

Here is a view into this storage compartment, showing the one part of the partition that has been permanently epoxied into place. The other two interlock and rest on the hull stringers and the ledgers on the forward edge of this part and on the aft edge of the bulkhead. Note the re-positioned opening for the inspection port - there is now enough clearance room above the partition for the flange of of the plastic port. The first coat of primer has been applied in the lower part of this compartment as well. All of the interior of the hold will be painted white.

The other project yesterday was cutting and fitting the foredeck for the port hull. Here is the complete deck, with the forward hatch opening cut and the longitudinal stringers glued and filleted in place on the underside. When the paint work is completed in the two forward compartments, this deck can be installed.

Turning the Starboard Hull

2008-03-27T20:59:00.005-05:00

Today I turned the starboard hull upside down for the first time, in preparation for shaping and then fiberglassing and fairing the hull exterior.

These first two photos are from last week, the day after I installed the topside panels. Once the panels were glued on at the bottom edges and held in place with temporary screws, I used a series of Spanish windlasses and adjustable straps to pull the upper edges of the topsides, at the sheer, in tight against the upper bulkhead edges. With everything locked in place, fillets were then made at the topside to bulkhead joints, and the cavities at the stem and sternpost were filled with thickened epoxy.

Note the bar clamps along the sheer used as anchor points for attaching the windlass lines. This worked really well and avoided the need for drilling holes for eye screws as I did on the port hull.

This is where I am today, with the hull upside down on the sturdy low saw horses I built for the purpose. The hull has been sanded and precoated with epoxy. The next step before glassing will be to fill and fair all the joints at the keel, stem and sternpost, and topside lap joints.

Starboard Hull Gets Topside Panels

2008-03-16T06:38:00.009-05:00

The topside panels went on the starboard hulls yesterday. Despite the lack of recent updates here, I've been making progress on lots of projects on the boat, such as interior shelves in the port hull and getting the fairings installed on the crossbeams. Perfect weather recently has made for ideal working conditions.

The topside panels were already prepared and ready to install months ago. Once the bunk panels were filleted into place in the starboard hull, it was safe to lift it out of the building cradles and lay it over on it's side for pulling the remaining wire stitches out of the keel. I then turned it on each side and did a dry fit of the topside panels before gluing them on. The panels were fit with temporary screws. Here is a sequence of photos showing the procedure that makes it feasible for one person working alone to do this. My friend Chris Carter stopped by yesterday to see the project so I asked him to take some photos of me positioning the second panel.

With the hull in rope slings, the long topside panel was placed on the hull so that the slings hold it in place. The joint areas of both mating surfaces were sanded and cleaned with alcohol to prepare them for epoxy. I measured down 1 inch along the upper edge of the lower panel. This is the overlap area for the topside panel. A few small blocks were screwed in along this line to serve as rests for the topside panel until screws could be placed.

By grabbing in the midships area, I could easily flip up and manipulate the long panel.

Moving it in position: note the small wooden blocks I'm trying to get the bottom edge over.

The bottom edge is on the blocks, now it can be lowered in place.

The panel is in position. Now it's a matter of carefully aligning it at the bow and putting in temporary screws along the bottom edge. After everything was dry-fit to my satisfaction, I removed the panels one at a time and put them back on with epoxy in the joints.

Here's the hull flipped back the other way, after both panels have been installed with epoxy.

A view of the keel showing both topside panel joints. Like the port hull, the topside panels aligned perfectly and went on without distortion. The next step is to make the fillet joints where all the upper bulkhead sides join the insides of the topside panels. Soon I'll be ready to turn the hull upside down for shaping, glass sheathing and fairing.

Starboard Hull Ready for Topsides

2008-03-04T10:56:00.014-06:00

The starboard hull is now ready to be lifted out of the building cradles so I can turn it to either side for installing the topside panels. All the bunks are now in and filleted, and most of the filling and fairing work in the lower hull compartments is complete. I made another trip to New Orleans last Saturday and picked up more okoume marine ply for the cabin roofs, decks, and cockpit. I should have enough to finish the project now.

As you can see the starboard hull is close to the outside lattice wall of my building shed. Last night we had several severe squall lines pass through the area, complete with hail, isolated tornadoes, and nearly horizontal rain driven by 50-70mph winds. Nothing was damaged, but this morning I had to sponge several inches of water out of each of the lower compartments in the starboard hull. Apparently the wind was so strong it blew the rain sideways right through the lattice. Everything in the hull interior was well-sealed with epoxy, so no harm done.

Here's the sequence of final tasks completed before the bunks went in. First the floor area in the main companionway was sheathed in 6 oz. fiberglass cloth. I did this in both hulls as this is the one floor panel that will be walked on and subject to having things dropped on it. In the photo you can see the blue tape used to define the perimeter of the glass. Three coats of epoxy were eventually applied.

Everything below the bunks got another clear coat of sealing epoxy after a thorough sanding and fairing. This will be the final finish below bunks, as no sunlight will get to these areas and there is no need for U.V. inhibiting varnish as there will be above bunk level.

Here you can see the bunks are in and filleted. These fillets will be sanded and faired with additional passes of thickened epoxy, but for now the hull is locked in and is a rigid structure. I can remove the temporary braces shown here and lift the hull in slings for turning.

These braces were necessary while the bunk fillets were curing, but they were hastily screwed and clamped in position and proved to be quite dangerous. I got a nasty gash just over my right eye when I bumped my head on a support post in the shed, which in turn bounced me face first into the end of one of these 1 x 2 pieces of Doug fir. I shouldn't have left the long ends sticking out like that, but I wanted to reuse them later, so I didn't cut them off. Now my right eye has been swollen for two days and I look like I've been in a bar fight!

Over on the starboard hull, I'm working on the details that have to be completed before the fore and aft decks can be installed. Much of this involves finishing up the fairing in the buoyancy compartments, and prepping the large bow compartment for paint. I decided to paint this storage hold white inside, as it is not connected to the cabin interior and will only be seen from the deck. The white interior will make it easier to find stuff inside, as well as to keep clean. I'm also going to install a small shelf at the interior stringer level in this compartment to divide the storage area somewhat and provide a place for smaller lighter items in the upper part.

In the photo below you can see the doublers I'm gluing to the inside of the sheer on the inboard sides beneath the decks. This will provide more solid wood to receive the screws that will be used to fasten the trampoline lashing rails to the inboard edges of the decks.

Other details below decks are the shelves I'm adding in the area over the bunks and just forward of the front cabin bulkhead. This is the foot area of the bunk and there is plenty of room for two narrow shelves at the level of the lower hull to topside panel joint. Adding shelves here will serve to reinforce this joint as well, as they will be filleted into position.

These shelves are narrow enough to be out of the way, but wide enough for things like flashlights or even books stood up with a bungee cord retainer across them. I made a small fiddle rail of teak for each shelf and glued it on with the industrial Superglue I've mentioned before.

The shelves with teak fiddles are coated with epoxy. A small fillet at the fiddle rail joint completes the assembly, and the shelves, made of 6mm ply, weigh next to nothing.

I'm off to Jackson again later today, where the rest of the week I'll be working on finishing up the Backwoods Drifter I'm building and hopefully getting the front fairings installed on my crossbeams.

Frames for the Portlights

2008-02-21T20:09:00.001-06:00

While I was in Florida working with David Halladay on his Tiki 30 project, we discussed a lot of details in the fitting out of our catamarans and tossed ideas back and forth. David spends a lot of time working on interior and exterior carpentry projects for modern, high dollar motoryachts, and consequently has some methods and techniques beyond the basics shown in the Wharram plans for these boats.

One area that he feels can stand some improvement is in the installation of the fixed portlights on the outboard sides of the cabins. The plans show Lexan ports cut to overlap the edges of the openings in the plywood, and fixed in position on a bedding of sealant with small machine screws in holes drilled along the edges of the Lexan. This works fine and is seen on many types of vessels, but David felt it is a bit dated and doesn't look as clean as a more modern installation without fasteners. In addition, Lexan and wood expand and contract at different rates in temperature fluctuations, so the holes must be drilled larger than the screws or the panel can crack. A better method that he often uses for installing portlights is to either create a lip in the cabin side if it is thick enough, or add a ring frame on either the inside or outside of the portlight opening so that the Lexan panel can be mounted flush in the opening. This will be easier to visualize later when I have the actual Lexan and the cabin sides are installed, but the photos below show the process for making these frames.

The ring frames are made of 6mm ply, same as the cabin sides and the thickness of the Lexan that will be used. Since I had already mocked-up one cabin side on the port hull and had already cut the openings for the portlights, I was able to use the cut-out parts as templates for the ring frames. The Lexan will be cut slightly smaller than the existing openings in the cabin sides, to allow for some expansion, the frames will overlap the opening and the Lexan portlights by 5/8", making them a total of 1 1/4" wide.

Below is the sequence for making the frames for the smaller portlight at the forward end of the cabin. I started out by marking a line exactly the size of the opening on a piece of plywood to be used as the pattern. In the photo below, you can see this as the heavier centerline in the middle of the pattern frame. Outside and inside perimeter lines were scribed 5/8" on either side of this central line and the pattern was cut out to this line with a circular saw and jigsaw. The actual cuts were made 1/16" from the line and then the excess material was sanded off with a belt sander on the outside and by hand with sanding blocks on the inside. Below you can see the tube of caulking that I used to sand the inside radius. This was just the right size when fitted with a sheet of sticky-back sandpaper.

When the pattern was cleaned up and trued to exactly the lines and the curves were fair, I then temporarily tacked it to the first workpiece with a few dabs of glue from a hot glue gun, to hold it in position for routing.

Making exact duplicates from a pattern like this is easy with a router fitted with a straight bit with a guide bearing, as shown below. Although you can use a regular flush cutting bit with the bearing on the bottom, I prefer the top bearing kind, as you can better see what you're doing. This bit is long enough to cut more than one frame at a time if they are stacked, but I wanted to do just one first to make sure it was correct. There will be a total of four frames for the small portlights and four for the larger, aft ports, since I want to have both an interior and exterior frame for greater security. This is not really necessary with modern sealants, however, and many such ports are put in with just the sealant and an interior frame, resulting in a cleaner, flush exterior surface. My exterior frames will blend in nicely though, as they will be filleted and glassed right along with the rest of the cabin side and painted the same color.

Here's a view from the bottom showing the pattern-cutting router bit doing its job. For small parts of thin material such as this, I like small one-handed trim routers.

Below is the finished result. The piece of wood under the frame is the pattern for the Lexan port, and gives a hint as to how the actual port will look with the ring frame over the window.

Bunks Ready to Go In

2008-02-21T17:26:00.007-06:00

A couple of days of good weather allowed me to finish up all the details that were holding up the installation of the starboard bunks. The final frames for the access hatches were fitted and laminated in place, and two coats of epoxy applied to all the bottom surfaces. Here you can see these parts curing in the sun curing outside the shed.

The structural and cosmetic fillets were also finished in the storage compartments below the bunks. A final clear coat of epoxy will go on over all this before the bunks are glued in place.

Here the finished bunk panels are in place, but not yet glued in. I had to be away for a couple of days and will glue them in when I return after the weekend. On Saturday I'm going to New Orleans to pick up what I hope will be all the plywood to finish the rest of the boat. This includes material for the cabin sides and decks, and the cockpit. Everything else requiring plywood is done.

Other details besides the under bunk areas included finishing up the fillets in the bow and stern buoyancy compartments and installing the plywood web brace, shown below, in the bow. In these areas that will be sealed off and out of sight, I'm using a filleting mix consisting of wood flour, silica, and phenolic microballoons. That's why you see the reddish tint. These fillets are easier to sand and smooth than the wood and silica blend I'm using in the parts of the boat that will be left unfinished or varnished. I'll also use this phenolic/silica mix for exerior fillets and fairing where everything will be painted, as it is much easier to sand to a feather edge.