Headed to the Wharram Rendezvous This Weekend

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. 

Hatch Openings and Companionways

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.

Fitting the Cabin Roofs

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

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!

Fiberglassing Outer Cabin Sides and Hatches

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.

Double Coaming Hatches - Continued

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.

Double-Coaming Bow Hatches

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.