Emerging from the Shed

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.

Boatsmith Crew visits the Element II Project

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.

Snow in Mississippi

It's been a generally cold, dreary week already, but today I got up at dawn to see something quite rare here in south Mississippi - snow. The last time we had any snow here that accumulated on the ground was 7 years ago. The temperature is just above freezing, so it won't stick around for long, but now three hours later it's still coming down and will probably add up to about 4 inches before it's done. Snow and cold may not seem like a big deal to those readers from more northern climes who are used to it, but for us it's a bit of a novelty. I like to see it from time to time, but any epoxy work on the boat will have to wait for warmer temperatures. As you can see from the photos, my minimal shed doesn't offer much protection from the elements.

And speaking of that, I don't plan for Element II to see any more snow once she's in the water. The Wharram Tiki 26 is a warm weather boat - perfect for the tropics and more at home anchored in a lagoon surrounded by palm trees than in some rocky northern cove. I don't think I would be building this type of boat if I were planning on visiting the cold places, but others Tiki sailors don't seem to mind, and I'm especially intrigued by Thomas Nielsen's planned voyages on his Tiki 26 Tsunamichaser up the Pacific Northwest coast and into the Arctic. I can't wait to read his reports, but some day I'll be posting mine from latitudes farther south.

Shed Roof Complete

The shed roof is now complete, and should be leak-free for much longer than the time needed to build the Tiki 26. For this mild climate, this is the ideal place to build: plenty of ventilation to avoid buildup of dust, a dirt floor so that epoxy spills are no big deal, and strong enough rafters to hoist the hulls up for turning and moving. While I don't have enough width inside to assemble the boat with the crossbeams, there is enough room to build both hulls at the same time, and it will be a simple matter to wheel them outside for assembly, painting, fitout and rigging.

Preparing the Boatbuilding Shed

Now that I have completed the fabrication of all the parts required to begin building the hulls, with the exception of finishing the second coating of epoxy on some of them, I have turned my attention to the next necessary step - putting a new roof on the shed that I will build them in.
I built this 16' x 28' shed several years ago, but in my haste to throw it together took some shortcuts that eventually resulted in a perpetually leaking roof. No amount of patching would do any good at this point, so back when I decided for sure to build a Tiki 26 earlier this year, I knew that I would be facing the task of tearing all this old tin roofing material off, replacing rotten framing and putting on a new roof with better materials and methods.

After several weeks of working hard for other people, I took the day off Monday and sailed Element, my Tiki 21 out to West Ship Island, one of the barrier islands off the coast of Mississippi. See my post about this trip here: http://tiki21element.blogspot.com/ This much needed break was quite refreshing and the perfect sailing conditions on board a great sailing design was just what I needed for motivation to attack that old shed with determination. I put in 9 hard hours today, getting all the old roof removed and the new framing on. Tomorrow all that remains to do is to add a few more framing members and then screw down the new sheets of tin roofing. Then, I'll clean out the work area and get it organized, and hopefully I will soon begin to assemble the hull panels for the first hull. I plan to post some photos of the shed project after it's all finished tomorrow.

My Other Workshop

This is my other workshop where I'll be making lots of the small parts for Element II, such as the crossbeams, tillers, gaff, and possibly the cockpit. This is at my girlfriend's house where I spend at least half my time, and it's just over an hour's drive from the building shed where I will be assembling the hulls. Splitting the work up like this will allow me to put the maximum amount of time into the project each week, as I can work on it at odd hours in whichever location. That's one of the advantages of building a multihull like a Wharram catamaran; there are so many individual components that can be built and even finished to the final paint stage before being needed as part of the complete boat.

This shop is in an enclosed garage and is well lighted. This is good for working in inclement weather and at night, but not so good for building a complete boat, even if it was big enough. I prefer to do assembly, fiberglassing and especially sanding in an open shed with a dirt floor. Excess epoxy and fillers are not a worry, and the sanding dust doesn't cover everything like it does in an enclosed shop. The shed I'll build the hulls in has two closed sides (on the northeast corner) and two open sides to let in natural light and air. Here in Mississippi there are not too many days that are too cold to work, but I'll use more fast hardener with the epoxy in winter months.

Having this garage shop is available is also good for storing finished parts and extra plywood that will be needed later. Yesterday I moved the remaining sheets from my first plywood purchase to the garage, and today I spent the afternoon organizing my workspace and preparing for the next step: laying out and cutting the bulkheads. I'll cut and coat them here, as well as install the bunk and deck bearers before taking them to the shed where the hull parts will be coated and assembled. I've split my first order epoxy order of 15 gallons in half, so I have epoxy and all the mixing and application tools and supplies in each location. Handheld power tools and hand tools travel with me in my truck as I bounce back and forth between locations. I'll also be doing carpentry work for paying customers near both locations, so I have to have a mobile setup.