Mike and the Tikipieces

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After an extended sea trial, the Tiki 21 emerged this evening from the Pacific and was disassembled on a brightly sunlit secret beach in Ballard. Mike and Scott left the Shilshole marina from berth G53, adjacent to the captivating 1982 ferrocement pirate ship Black Opal owned by Captain Fred. A gentle northerly took us to the secret beach in about 10 minutes.

After a few final sails on the Sound with the Quorus gang, Rob and the Dougherty-DeNardo clan, and Kevin with Julian and his offspring, we unloaded all the gear in about 1/2 hour, dismantled in about 1/2 hour, float-tested a single empty hull for 1/2 hour, and spent a final hour pumping the hull dry-ish and packing/loading the boat onto the trailer. Thanks to everyone who lent hands to do the heavy lifting! Mike did a heroic job of backing the boat into his driveway where it now sits awaiting freshwater cleaning and a long list of improvements.

Tiki swamped

The float test was quite illuminating. It’s now clear that if voyaging on the Tiki21 in the open ocean, you DEFINITELY do not want to be left after a storm with only one hull. Although a single hull floated nicely on either side — even with two people in the cabin– the freeboard was only 10-20 cm — easily overwashed by small waves. And once the cabin began filling with water, followed shortly thereafter by the forward compartment filling, the whole hull became completely unstable with almost no preference for which side remained above water. Even with careful attention to balance on the slightly more stable situation of having one side of the hull in air, there was no way to relax (e.g. sleep) and no way to keep body parts out of the water reliably (away from sharks). Most importantly, there was no place to take shelter from waves or weather; most of the cabin was flooded (maybe 1/2-1/3 of the volume retained air). With a survival suit, perhaps the best place in a storm would be in a hull breathing from an air pocket or with head above water in the main cabin, but rolling and big waves could make this far from comfortable. The situation worsened when we removed the access hatches and flooded the fore and aft watertight compartments. With all 2-liter bottles removed from the bow there was only 25cm freeboard at the highest point above the water (implying very little space inside for a head).

Thus, imagining a worst case scenario (worse than a full capsize) in which a collision, rogue wave, lashing failures, and/or breaching whale cause the beams to fail and the two hulls to separate, it is imperative to retain both hulls throughout the catastrophe. Survival would be probably be greatly enhanced by lashing the hulls together during or after the storm. Ideally, the beams could also be retained and relashed to regain normal stability and sailing capabilities. With a suite of buckets and a manual bilge pump, it would be easy to get the hulls dry again in calm water once they were lashed in an upright stable arrangement.

Some great photos!

While non-curing paint maladies caused us to miss our sea trials deadline (7/17), we’ve made a lot of progress in the last couple weeks. Matt and Mike have been putting in many hours in the Ballard shop hammering out the platform. Scott and pals have been getting the hulls ready for primer, including stitch/gluing the platform supports, and testing the size/alignment of the new trampoline.

Last Tuesday Mike and Scott stripped the first attempt at putting Easypoxy (sandstone) over recently cured System Three epoxy. Matt used the jig saw to custom fit the side platforms to the hulls and beam struts.

Then on Sunday, a grand entourage assembled to paint the hulls with Easypoxy undercoater (primer). Enzo, Francesca, and Liam rolled on the primer, while Matt, Mike, and Scott dashed about trying to tip the paint before it dried (and it dried fast — tack free in <1hr). The primer seemed to take well to the old cured epoxy which had been sanded down with 60-80 grit. In 24 hours it was hard to scratch it with your finger nail.

Tonight, Matt, Mike, and I replaced the side section of the platform and found them still too flexible, despite Mike’s beautiful glassing/fairing of the upper surface. Then Thomas stopped by to help us work out a couple methods for drilling and lacing the holes for the rudder hinges. Along with the platform (which seems way too weak as designed), the rudder lashing guidance could be explained more to the reader.

I rounded out the evening sanding down both rudders, which Mike had faired previously. They are looking good and will soon be sporting a Wharram emblem of sorts…

Cora helped Scott measure and cut the trampoline material that arrived yesterday. It was easy to cut with pushed open scissors.

Scott also turned the larger tarp scrap into a jib with a 60 degree tack. The Pfaff has no trouble stitching through double layer of tarp and 2-4 layers of dacron tape. It is so empowering to create a whole sail in about an hour!

Dual tiki teams spun into action tonight as the July 17 sea trial date approaches.  Mike worked solo in Ballard, sanding the abundant fillets and multiplying inner surfaces of the central platform section.  Over in Scott’s basement we built 75% of a crab claw  main sail — after a fair amount of chatting and deliberating regarding plans, implementation schemes, and the relative merits of frugal-scrappy innovations (Thomas “galvanized” Nielson)  vs autocad-engineered solutions (Kevin “the ubergazebo” Flick).

Sail sewing

Grommet punching

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Eric, Kevin, and Zander caught up while testing out Annie’s two sewing machines while Thomas and Scott laid out the “small” crab claw sail for Tiki 21 specified by Wharram/Boon.  We staked down the tarp, laid over the 15′ lashed bamboo spars, and marked the luff, foot, and leach curves with indelible marker after defining them with the spars and/or a 1×2 batten.  Following a combination of guidance from Thomas, Gary Deirking, and polysail.com we put 1.5″-wide carpet tape along the curved marks, added 1/4″ braided nylon rope (Do-It brand), folded edges over the rope, and then took it down to Eric.  We tied the rope with a single fisherman’s knot and then reinforced the corners with 3″ Dacron tape.  Eric then sewed the taped seam near the edge using #92 UV-resistant polypropylene thread and we all put in brass grommets at 20cm intervals along the foot and the luff.

Also, last Thursday Scott stopped by Matt’s garage in Ballard and put in 5 hours stitch’n'gluing the center platform compartment separators and side platform section 1×2 reinforcing.  Matt provided a couple hours critical assistance, levering stitches close pliers and helping smooth out the massive colloidal silica fillets.  Then there was a weekend a couple weeks back when Mike and Matt retrieved, cut, coated, and otherwise prepped the platform materials, clocking at least 12 person hours.

Stitch and glue on center section, 9" ply on sides

Working en masse in Matt’s capacious Ballard boatworks (garage), we rapidly assembled the pre-coated and cut platform pieces that Mike and Matt had so diligently prepared over the weekend.  In a matter of just a couple hours, we cut the 1×2″ reinforcement bits, drilled and stitched, and then glued the center platform together.  We decided to utilize the space between the webs for extra storage space, so are holding off on the fairing that the plans recommend.  We also refrained from cutting the hole for an outboard as this is going to wind and oar powered.

With some extra microfiber-epoxy paste, we glued on the 9″ plywood reinforcing strips in the middle of the platform’s side panels.  We then retired to the kitchen for a feast of spicy-gorganzola chicken wings and cheese curds, prepared by the grease masters Matt and Julian.  In combination with some extra beer, this caloric feast really raised the bar on the standard tiki Tuesday!

We finished the evening and tried to metabolize a bit by cleaning up the bonds and fillets with scraper and isopropyl alcohol.  With some additional fillets — and possibly a built in cooler!? — the platform should be ready for some preliminary tests next weekend!

Beam blocks glued on

Mike and Scott glued on the beam blocks with microfiber-epoxy paste, then painted a first coat on the remaining side of the beams (and a second coat on the center bottom sections). We also added a final (second) coat of paint to the tillers and glued together the two wood pieces to form the tiller bar. Mike brought over the platform plywood, as well as the remaining mahogany door veneer for the last hatch cover.

Thomas and I put a first coat of glossy black Easypoxy on 1/2 of the beams, as well as the tillers.  We also put a final coat on the dolphin striker.  It’s pretty stinky stuff, so we’ll see if we end up putting 2 or 3 coats on.

Russ sanded down the last tiller and the forward hatch covers with 180-220 grit.  Meanwhile, Kevin and Thomas did the same for the cleats and the beam tops.  We watched the crazy French twins cross the Atlantic in their little outrigger, and mixed up a first batch of cross-linked polyurethane.  The hatch covers, beam tops, and cleats each got two coats of it.  Scott cut out the beam socket blocks from left-over pieces of the beam planks.

Mike, Thomas, and Scott wheeled and dealed the hulls up the front steps and through the back gate.  We then popped the cross beams and mast step on and proceeded to envision the summer.  We mocked up the rudders and tillers (the latter may need to be shortened a bit), experimented with mock-oars and forcole while standing on the stern, and sampled various positions and rakes of the mast.

In the subsequent week, Scott leveled and aligned the hulls and marked the beam and socket positions.  Liam and Cora and many friends ran the hulls and beams through a gauntlet of tests, including high-speed beam balancing, sleeping bag quiet times, diverse skirmishes, and even bunking in hammocks (I found Cora resting within a gear hammock!).

On 4/8 Scott and Mike put a layer of glass on the 2nd side the rudders.  Then on 4/13 Thomas and Scott routed out and drilled the areas on the rudder where they will be lash-hinged to the hull.

More, bigger photos…