Blank beam bottoms

Liam and Cora sanded the tillers, cut out the 2nd rudder slot, and then gave a 2nd epoxy coat to the whole shebang.  They may need a tiny bit of fairing in the seams and basalt sock, but are very close to  being ready for paint (black?)…

Scott used extra epoxy to coat the sides of the sockets and pads, as well as Thomas’ mast foot and the shovel.  The he started sanding beams (tops, bottoms, and sides/webs) and dolphin striker.  Kevin and Thomas lent a hand later, and Thomas bought 4 potential SS handle/hinges for the main hatches.  We all discussed Kevin’s idea of putting a 4″ diameter basalt sock over a cheap 2×4 to make a stout compression beam for his gazebo.

After finishing most of the sanding (still have sides of center one), Scott and Kevin followed Thomas over to his workshop.  There they helped him expansion-glue the deck to his new surf/paddle board.  We also got to see where he built Tsunami, tour Rachael’s tree house, and examine the quiver of paddles and surf boards he has built.

Upon his return, Scott tried coating dolphin striker and a tiny portion of the third beam with the high-gloss blank easypoxy.  It seems a bit thin and I’m worried it is going to take way too many coats before we get nice uniform coverage.

Basalt socked tiller ends

Thomas and Scott discussed ways to further simplify the rigging construction as they tucked the new 5m tam vong bamboo poles and 12′ tonkin and moso poles up into the lumber loft.  Still thinking about tennis ball-based and windsurfer mast foots, but Scott likes the 2.5″ hole saw cut in doubled plank scraps and then glued to a third longer scrap as a mast step for a 2″ bamboo mast.  We agreed that a cargo strapped base would allow us to experiment with both iterations and more.  It will be a summer of innovation!

Thomas then belt sanded the tillers until they were smooth.  There wasn’t much to do as the saran wrap did a nice job of leaving lows pretty full and surfaces smooth save little wrinkles.  Scott had previously split the two tillers (saran wrapped together) apart with minimal prodding with a wide chisel and hammer.  The glue had only bound the tillers together along the bottom and top couple millimeters — the taping of the shared surface otherwise worked perfectly.  (Update: 3/25 Scott put basalt sock on the aft two blocks of the tillers; added a second coat of epoxy on 3/26 and saran wrapped; and sanded/cut out the rudder slot on 3/27; hours included here.)

Scott sanded the beam cleats one last time along with beam ends and a bit of the remaining two beam plank tops.  After Thomas left, he put a second epoxy coat on the beam ends, beam web holes (except dolphin striker holes), and the beam cleat holes.

Tillers bent

Cora and Liam helped mix up some peanut butter.  Cora did a fine job of plastering it on the bottom of the dolphin striker plate and then screwed it into the bottom of the center beam.  Liam used his to fill countersunk holes that we accidentally put in two of the cleats.  After they finished their root beer and headed for bed, Scott used the left overs to glue layers 1 and 2 of the beam sockets together, and to fix the gap in the fillet of one of the beam struts.

While Kevin and Russ made strides fiberglassing Kevin’s BMW hood, Thomas and Scott threw together some tillers.  Although the 3/4 x 1.5 pine boards from True Value were worrisome, we glued them together with a lot of epoxy and hope that they’ll be plenty strong after being sheathed in fiberglass.  The trickiest part was figuring out how to space and (later) fit the rudder to the blocks within the tiller ends.  In the end, we got both tillers constructed by inserting packing and blue masking tape between them and then gluing, clamping, and saran-wrapping them all together.

Satin beam

After Liam and Oliver measured and cut some beam plank scraps to form the base of the mast step, Scott had a quiet night! Alone, he sealed up the trampoline lacing holes in the beam web, as well as the dolphin striker holes.  Then he sanded the top of a beam with 180 grit and tried brushing on a coat of clear satin System Three WR-LPU polyurethane.  Though it won’t have the blinding gleam of glossy varnish when the sun hits it, it looks mighty fine and should last longer with less painful repairs and re-applications.

Liam and Cora clamping cleats

Scott, Liam, and Cora lined up the rounded mooring cleats, clamped them, and drilled them.  Liam did a great job marking and clamping, and Cora proved a great assistant.

Thomas powered by home brew

Scott and Thomas decided the Tiki 21 I-beams would elegantly support the trampoline with holes through the beam web (unlike the Tiki 26 triangular beams where such holes seem prone to rot).  Thomas measured and drilled the trampoline holes while Scott rounded the beam ends with belt and hand sanders.  Later, Scott gave the cleats and socket/pad pieces a first coat of epoxy.