The last couple weeks have focused on preparing Milagra for its first trip up the San Juans. The plan (starting tomorrow!) is to have Mike, Sam, and others transit to Lopez via Port Townsend, then have the Veirs clan cruise for 3-5 days followed by 7-10 days of cruising by Mike and family, and then return to Seattle (Mike, Scott, Liam, and ??)… You can track our progress here — http://econscience.org/tiki/sail/

This meant that we needed to finish up the new main sail, find and mount an engine, build a dodger, and create a head! Additionally we organized our cruising ear/tools/materials, and added a tracking device to our safety gear.

Two weeks ago, Mike and Catherine laid out the dodger and two Tuesdays Mike and Scott stayed up most of the night installing it. Last Friday, Mike and I got the boat in the water at the UW WAC, revved up the engine and made it to the locks in about 30 minutes (minor cavitation if too much weight forward or wake lifts the engine up), locked through smoothly, and took a guest berth at the Shilshole H dock. Mike and Catherine then spent the weekend at Blake Island, reporting an easy downwind passage (2 hours) there, and some good motor sailing back. This week we tuned the rig a bit during an evening sail on Monday, a working/sailing Tiki Tuesday with Julian and Matt Johnson (put tell tales all over main, finished 1/2 dodger struts), and a final session tonight — I installed the head while Liam and Cora assembled the new tool and repair boxes and Annie organized the first aid kit.

Here’s a link to a prioritized sailing checklist for coastal cruising on a Tiki 21.

And here’s links for helping plan and execute safe coastal cruising in the Salish Sea — with a focus on Puget Sound’s main basin and the San Juan Islands.

Mike and the Tikipieces

More photos
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.

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!

Thomas (3 hr), Kevin (3 hr), Julian (2 hr), Scott (7 hr), Liam (0.5 hr) | Photos

Liam and I stapled clear plastic on the shelter and were very pleased with the resulting intermittent cascading rivulets. Having reinforced the rafters a bit with lashings, we all hoisted the starboard hull high. Then we carried the port hull out and placed it underneath the starboard one. The driveway is now quite the sight: the products of our hard labor are nicely on display!

Thomas did a great job on his homework. He cranked out a very solid looking dolphin striker from 1″ thick oak and a beautiful hatch that’s all tricked out with a double canoe icon glassed into the underside. We marveled at his bamboo pole sheathed in basalt sock and pretty much agreed that it would be righteously symbolic to combine grass and rock — trans-pacific elements from Asian forests and Hawaiian volcanoes — to form the power core of a Northwest explorer.

Reveling in the abundant space in the garage, we set up saw horses so that Thomas and Julian could finish cleaning up the beam webs. Kevin created a stable mount for the chop saw and started zipping out compression struts. Scott measured up the placements of the struts and after all had departed, cut the 3 beams to fit aft, centrally, and forward.

Julian and Matt wet out the fin

Thomas (2 hr), Mike (2 hr), Matt (2 hr), Julian (1 hr), Scott (3 hr)

We sanded down the fairing coat and then re-coated with epoxy, adding filler to a few low areas. It was so smooth and shiny you could see yourself reflected in it!

We also wrapped the skeg in black carbon-fibers and were very pleased with it’s sleek shark fin appearance.  Next week we can fair it in as well, flip the hull and attend to some errant drip lines, and then be ready to paint!  Perhaps it’s time to shop for some System 3 primer?

July, 2000

08: Mike, Catherine (8) — Glue bunks on starboard hull (top).

09: Mike, Catherine, Julian, Sarab (8) — Glue bunks on port hull (top) and starbaord hull (bottom).

10: Mike, Sarab (5) — Glue bunks, finish bottoms.

23: Sarab (4) — Cut out fore and aft decks.

August, 2000

05: Jim, Sarab (3) — Finished cutting foredecks; coated fore and aft decks with first coat.

June, 2000

??: Mike, Scott, Julian, Catherine, Sarab (3) — Cut some bunks.

20: Mike, Scott (4) — Cut rest of bunks.

21: Mike, Catherine (3) — Epoxy bunks 1.

22: Sarab, Karen (2) — Epoxy bunks 2.

23: Mike (2) — Epoxy bunks 3.

25: Sarab, Karen (2) — Epoxy bunks 4!

27: Mike (3) — Sand and paint bottom of starboard hull (bilges under bunks).

28: Sarab (5) — Sand and paint bottom of starboard hull (bilges under bunks).

29: Mike (3) — Glue bunkbearers to bunks.

March, 2000

20: Mike, Sarab, Scott (8) — Repaired deckbeams on bulkheads 2 and 4. Repositioned bulkheads 2 and 4. Ripped triangular sections.

21: Mike, Sarab (12) — Fit diagonal stiffeners and bunkbearers.

22: Mike, Sarab (6) — Glued repeat deckbeams.

23: Mike, Sarab (6) — Prep for fillets.

24: Mike, Sarab, Scott (26) — Filleted port hull.

26: Mike, Sarab, Scott, Juju (20) — Filleted starboard hull.