Kevin and Scott sanded the main hatches (and repaired forward hatch). Then Scott put a final (second) coat on them. One coat on the undersides (and hinge holes) and a couple coats of clear urethane and then we’ll be rainproof.

Did try putting the main hatch cover (w/o hinge) on during a big rainstorm. Not a drop made it in while the open hull got 50 liters of freshwater in the central and next aft bilges!

3M 5200 didn’t adhere very well to smooth (unsanded) epoxy, nor did it stick that convincingly to some of the neoprene we’re testing as a gasket for the forward hatches. Need to try other glues and ensure that the neoprene extends beyond the inner surface of the hatch cover and wraps around the lip to contact the outer surface of the hatch cover. Otherwise, the high-friction edge of the neoprene catches against the coaming, bunches up, and prevents the hatch from going on with a smooth, firm seal.

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.

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 down the 15′ lashed bamboo spars, marked the offsets for luff (~16cm), foot (~16cm), and leech (~40cm) with dry erase marker, and then marked the sail edge curves with the natural bend of the spars and/or by hand-bending a long 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 in the Pfaff hobby 1122 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 closed with 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.

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.

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.

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.

Beams only need trim and outer epoxy coat

Oliver, Liam, Marcus (0.5 hr each); Russ, Kevin, and Thomas (3 hours each); Scott (9.5 hr) | Photos

The boyz, Marcus, and I sanded the upper side of the bottom planks lightly and gave them a second coat of epoxy, hoping it would get tacky by the time we were ready to glue them to the beam webs.  Oliver was eager to drill some holes for the lashing pads, but we ran out of time — or maybe the urge to head out into the night to spy on the parents was too great…

I was hand-sawing the top planks flush with the ends of the webs when Russ arrived.  He gave a comforting opinion that the beam fillets seemed unlikely to offer much more strength if enlarged to the 1.25 radius ones called for in the plans.

Then Thomas and Kevin showed up and dove into the beam assembly while Russ took charge of aligning and drilling the holes for the lashing pads.  It worked well to put the epoxy/filler on the top of the web and compression struts and then lower a plank down on it.  Though we had to correct a lateral bow in one plank, it wasn’t too hard.  Once clamped on, the whole works was flipped onto each side successively to allow easy filleting access.  I think we all agreed with Thomas that a tongue depressor is a better fillet maker than a gloved finger.  The alcohol polishing again worked wonderfully, but MAN there are a lot of inside corners in each beam… It took a long time to get all the surfaces cleaned up and the fillets neat.

Not healthy to eat

Top planks glued to crossbeam webs

Liam, Cora, Elliot, Marcus, Oliver (0.25 hrs each), Thomas (3.5 hr), Kevin (3 hr), Scott (6 hr) | Photos

Cora and Liam and I started off by sanding the lashing pads and dolphin striker mount so they’ll be all ready for gluing to the hulls.  Oliver, Elliot, and Marcus stopped by and helped sand the pads, knock the nodes down on the bamboo poles, and belt sand the compression struts flush with the crossbeam web edges.

Thomas biked over with his 4″ belt sander and used 40 grit to very quickly smooth flush the top and bottoms of the 3 webs.  I made some progress with the 3″ and 50 grit, but it was a lot slower.  Rather than mark the center line and stitch and glue, we pooled our big clamps and easily bent the mahogany planks to the tops of the webs.  I had added a coat of epoxy to the top plank undersides (2nd coat) and the bottom plank’s second side (single coat on both sides now).  We positioned the webs and marked with indelible pen, then removed the web and used the ziploc-pastry bag method to lay down a bead of epoxy (80/20 micro-ballon/wood-flour fillet).

Two of three guys

We did all three at once and would have been screwed if we didn’t have 6 hands to form the fillets from the epoxy that squeezed out upon clamping.  A few more clamps would have been helpful, but we got away with 3-6 per beam.  As it was, the epoxy gelled pretty quickly and we used a lot of alcohol to keep working it. Thank the Gods that we won’t have to sand all those fillets in the close confines between struts!

Overall, the beams are looking great.  They are starting to exude both beauty and strength.  The fillets are probably too small (Wharram called for 1 1/4″ radius ones), so I’ll add material in next 24 hrs…

Hob-nobbing while struts cure

Liam, Oliver, Elliot, Marcus (0.5 hrs each), Scott (6 hr), Kevin, Russ (2 hrs each), and Thomas (2.5 hr) | Photos

Liam and Rose men lightly sanded and then epoxy-coated the 2nd side of the crossbeam webs.  Then we used the extra epoxy to coat the outer surface of the lashing pads, the dolphin striker (including whipping) and striker mounting surface, and about 1/3 of the three uncoated beam planks.  Not too many clothes were trashed and Liam and Oliver seemed to enjoy working in old short-sleeved t-shirts as much as drinking some cold root beer.

Scott then tipped all coated objects with the alcohol brush and then Thomas arrived with a carbon fiber surf board.  We got to talking about it and then were treated by the first appearance of Russ.  Russ and Thomas quickly connected on diverse topics — from glacier bush-pilot stories to vacuum-bagging techniques.  Kevin then rumbled in and we ogled the new BMW.

Properly warmed up, we set about cutting more struts, gluing them in, and filleting.  Thomas also whipped a coat of epoxy on the planks started earlier, as well as the 2nd side of the beam planks we coated last week.  Later in the evening Scott polished the fillets and ensured all struts were aligned since we’re not stitching, but rather letting gravity hold the struts in place as they cure.  Next week we’ll try clamping on a plank!

Meanwhile tonight, over in the Ballard workshop, Mike glassed the 2nd side of the rudders.  The first sides are already glassed and faired!

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.