Assembly on trailer and big main begun

Last weekend we finished the trailer conversion, assembled the boat on the carpeted skids, and confirmed the beams would take the load of the hulls hanging from them by the lashings.  We ended up with the desired proximity of hull and ground (about 20 cm) that will enable us to move the boat from the storage area to the short boat ramp and deploy the boat at all Lake Washington levels without having to lift the hulls on/off of the trailer.

On Saturday the Veirs Reese clan drove down to the UW WAC with shiny beams, tillers, and platforms atop the VW.   I forgot the boat keys, so Liam was denied frisbee access and spent a long time ascending the climbing wall with Cora.  I started the trailer conversion (from <8′ wide trailerable hulls on V-cradles to boat-ramp ready) with the stepwise scheme for one person getting the hulls off the trailer:

1. Tie support cradles to snugly to hull;
2. Remove inner straps holding forward cradles to trailer and all straps on aft cradles;
3. Place a sturdy box (about 50-75 cm high) adjacent to an aft cradle;
4. Lift stern of that hull and rotate hull on forward cradle beam and strap until aft cradle can be lowered onto the box;
5. Remove forward cradle strap;
6. Lift bow, rotate hull on box until trailer wheel/fender is cleared, and then lower forward cradle to the ground;
7. Return to stern, lift and hold it while removing box (with foot or free hand), then lower to ground;
8. Move box to other side and repeat steps 3-7.

I then drilled holes for the T-legs in the ends of the trailer 9×9(cm)’s and through-bolted them, adding straps on the inboard sides of the T-legs.  With unexpected help from a nice boat-owner named Paul, we drilled holes in the tops of the T-legs and bolted the carpeted skids to them using the original hardware (shifted slightly at the aft end to meet the aft T-legs).  The beams looked happy sitting up on their soft perch and the rest of the bits got stored on the trailer’s new double 2x6x8′ treated lumber “gangway” or central shelf.  This shelf was intended for storing beams during transit, but had an unexpected benefit of creating an overhang at the aft end of the trailer which makes a handy step on which to stand during platform assembly.

On Sunday we returned in search of frisbees and climbing walls, with books, sleeping bags, and picnic cooler at the ready.  Proceeding at a leisurely pace (with some assistance lacing up the tramp from Cora), I assembled the Milagra in about 4 hours.  I started by adjusting and aligning the hulls, using 9x9s and 4x9s to raise up the V-cradles until the hulls touched the beams that were resting across the skids.  Lashings went on pretty quick, platform got fit (after some attempts at gluing a spongy split portion of the port section), tramp got laced (again painful that we didn’t put holes higher in central beam so platform doesn’t impede lacing), forestay bridle and traveller tightened, and mast and standing rigging popped up.

Then Liam kicked out the cradles (as I lifted each hull end).  We were happy to see that the beams did not explode in splinters when asked to hold the hanging hulls with the skids acting as fulcrums.  Kevin and the grlz showed up about then and helped walk around on the hulls to further test the beams.  Then Kevin helped me get the cradles back in place.  (Lifting each hull end is a tough affair when it’s all lashed together… Doing it alone will take a jack of some sort, or another use of a sturdy, kickable box.)

So, there she sits, ready for her inspection next weekend!

In the meantime, I spent this Tiki Tuesday laying out, cutting, and taping up a new bigger (13 m^2) crab claw sail.  It took a couple hours on the tennis court under a starry sky, but guided by Polaris and the Wharram/Boone crab claw for Tiki 21 plans, the sail came out looking great.  Used white WeatherGuard polytarp again (this time a 6×9 m), Samson , and Rhino Grip carpet tape.  The new meter tape measure worked great for getting nice curves, especially when ends were steadied by dual cinderblocks.  Next steps are to sew, grommet, and lace up to the long bamboo spars!

13 m2 crab claw and a kite means one fast Tiki 21

Christian and I discussed and sketched out plans to combine a 5-12 square meter kite with a bigger main crab claw sail (the 13 square meter one proposed by James and Hanneke in the Crab Claw Rig for Tiki 21 plans). A 6-7m2 kite and the 13m2 main would yield about 20m2 of sail area — close to the original wingsail+jib combination of 208 ft2. We decided our optimal set up for this combination was hoisting the main on a mast centered on the center beam, moving the mainmast forestays back to the forward beam ends, and then flying the kite from the center of the forward beam. The kite pilot could sit or stand on the tramp, or maybe sit on the forward beam with feet dangling…

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With the estimation that the kite lines are usually between 30 and 45 degrees off the bow of the board (or boat in this case), we’re hopeful that the forestays will not overly constrain for all points of sail. It may be trickiest going dead down wind (or preferably tacking downwind at least 30 degrees off dead-downwind) as the kite may de-power as the boat (pushed by the main) picks up speed. If the relative wind drops too far and the kite is up near neutral, it seems a worst case scenario would be a Hindenburg in which the kite drops behind the boat and the lines end up tangled in the rigging. We agreed to keep knives handy… Another worst-case scenario would be a broken forward beam or lashings, but we’re doubtful it will happen (kite lines are typically 600 lb test and the lashings are ~5 turns of 700lb test rope).

Christian helped pull down and peruse the 4 long (~7m) bamboo spars that Thomas found under the Ballard Bridge. We selected the straightest (or most uniformly curved) two. Later, I cleaned them up and marked mid-points, as well as the region on the upper spar that may need reinforcing (with extra bamboo or a 3m length of basalt sock?). Then I put beam cleats and hardware (main sheet lead/cleat, traveler blocks/prussick) back on — noticing a couple little spots where the black paint is thin, but gratefully realizing that more beam work can wait for next winter.

So it seems time to look for a dry place in which to stretch out the 24×30 white polytarp… All materials are ready for laying out, cutting, and at least taping up a new main!

Last black coat on beams and tillers, +2Ts

Quite satisfying this evening to put the final touch-up coat of black Easypoxy on the last side of the beams. All they need now is a bit of black clean-up on the tops and a cross-linked coat of urethane before the cleats and other hardware can go back on. The tiller bar and extensions also got a little touch-up coat of black.

Also made a couple more of the T-shaped, gussetted legs that will hold the beams (and lashed-on hulls) above the trailer at a height that gives the keels adequate clearance when launching and recovering at the Waterfront Activity Center’s short, shallow dock. Next step is to re-attach the hardware on the carpeted skids to match the position of the two aft beams.

Seats, main hatch adjusts, trailer steps

The last couple Tiki Tuesdays have been spent making/fitting the seats and gluing in their supports. One is of pitch pine (fabulously therapeutic to smell after a fresh cut!), the other of bamboo flooring from Thomas. It was tough getting them to fit the angles in the lower portion of the hulls and to not conflict with the fillets. In gluing on the seat supports it worked well to use thick epoxy paste and some artists tape to ensure the blocks didn’t sink during curing. Alcohol rub down = no sanding! When the kids tested the seats, however, they tended to slip forward off the supports, so tonight I added a pair of little stops to retain them aft against the bulkhead.

I’ve repaired a bit of wind and dropping damage to the main hatches — cracked front edge, a cracked joint near one of the hinge attachments, hairline fractures in a couple corners, and some areas that had been scuffed to bare wood. Going to need to set nails deeper and fill/coat as we did in the forward hatches…

Finally, it was a great treat to have Thomas stop by this evening. As usual, he had some great ideas — particularly regarding the trailer. The best was laying planks or plywood over the trailer, backing it under the T21, and then inflating an air bag to lift the assembled boat up off its cradles for deployment on the short WYC/WAC boat ramp. We also talked about non-trailer transport mechanisms (dollies) and tested out a technique for 1-person unloading of a hull from the trailer. Then we agreed that a davit or tripod could be used to lift the bow, allowing the boat to be unloaded by lifting the stern and carrying it outboard to clear the fender.

Finally, we wondered about the reasoning behind using a sprit sail in the new Wharram one-cabin ethnic cat, the Amatasi 27.

Fixed main hatch, sealed forward

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Watched 180o South while gluing up the split forward edge of the starboard main hatch cover, coating the proto-bench, and nailholes of the forward hatch. Also gave beams a coat of black on one side and the bottom after a light sand of all previous epoxy coatings/fillets. 48 hours later, I did a rough surform/sanding of the patched hatch cover bits and superglued in neoprene seal for the port forward hatch cover.

Hatches and bilge covers

The last few Tuesdays I’ve been putting in a few hours per week fixing up the hatch covers, touching up the beams, and getting the bilge covers to fit better and stop rotting. We’ve also all been thinking hard about how to optimally set up the trailer to store the boat assembled in a low enough configuration that we can easily deploy and recover off of the short UW WAC boat ramp.

The main hatch work has focused on hinge experiments (Home Depot SS drawer pulls vs aluminum bar). I also came up with a (mediocre) way of securing one hatch so we can store some stuff safely down at the UW WAC boat storage. Unfortunately, the latest wind storm levered the whole hatch off (after I left it unlocked and unclasped) and the security bolt I put through the forward edge and coaming levered the forward edge in two. Ugh. I thought I was done with that hatch cover!

The forward hatch problem has been how to get neoprene to stick to finished fiberglass. The answer is super glue! It’s way better than 5200 or epoxy. We’ll see how the multi-sided neoprene seal does in big waves, but the holds are certainly staying dry while on the trailer. Another traumatic event was losing one of the yet-to-be-secured forward hatch covers en route to the storage yard. It apparently bounced off at the intersection of 25th Ave and Sand Point Way, dinged a couple corners, but was saved by a median-strip pan-handler before it was run over. Cora and I spotted it on the way home, but only had a few quarters to offer the man in thanks.

The beams have a fresh coat of paint on the bottoms. All that’s left down there is a second coat on the pads which got some touch up sanding and epoxy coats. The tops have had another coat of polyurethane with cross-linker. I also epoxy-coated the vertical drilled holes (thole pin and mainsheet cleat), as well as the traveller block holes and the traveller prusick knot screw-eye. The sides of the beams got a nice sanding from Mike and me, then I coated bare spots, and re-drilled and double-coated all the trampoline holes (some of which were filled as they were old holes in the wrong places). And the end that had cracked got a new beefy fillet (though I now think it broke the bottom plank-web seam due to the web being disproportionately narrow and overclamping squeezing too much of the epoxy out of the joint. Once all that epoxy cures up and gets a light sand, we’ll put another coat of black on the sides of the beams and they will be ready to go.

Beam bottoms black

At long last, we sanded down and painted the bottom of the beams — a task that was outstanding since the wedding rush last August. Mike and I first pondered main hatch latches and then forward hatch neoprene seals (super glue bonds neoprene to epoxy very nicely where 5200 failed!). After removing cleats and other hardware, we sanded down the filled holes and other bits on the beams. A glossy coat down on a single face of each beam (two bottoms, one side), as well as first coats on the tiller bar and masthead, and we were free to ponder trailer designs. No clear answer yet, but a few exciting potential solutions for our boat, trailer storage dimensions, and boat ramp idiosyncrasies.

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Final top coat of epoxy on hatches

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.

Main hatches and masthead epoxy coated

After some final sanding of the main hatch covers, I removed the stainless handle/hardware and epoxy coated the reinforced top surfaces.  I also sanded down and epoxy-coated the madrona fork mast head.  Felt good to get back in the ole garage, crank some classic rock, and work the forearms again.

Hatch covers covered

Main hatches sanded, platforms done

Mike and I — both quasi-sick — put in a couple hours assembling the main hatches (countersunk machine screws, attached SS handles, sanded corners that hit upon lifting).  We also put a second coat of truck bed liner on the bottom of the platform sections, focusing on trying to fill in a couple little gaps on the bottoms.