Bimini Me Not

 I'm running out of things to build, but an amount of work remains in a large list of small and important things.

 Above is the gaff spar.  This is a spar at the top of the sail that increases the sail area while reducing the sail height.  The reduced sail height lowers the sail's center of force thereby reducing the capsizing forces.  This is an old school type of a sail rig.  The banana shaped piece will be held between the forks by a pin and slide against the mast as the gaff/sail is raised or lowered.  It is shown here after fiber glassing and primer painting.  I await the sails to install additional hardware and the paint top coat.

Each gaff leg is a lamination of three thickness of mahogany, it is just too stiff to bend in a single thickness.  The legs were individually laminated while clamped to blocks screwed into the work table to form the desired shape.  Above, the legs are epoxied together to complete the gaff.  This is followed by rounding over the edges to fit comfortably into the sail sleeve.   

I've always thought that a bimini would be necessary to provide refuge from the intense sun.  My thinking was that this would come as a later addition.  I happened to come across a bimini at a price and color that I could not pass up.  It is far easier to make provisions for this now rather than later.

Initially the bimini frame was too large to be accommodated in the available space and it made access into the cabins more difficult.  After much consideration and frame cutting it was made to fit, but the supplied bimini fabric top may be scraped.  The top will be a future project to develop sewing skills for other projects to come.  The bimini will provide coverage for over 50% of the cockpit area.  One down side is that the mast will need to be extended so the sail will pass over the bimini.  This has been done on other Tiki 26s.  I'll just need to reef the sail at lower wind speeds than in the standard mast configuration.

The bimini stows away in the forward position leaving the cockpit and mast operations unobstructed.  Reasonable access to the forward trampoline, lockers and head are possible by this arrangement.  The burgundy bimini cover still fits in spite of my modifications.

No, these are not tasty treats.  The ingredients are mahogany, fiber glass, epoxy and fairing compound.  These are the raw bimini mounting blocks before they are sanded and adhered to the cabin sides.   In the background is part of a full scale bimini frame drawing and its' hinge points.  This drawing was very useful in determining the frame cut lengths.

It was not possible to hold the floppy bimini assembly in the installed position without mounts.  Interference with other necessities were not apparent until the bimini was in position.  The sheets control the jib sail position and the bimini frame limited the paths the sheets could take to control the sail.  Crippling the boat's sailing ability is not a viable option.  Much time and effort went into the bimini, but this arrangement will be abandoned.  All is not lost as the bimini may reappear, but be more like setting up a tent at some future time.

Notice anything new and different here?  That's right, 140 watts of solar power installed on the locker lids!  Each solar panel has a dedicated solar charge controller to keep the battery charged.  If one panel is shaded by the sail, the other panel can still provide charge current.  A third charge controller is installed that may service a future panel on the aft trampoline.

One difficulty that had to be overcome was the very stiff solar panel lead wires.  These wires are meant to endure constant sun exposure and do not allow tight bend radiuses.  Above are the holes the wires pass through in the locker lid.  Initially a straight hole was drilled through the lid and then a small rasp was worked through the holes at an angle so the wires could be installed in a more horizontal position.  

The solar panels and lead penetration covers are held on by Very High Bond (VHB) doubled sided tape.  It is said that VHB tape is used to install windows in skyscrapers.  It is a one shot installation with no post installation adjustments.  To insure good alinement wooden locating guides are taped to the lid before installation.

Here the panel is installed with the lead penetration covers.  The covers are installed at a distance from the panel that gives the tightest lead radius that I feel comfortable with.  This image may better illustrate the need for the nearly horizontal lid penetration holes previously discussed.

It seemed wise to do some heavy boat material shopping as tariff stupidity is bandied about.  The following items should be in my hands in the next month or so:

- Main sail with burgundy gaff sleeve, sail cover, sail number 449 and inverted Wharram logo (for those two readers who know the boat's name)

- Jib sail with burgundy furling strips on the foot and leech

- Roller furling jib foil

- 100 Ah 12V lithium battery

- Locker latches

- Primer and paint 

Tillerating

 Anchor Locker

In a previous episode the anchor locker was featured in a paint primer state.  It has since been finished as you are soon to see.

This is view into the anchor locker with the anchor roller assembly to the left.  An over center latch, in the upper right, hooks onto the anchor chain to secure the anchor while stowed.  The cleat in the lower right serves as a backup securing point for the anchor rode (line) while anchored.  The anchor rode is attached to an anchor bridle extending from each bow as the primary attachment points.  Such an arrangement is necessary on catamarans to keep the boat from slewing back and fort relative to the wind.

   The anchor locker lid is hinged at two points so that it folds in half towards the aft end.  Two latches are installed adjacent to the center hinge ends to prevent the locker from being blown or washed open.

Above is the installed anchor locker with a nonskid lid surface.  I'm torn between really liking it and thinking it might be over the top.

 Swim Ladder/Cat Walk

Side rails are install on either side of the swim ladder.  These rails will serve as attachment points for the aft trampolines.  Hardware is installed on the rail, after crossbeam and ladder to raise or lower the ladder from the cockpit. 

Tillers

Now that the hurricane season has passed, the sun shade is re-erected.  The rudders are lashed onto the hulls to support the cantilevered tiller arms.  The tiller arms are reinforced with lashings fore and aft of the rudder heads.  The tiller bar joins the tiller arm ends at a comfortable arm rest height in the cockpit.

As with the crossbeams, the rudders are lashed to the hulls.  The rudder lashing are in a figure 8 pattern to form an effective hinge.

As the boat goes through a turn, the outside rudder travels through a larger radius circle than the inside rudder.  This requires a difference in deflection for the inside and outside rudders.  The geometry of curved tiller arms achieve this deflection differential.  This is similar to the steering on an automobile. 

The tiller arms are constructed of two lengths of 3/4" thick mahogany joined together at the cockpit end.  The 3/4" thick material is too stiff to readily bend so thinner laminations are used.  Blocks are screwed to the work table to clamp the arms into the desired shape as the epoxy sets.

The tiller bar pivots on pins installed in the tiller arm ends.  The pins must be inclined at the same angle as the rudder hinge angle in order to function without binding or breaking.  This was accomplished by drilling through a mahogany block at a square angle. The blocks were then cut at the required hinge angle before the blocks were epoxied to the arms.  The holes then served as a drilling guide to continue the holes into the tiller arms.  The heads were cut off two bolts and rounded over to serve as pivot pins when epoxied into the drilled holes.

The tiller arms are the only exterior components I have not sheathed in fiberglass.  It might have taken better than a week to complete such a process and I might have ended up with tiller arms that would no longer fit on the rudders.  The mahogany, two coats of epoxy and five coats of paint should offer good enough protection from the elements for a number of years. 

Catwalk/Ladder

This September marks the seventh year of this boat building obsession.  I had to knock off for a while as I was seeing double and could not recognize people across the room.  March was the month for me to not renew my driver's license and from then on I mostly walked to places as needed.  My vision issues continued until July when I got patched up by cataract surgery.  My dusty shop was not the place to be after such surgery.  Thankfully, I had a friend who travels to Belize City once a week and he conveyed me to the eye clinic a number of times. 

Above is the 2022 Great Wall Motors (GWM), Cannon Poer, pickup truck.  I'll leave it to my readers to determine the country of origin.  This is the vehicle that transported me to Belize City for fun with eyes.  I was impressed with the fit and finish, how quiet it is, the comfortable ride, the multitude of features and the great acceleration.  My friend upgrades his vehicles at two year intervals and he planned to buy a new Cannon pickup.  My vintage Chevrolet S10 pickup has been problematic and suffers a rain water leak that wets the seats, dashboard wiring and floor boards.  Attachment to the S10 never developed, but it served the purpose of not appearing flashy or affluent.  The Cannon was offered at a great price providing a leap frog upgrade for me.  The flashy and affluent appearance thing may have gone out the window.

I likely, may never become a truck guy and this truck exceeds my truck needs.  It is powered by a two liter, four cylinder, turbocharged diesel coupled to an eight speed automatic transmission providing the great acceleration.  I'm now riding in air conditioned comfort.  The Cannon is the top of the pickup line equipped with lane keeping, bird's eye view and backup cameras, four wheel drive, keyless start/entry and many other features I'm still exploring and learning to use.  The key fob expanded my key wad by one third and resulted in inadvertent horn honking as other keys pressed against the fob.  I now carry the fob in a separate pocket to avoid the startling horn episodes.  GWM offers fully featured pickups at a price and value that U.S. producers do not match.  Interestingly, the GWM dealership is owned by the progressive Mennonites from Spanish Lookout.

 The boat build continues with cutting into the last full plywood sheet and using up all of the fiberglass fabric (more needed).  Is the project end near?  Much remains to be done and my latest efforts have focused on building a catwalk aft of the cockpit and extending to the aft most crossbeam.  I intend to install a barbecue on the aft most crossbeam.  But wait, there's more!

 The catwalk is also a boarding ladder!  This will greatly ease the process of removing one's self from the water.  This image also shows the beams, to either side of the ladder, that will support the aft trampoline(s).  The beams are not shown in the previous image as additional fitment is required in the catwalk configuration.  Additional hardware is on the way so that pulling on a line will retract the catwalk or releasing the line will deploy the ladder.  It might be that a partially deployed ladder will make a great seat for barbecue activities.

This is the raw stack of parts that must be assembled, sheathed in fiberglass, repeatedly sanded and painted.  The eagle eyed will notice that the finished product has one less tread than shown here.  Somehow I made a mistake, but lucked out where the dimensions are such that one less tread fits the installed position.  

Fixtures were made to epoxy together the treads.  The fixtures hold everything square during the curing process.  The treads pivot on 1/2" fiberglass rods that extend into holes drilled through the side rails.  The rods are epoxied only to the side rails to hold the whole assembly together.   

There is much painting ahead. High temperature and high humidity are not desirable conditions for this activity.  A used portable air conditioner was purchased to reduce the temperature and humidity in the shop.  The air conditioner is too small to cool the whole shop, but it is located adjacent to my work area.  A downside is that I have to keep all the metal window louvers closed while the AC is running.  The light and the views are so much better with open louvers.   An upside is I don't have to run around opening and closing the 21 louvers each day.  I collect the AC water condensate in a five gallon bucket.  I could have enough drinking water to last me a week by running the AC a few hours.  It seems to be working!  

Progress in Many Directions

Cockpit Changes

 Above is the cockpit state from the last episode.  Locker lids and cockpit to hull gap fillers are lacking.

The locker lids feature a strong box finger joint construction.

This is the join between segments of the hull to cockpit gap fillers.  Plywood fingers epoxied to the undersides assure the segments present a flush surface.  Locker lids (not shown above) are hinged to the gap fillers that are in turn bolted to the locker's inner combing.  The gap fillers are segmented to make them easier to handle and less fragile when assembled with individual lids.  All new components are given a single coat of white primer to protect the epoxy coatings from UV damage.

This is much more presentable cockpit with the lids and gap fillers in place.  The gap fillers form a convenient sunken shelf next to the seats.  Now the cockpit is established and has wiring runs all around the perimeter, it is time to install the electrical system.

Electrical System

Wire runs are provided in both hulls so that none of the wiring is exposed.  Previous provisions made for electrical wiring to enter/exit the hulls were not high enough on the hulls to reach the cockpit.  New holes were required on the shelf, the cabin side and the cockpit.  The large black cable is a number 6 conductor that carries all the negative current for distribution throughout the cockpit. 

Notice the upward sloping box shaped wire runs between the cockpit and the hull .......

Lashings join the hulls to the crossbeams so that mating parts can flex and relieve stress.  Components must accommodate flexing in adjoining structures.  The box shaped wire runs, imaged above, mount between the hull and the cockpit with a 1/4" clearance between the inner and outer box structures, thereby allowing flexing between components.  The small box shape mounts lower against the hull than the larger box shape mounted on the cockpit.  Any water splashed up into the gap must go up hill to be stopped by an inside lip on the large box opening.  The water then drains out the gap it entered from below.  That is my fine theory of how these flexible wire conduits will exclude interior water and hopefully, no plan B will come into play here. 

Here we are in the aft starboard cockpit locker where the power is distributed.  At the top is the negative bus bar, below that is the positive termination panel for the switched loads and solar panel inputs. The electrical system will distribute auxiliary solar power, port solar power, port hull power, depth sounder, navigation/anchor lights and cockpit outlet loads.  The black box to the left is a depth sounder that connects to my tablet based navigation software by blue tooth.  All circuits are given numbers and number labels are applied to all terminations for a given circuit.  This will prove helpful should trouble shooting be necessary in the future.  A plexiglass guard for this area will be a good idea before power is applied.

New holes require new covers.  

I haven't had a look behind these panels for a while.  To the left are visible the three blue solar charge controllers.  On the backside of the right panel is where switched/fused circuits will terminate.

Motor Controller

The electric outboard motor control panel has suffered a major change of concept.  The initial plan was to mount the controller and display inside the starboard hull, but it was intrusive, not very useful when operating from the cockpit and would require hull and cockpit penetrations for the cabling.  

Plan B is to mount the controller and display on a box that can be attached and removed from the locker lid.  The throttles are very stiff to operate so that the controller box must be soundly attached to the operating surface.  The details for this remain open.  The cockpit lids inner and outer combings must be modified to allow passage of the control cables from the motors to the controller box.  The controller box is stored in the locker when not in use.

New Locker

Can you name this assemblage?

Here it is in a more completed form.

Here we have a top view of the anchor locker.  The shape of trampolines between the hulls and the anchor locker can now be visualized.  I'm considering a black web mesh for the trampolines.  The half inch wide webs are spaced a half inch apart, the small mesh dimensions should make for a very comfortable surface and very sexy looking trampolines.

A double hinged lid provides full access to the locker.  The anchor locker will be held to the crossbeams by three lashings.