Transformation

All the bunk panels are installed.  Fillets were made between the panels and the hull to fill the gap and to further strengthen the structure.  The lockers and flloation chambers are painted a bright white as visable in the background hull with the locker covers removed.  The bright white was too intense and sterile for the normally exposed interior.  The interior will be coated with a warmer off white as seen in the companionway compartment.

 The unpainted locker, second from the bow, will require additional work. I intend to install a composting head in one of these exterior lockers and possibly shelving in the other.  I have not yet heard from the head vendor regarding my order, so a Plan B may be needed.

I managed to score a large ice chest that slips neatly into the aft bunk compartment.  The chest lid is hinged parallel to the end so that only a portion of the lid is opened to access the contents.  The chest is shown in the position necessary to open the lid.

The long bench greatly facilitates this second stage in the upper hull panel assembly.  Above the mahogany shear stringer is epoxied to the upper hull panel under the pressure of clamps.  A boat’s shear is the “line” at the hull/deck intersection.

Previously; the plywood hull panels and a short bow panel were joined together with butt blocks on the interior side.  All three butt joins are visible above as the darken areas crossing the shorter dimension. This sub assembly’s overall length measured precisely as the plans indicated.   

It was a bit shocking to fit the upper panel to the lower panel and find it was ¾” too short.  I was further surprised to learn, in my eagerness to get started, I made an assumption that compounded into this condition.  I assumed that my 8’ by 4’ plywood would be 8 feet long, but recent measurements revealed a length of 8 feet, ¼ inch. The three plywood lengths, forming the lower hull are ¾ of an inch too long as a result.  

Above are two hull panels screwed to the bench in preparation for glueing to a butt block.  A ¾ inch wide insert lengthens the second upper hull panel assembly.

The butt block will be screwed in place over the butted insert and panel ends as the epoxy sets.

Both hull panels are fitted to one hull.  This has really transformed the project from a canoe like stage into a boat no doubt stage.  I like the pronounced sheer upward sweeps.

The upper hull panels fit amazing well against the previously established bulkhead marks.  The bulkheads fore and aft of the cabin project above the sheer line as expected. These bulkheads individually project identical amounts from one sheer to the other.  This is beyond what I would ordinarily expect and suggests this hull is straight and true as confirmed by tighten fish lines spanning the length.

The installed upper panels give a better feel for what the interior space will be like.  I give a long pause in using the word spacious, but that is what first came to mind when tainted by previous visualizations of a four foot wide hull.

A Dream Revisited and Revised

In my middle thirties I purchased a beat up old house that had a balloon payment in five years.  The plan was to fix the place up so that I could sell it for the cash to buy a blue water sailing vessel.  I was overly optimistic about what I would accomplish in five years and ended up paying to get out of the house.  Home ownership was abandoned for some years, but the dream of a blue water sailing vessel persisted. 

The decades pass and, BAM, retirement is on my horizon!  I formed a plan for a Belize retirement.  English speaking Belize, with three of the four Caribbean atolls off the coast, the second largest barrier reef on earth, hundreds of cayes behind the reef and interesting places to visit along the coast.  As my plan evolved, I encountered Scott Willams' excellent blog of his Tiki 26 (image link), Element II (blog link), build.  This blog inspired me to build my own 26 foot catamaran to enjoy and explore the world around me during the retirement years.  The prevailing East winds will provide swift reaching passsages along the North to South coastline and as a former Hobie 16 racer, I know how to get the speed out of a catamaran.  The catamaran's 16 inch draft is excellent for these shallow waters where keel boats may suffer difficulties.

Boat construction started in September 2017 with the arrival of marine plywood, 20 gallons of epoxy and fiberglass cloth ordered from the U.S.  Some readers have received email progress updates at earlier stages in the build, but some could not receive the associated images.  I expect my updates by blog will cure this issue.  Due to computer issues I may not be able to recover early build images so I'm starting at the present state of build June 2018.  Both lower hulls are in an identical state of construction.

Above is the floor marked with tape to find the crossmember locations on the hull.  The floor has two inspection ports for the area below.

The floor panel has been removed to expose the rails the floor is glued onto and three of the four cross members.  Also shown is a jig using clamps and hot glued sticks to determine the compound angles and length for the remaining cross member.

The underside of the floor is shown with all the members installed.  The cross members have received a radius so that all members form a lip around the floor’s inspection ports. Plugs will rest on theses lips to cover the inspection ports.  

The bench is covered with the various lip/support members for the two floors and eight bunk panels. These parts receive two epoxy coats followed by sanding before glueing to the panels.

The two bunk panels above show the lip surriounding the opening.  Note how the left panel has a squared off lip corners where the right panel has a nice radius lip in the corners.  The radius lip gives things a much more finished appearance.  A week and one half was spent adding the fiddlely radius lip to all the panels.

With the panel lip/support members glued together, the panels are almost ready for installation. In order to better see and locate things in the below bunk lockers a gloss white paint was applied to the lockers as well as the panel undersides. The lockers receive one primer coat and two paint coats with sanding in between coats. The panel undersides received one coat of primer and one paint coat. The lockers really could use a third coat, but I was not real concerned about the finish in these hidden areas and the marine paint sells for $75 USD per quart. The primer is one third the paint price, is very nice to sand and corrects minor flaws. In the future I will apply two primer coats to get better paint coverage.

Above are two bunk panels clamped to the rails as the epoxy cures.

Special clamping fixtures were required to press the panels against the rails. The slopeing rail surface made the fixtures slip off the rails until sandpaper was added to the ends of the lower fingers. One hull has all bunk and floor panels glued in place. The epoxy will be allowed to cure a few days before removing the hull from the alinement maintaining cradle. The cradle will then support the second hull for the panel glueing operation. The installed panels will greatly stiffen up the structure.

Improving Outlook - May 21, 2018

Above was the view across the street from my house.  The mounds of dirt were left by an operation to install a new neighborhood water supply line.  Oddly, no one is connected to this new water supply and the existing one works fine.  I've been meaning to talk to the water utility about this dirt pile, but I've been focused on other distractions.  

The nasty pine trees provided a constant litter of needles and produce a spreading forest of shoots.  I have always longed for these trees to be removed.

Oh Happy Day, the trees are gone!  I now enjoy this bay view.  I designed my house to take advantage of the breeze, but the trees proved to be a too effective wind block.   A wonderful cooling breeze now fills the house as intended.  Somehow the dirt piles have gotten smaller.

Across the bay and visible between a gap in the shoreline palm trees is an artificial mound.  This is the Cerros Maya site shown in the image below.  It is one of the few Belize sites where a pyramid's ornamentation survives.  I've been to the top of the mound (now mostly a rubble pile) for a commanding view of the bay and surrounding forest.  My experience is that the mosquitos are sure to find you at this site.

Welcome to My Stairwell

An open door allowed this butterfly into my screened porch.  Efforts to herd the butterfly out the door were futile.  The butterfly was insistent on the direction it was going and only in that direction would it go.  The stupid bug met an unfortunate end, but not at my hand.

Recently I've completed a 29 foot bench on the ground floor.  It is two feet deep and features 16 feet of shelving.  This bench will support long items for a future long term project.  I've also completed the tool storage unit above the bench.  I have yet to complete bench lighting other than in the center.  For this there are four foot long LED lamps of the finest Chinese quality for $15 US each.  They feature connectors where the lamps can be daisy chained together.  This feature is important to me as I had outlets installed in the ceiling that were supposed to be switched to control the moveable ceiling lights.  The switched outlet feature was not incorporated so now the moveable ceiling lights must be controlled by plugging/unplugging from a bench wall outlet.  Daisy chaining reduces the number of wall outlets required.

   

Two ceiling fans are installed alongside the bench to improve the comfort level.  I purchased what I thought were extension cords, but turned out to be remote outlet switches.  They have a switch on the end of a 15 foot lead that switches power to a device plugged into the opposite end.  This opposite end also plugs into an outlet.  My ceiling fans plug into the ceiling outlets and are controlled by the happy accident of purchasing the remote outlet switches.  I think there are more such switches and available outlets in my future.

I met the lady who owns the lot across the street.  I inquired about removing the trees that block the breeze, but she was resistant.  I then sweetened the deal by offering to replace the trees with two palm trees.  She upped the ante by suggesting a row of palm trees along the road would be acceptable.  I am considering this arrangement and have made some initial enquiries as to what it might cost.  I've had a point in too many directions to pursue her written permission for my proposed number of tress and type at this time.

Her lot tends to have a marsh flavor, especially when it rains.  The rainy season tends to bring out more of the biting/stinging things that arise from stagnant waters.  Color me slathered in DEET and avoiding outdoor efforts during early morning/evening prime feeding times.  If a person can't tolerate insect bites or sweating, then Belize is not for you (written as I sit here shirtless and lumpy with bites).

The neighborhood has received a new water main.  Rumors suggested the new water main was in preparation for a paved road!  The water main was completed some weeks ago yet piles of dirt remain behind and no work crews are to be found.  One dirt pile prevents me from fully backing out of my gate, but this minor annoyance I can flip to a positive.  I've started whittling away at the offending pile to fill in places where water tends to pool.  It is doubtful that I'll ever make a significant dent in the pile's size, but available fill material is good to have around.   

There was some scrap left over from the bench build.  I had a light fixture that was never used and a motion sensor I ordered online, from these ingredients I built a stairwell lamp.  The shade shields the eyes while descending from the head of the stairs.  The 180° motion sensor is tilted so that it triggers when anyone crosses the head or foot of the stairs.  It hides behind the decorative facia below the lamp globe.  I'm not sure if I'm happy with the aesthetics, but the stairwell is more welcoming in the dark of night.