Two Years In

My order of plywood, epoxy and fiberglass arrived about mid September 2017.  Now, September 2019, I'm two years into this boat build obsession.  Let's have a look at my progress.

Both aft bunk compartments have received paint as well as inspection ports for the aft floatation compartments.  In later operations I gripped the painted surfaces with epoxy covered gloves and created a painting do over for myself.

Inspection ports were also installed in the forward two compartments.  The fore most compartment is a flotation compartment.  The foreground port gives access to the locker lid dogs providing a means to lock the lid from the inside.  Completing these details inches the deck installations forward, but there are other details holding this up that would have been better completed earlier in the construction.

The Tiki 26 is a boat design inspired by polynesian catamarans.  Like the polynesian boats, the Tiki is held together by three crossbeams lashed to the inboard and outboard hull sides.  At first I was skeptical of this arrangement, but in time it made sense to me.  Imagine if the springs in your vehicle were replaced with steel pipes.  A rough potholed road would beat the vehicle to death in short order.  Like the sprung vehicle, the lashings provide some give in the assembled boat and thereby relieve stresses on the components.

The image above shows a lashing pad clamped to the shear stringer.  My regular readers will know that the shear is a line defined by the deck/hull intersection.  Below the shear stringer is a shear doubler.  The lashing pad captures the lashings under the shear doubler as the lashings are lead up and over the crossbeam above for several turns.  The lashing pads are held by three machine screws through bolted to the hull.  These screw holes require some special preparation. 

A drilling jig was used to drill the 1/4" holes in a consistent pattern.  As the beam and lashing pad width broadens on the inboard side as well as fore and aft, three drilling jigs were required for the hole pattern variations.

Above is one of the twenty shear doublers. The 1/4" holes were drilled out to 1/2" holes then filled with high density epoxy.  The drilling jig was then reinstalled to redrill the holes to 1/4".  The high density epoxy provides better bearing strength for the fasteners and seals the wood from moisture,

Above are the 16 lashing pads with the edges rounded over by the router.  Each of these pads will receive three epoxy filled screw holes for a total of 48 holes or 96 filled holes if the matching hull holes are counted.  Holing these parts will wait until the final positions are determined in conjunction with crossbeam locating much later in the construction process.  I'll certainly need to place my drilling jigs in a memorable location for future needs.

Four additional stringer doublers/lashing pad locations are on the boat's stern as shown above.  An additional fourth crossbeam will span between the hulls at the aft to support a boarding ladder and rear trampoline.  

On the left hand side, just forward of the stringer doubler and below the shear stringer, is an angled piece of timber that is not yet present on the right hand side.  I term the angled timber as a drip rail.  Those with Tiki experience have reported that the shear stringers are prone to rotting by water clinging to the stringer underside.  The drip rail should prevent that problem and ease the transition of fiberglass fabric from the hull to the shear.  The shear stringer bottom was cut at a 15° to avoid the clinging water problem, but it did not appear to my eye to provide a steep enough angle.  This feature increased the number of angled cuts required to create the drip rail cross section that nests nicely against the hull and stringer.

Installing the 18 drip rail segments was inhibited by the number of suitable clamps.  Above I have repurposed the plywood parts of previously used spanish windlasses as clamping jigs.  The jigs apply the clamping forces so the drip rails are bent around the hulls as well as firmly seated against the hull and shear stringer.  This installation was rather tedious, but once the clamps were in place there was nothing to do but wait for the epoxy to set .... I got some afternoons off!

It was wise to delay deck installations (see Plan B episode) until the shear modifications were completed,  Clamping, drilling and filling holes would be much more involved if the decks were in place.  If I were truly wise, these modifications would have been done before any dreaded painting was involved.  With the shear work done it was on to more interesting tasks. 

A Galley Forms

Progress on the galley was delayed while awaiting the shipment of sink drain fittings.  Before mounting the sink; the bottom needed to be modified with a drain fitting and a drain valve mount.  I'm rather pleased with the valve mounting arrangement that uses valve body flats to prevent body rotation as the drain valve is operated.  Ahh, good valve action here!  

Above the galley is configured for use as the aft bunk with the lid covering the footwell and the alcohol stove stored on the right.  Two shelves reside under the counter to either side of the sink.  A goose necked lamp is clamped to its' location on the right bulkhead.  The lamp features white as well as a night vision preserving red light.  This lamp is the primary lamp in each hull.  The goose neck allows the light to be directed as needed. 

The stove rests against the outward sloping inboard hull side.  Wedged shaped pieces under the stove help assure the stove remains secure in its' stowed location.  A latch on the upper left corner and a projection on the lower right corner also secure the stove.

In the upper right background there are three blue boxes in the navigation compartment.  The boxes are solar charge controllers, the boat's electrical system beginnings.  Delving into that will remain for a future episode and the arrival of a future shipment. 

The footwell lid now serves as the stove table and the galley is ready for some cooking action.  I'm not the one to give much action in that regard but can offer observations.  I'm 6'-1" and my knees fit comfortably under the table.  The counter height is right to serve as a comfortable arm rest and to view the sink contents while experiencing great valve action.  It is probably best if I just stay out of the cook's way.

After two years the galley (port hull) and the navigation (starboard hull) compartments remain to complete the hull's interior fitments.  All decks are cut out and fitted as well as the cabin sides.  The decks require only interior paint and cleat backing pads for installation in the near term.  The backing pads and the electrical system components (to be installed in the navigation compartment) should arrive on the next shipment in a month and one half.  The cabin sides will require a far amount of work to make provisions for port lights and the companion way entrance.  The list of tasks ahead is long and can be tedious.  I will not trouble my readers with this list, but to allow them to bask in the progress presented in each new episode.  

Scooter Blues

I enjoy the scooter as it has restored driving fun.  It is my preferred means of travel around town as I'm equipped for in this picture of better scooter times.  The electric motor has started cogging and making noise.  It runs a bit like a vehicle that is not operating on all cylinders.  I think I know what the problem is, but it will require dismantling the hub motor, ordering parts and waiting.  I'm not yet inclined to do so.  

Magnetic!

The companion way foot well is covered by a plywood locker lid to complete the aft bunk sleeping surface.  It is not anticipated that the aft bunks will be used often, but the locker lids need to be stowed somewhere somehow.  I conceived various means using moving parts and spring elements to secure the lids, but finally I hit upon an idea that may be brilliant in it's simplicity or an extremely bad idea.

The answer is magnetic; magnets imbedded in the lid and in pucks epoxied to the aft compartment hull secure the lid against the hull without fumbling with latches or other moving parts.  The lid snaps into the stowed position when near the pucks.  The pucks protrude from the hull so that the lid does not contact the stringer below the pucks. 

The lid tucks neatly away at the edge of the hull/bunk junction, occupying minimal space and requiring minimum fuss.

I did have a concern that the magnets might interfere with the boat's compass.  Experiments with a hand held compass show that the magnet must be within a foot and one half to deflect the indicator.  The compass will not be anywhere near the magnets.  I'm yet to be convinced there are downsides to this arrangement.

The locker lids will also be used for a chart table as well as a table to support the alcohol stove inside the hulls.  Magnets may also serve to secure the lids in these applications.  Possibilities are also open for use as cockpit table(s) placed on a collapsible magnetic stand(s).

Above are part of the 104 individual parts used to finish the remaining forward bunk compartments.  Each compartment will receive a shelf on each side with provisions for stowing personal items and clothing underneath.  As with all parts, these parts will receive two epoxy coats followed by the first of many sandings.

Above the wooden eyelets are epoxied to the shelf support brackets.  Later, the foreground parts will be epoxied to the support bracket's opposite ends.

Above, the shelves and associated components are installed in the hulls.  The concept is to have three mesh pouches below each shelf.  On the right, strings are run through the eyelets to illustrate the center pouch outline.   Cords adjacent to the hull will hold the pouch back against the hull.  The pouch front will be suspended from the stick below the shelf.  Bungee cords are represented by the strings running from the lower eyelets to the stick.  The bungee cords assure the stick remains seated against rests below the shelf and help compress the pouch contents so they are not free to bang around.  The stick is lifted off the rests to access the pouch contents.  I expect that the clothing and personal items for four people could be accommodated on extended voyages with this arrangement.

Openings cut through the 1/4" plywood bulkheads can present a hazard to a person rolling around during sleep.  For this and esthetic reasons, moldings are applied to soften the bulkhead edges.  Steam bending kiln dried lumber has its' limitations in achieving bends of a smaller radius.  For this reason laminated moldings were made for the forward bulkhead openings.  Four 1/8" x 1/2" mahogany strips were laminated together around the form shown above.  Later planing and routing operations completed the moldings.

  

At long last, the forward bunk is painted.  The laminated molding, from the previous image, is shown placed in the bulkhead opening.  The exposed wood components will receive varnish at a future time.  I have not yet determined if the locker lids will receive paint or varnish.  

It has been a long slog completing this compartment.  Painting requires two coats of primer and two coats of paint (three would be better) with sanding between coats.  The hulls must be rotated on their sides to access all the surfaces that include many nooks and crannies.  It takes a full day to sand these compartments in both hulls.  The high build, easily sanded primer leaves a silky smooth surface.  The paint is another story.  A 220 grit sand paper is used that tends to plug up and develop a waxie feeling surface after it is unplugged with a wire brush.  

There is some art to painting I have yet to master.  After much effort I am left with a painted surface full of brush marks, as if the paint drys too quickly to flow out.  To counter this I have been painting in the cooler evenings (~85°F), but with no improvement.  I have not been able to obtain finely bristled brushes to lightly drag across the surface to tip off the paint after application.  The interior is too confining to use a roller and produce thin even coatings before tipping off.  Hopefully, better results can be obtained on the exterior or I'll have to settle for a finish that looks OK from 20 feet.

Likely no one, including my readers, wants to listen to my repeated painting woes.  So it is best to end this segment on a more positive note and save my woes for the four remaining compartments requiring paint.  Some boat builders chose to varnish the interior wood.  To me this seems like a very dark and depressive environment as witnessed by the unpainted interior image shown earlier.  I think my efforts are producing a bright, cheery and inviting interior.  In time it will be cluttered with other items to distract the eye.

Scooter News

I am no longer confined to illicit scooter rides around the neighborhood now that it is licensed for the highway.  There are still issues with the turn signals/running lights that I will have to resolve before the next inspection.  The joy in driving is back with the thrill of speed (20 mph max.) and the sensory overloads.  It is something of a mild sensation with people giving me smiles, the thumbs up and women want it (Hey! What about me?).   

Near the headlight is bungeed a black bag used to carry home dinner or other items from shopping expeditions.

I recently drove the scooter nine miles out of town to enjoy water volleyball.  The scooter is rated to carry 440 pounds and I presently do not weigh anything near that.  The stiff springs make for a very jarring ride over the lumpy roads.  I found that it travels much better over such roads if I lift off the seat by pressing against the floorboard and allow the scooter to oscillate below me. The monster potholed lumpy road trip mostly limited my speed to the lowest range of eight MPH maximum.  I returned home with 3/4 charge remaining.  I also discovered that the handlebars and a brake caliper fasteners had loosened, but disaster had not come my way.  I expect I will not repeat this journey until the mythical day the road is paved.   

Steaming

The last episode diverted efforts to install the decks into a Plan B.  A number of tasks must be accomplished before Plan A can be implemented.

The decks must receive cleats at both bows and sterns.  The bow cleat above has had the mounting holes drilled oversized.  The holes were filled with an epoxy mixed with a high density additive and later drilled to accept the fasteners.  The epoxy filling distributes the fastener loads and seals plywood at the mounting holes.   The high density additive improves the filling's compressive and bearing strengths.  I hope to sleep well believing my anchor line will not be tearing out deck cleats.

The bow deck undersides receive reinforcements adjacent to the cleat fastener holes.

Some may look at the image above and wonder what kind of a solar powered robot vacuum cleaner I have.  What is shown is the outside face and the inside face of solar powered ventilators.  I have two for each hull, one supplies air and the other exhausts it.  These ventilators have a battery that is charged during the day so that the fan runs day and night.  Good ventilation is key to avoiding mold, fungus and other funk.  The fore and aft decks will be holed to receive the ventilators (resolving a last episode cliffhanger).  

While solar powered ventilators are not new, this brand has a unique feature that I was excited to find.  There is a built in LED light that will illuminate the dark compartments and lockers that would otherside not receive light.  

Here the forward deck has been holed to receive the ventilador.  The aft decks also received similar holes.  The options for ventilador placement were limited and restricted by stringer locations, hatch clearance, cross beam clearance, as well as the internal shelving.  I can't say the ventilador does positive things for the esthetics, but it sits in an out of the foot traffic location as well as being easy to reach and operate from the inside.  This is a case where I would say, "There is no perfection, only compromise".

This is a below deck ventilator view.  Wooden rings have been fabricated to fit around the ventilator below deck.  The ring will give the above deck mounting fixture something to screw into besides 1/4" plywood.

My steam bending efforts have produced positive results after soaking the kiln dried lumber in water for a week.  A newly steamed length of molding is shown clamped to the bending form in the required shape.  The image also shows two examples of specially milled molding for the aft bulkheads.

Above, the steamed wood is drying while held in the desired shape.  The steamed wood has a U shaped cross section that fits over and softens the bulkhead's plywood edge.  Two U shaped lengths will be fitted to finish the bulkhead's edge.  Similar molding will be applied to all interior bulkhead openings, providing my steam bending successes continue.

The molding, mentioned with the bending form, is shown in position at the bulkhead opening top.  The aft cabin bulkhead opening molding has small radius corners that I would not attempt or succeed with by steam bending.  Unlike the previous bulkhead, the aft molding has an L cross section rather than a U cross section.  Several steps were employed to create the corner radius moldings.

Fortunately, I have a fly cutter to cut wooden disks or semicircles of any desired size.  Above is the fixture used to route a circular rabbet around the semicircle's perimeter.  The circular rabbet's inside radius matches that of the bulkhead opening.

The readjusted fly cutter cuts the rabbeted semicircle's inside diameter.  Cuts are then made to create two corner moldings after the edges receive a 1/8" radius.  More attention should have been paid to the wood grain orientation as these unattached parts are very fragile. 

Here two steam bent, L shaped moldings are clamped to the bending form for the lower portion of the aft bulkhead molding.  A square filler piece is placed in the L's mouth to present a square cross section to the clamping forces.

New shelves are held up by temporary supports in the forward bunk compartment to the left.  The shelving theme is emerging with the slotted fiddles capped by varnished mahogany.  An arrangement of netting and bungee cord below the shelves could be used to store clothes and other items.  I need to flesh out this idea before the shelves are installed.

My previous hope of reducing the chaos of a hoarders lair by installing the decks no longer seems wise.  Some future operations will be much easier without installed decks.  Meanwhile, I'm engaged in multiple sub projects at various stages of completion.  It has been said that a point in every direction is the same as no point at all.  I'm pointing for a future sudden assembly event where the boat's state of completion takes a decided jump in a short period of time due to the completed sub projects.  My scrap piles are turning into smaller scraps and the new parts require a place to be, adding to chaos.  Progress will somehow continue as I shuffle along my hoarder's trails while forgetting the purpose of my quest upon arrival at some remote shop location.  Yet, I look forward to starting progress each new day

Plan B

A shop is never big enough.  I'm accumulating piles of useful scrap as well as completed sub assemblies.  The shop has taken on the character of a hoarder's lair.  Materials and equipment define narrow trails leading from one remote shop location to another.  The chaos level is higher than I like to tolerate.  A focus on installing the sub assemblies would reduce the chaos levels.  Plan A was to go full steam on completing interior fitments under the decked areas.  This plan would realize near term deck installations, thereby reducing the hoarding content and chaos.

Most interior fitments use 1/4 inch plywood material and it is critical to know if there is enough material on hand.  The remaining full 1/4 inch sheets and scraps were inventoried and identified with tape for future applications.  There are some large 1/4 inch plywood parts to cut that could provide useful interior scraps.  Plan A morphs into Plan B .... 

The above image shows green fishing lines tensioned between the cabin corners.  By sighting across these lines it is possible to judge if the lines lie on the same plane and the adjustments needed to create a sloping, flat, single plane cabin top surface.  In practice, the fishing line elevations are adjusted on the aft bulkhead to determine the plane formed by the corners of the two forward bulkheads.

The eagle eyed will notice the left fishing line does not touch the outboard middle bulkhead.  A tapered shim was later glued to the bulkhead edge to assure the side panel would sit fair against the three bulkheads.

The aft bulkhead height is adjusted to the co-planer fishing line/bulkhead intersections.  A clamped on straight edge and the oscillating saw make quick work of it.  

A straight edge with hot glued pointed sticks form a cabin side template.  The template straight edge and stick points are transferred to the 1/4" sheet stock.  A batten is sprung between the transferred points define side panel cut only requiring minor fit up adjustments. 

With all the side panels cut and inplace; I Hollywooded on the decks (fake installed) to gain my first good look at what I've been building.  It is difficult to appreciate and photograph the boat's shape in the close shop confines, but it is gratifying to view the boat in a more completed state.

I like the pronounced upward sweep of the bows and sterns.  The cabin sides seem a little slab sided at this point, but portlights and wash boards will lighten the appearance in time.  The diversion to Plan B has revealed that I should have enough 1/4 inch marine plywood to complete the boat providing I make NO mistakes.  The addition of the cabin side panels has added to shop chaos as I return to Plan A.

The port side forward locker lid latch linkage is shown above.  The linkage pivots on 1/4" bolts epoxied into the 3/4" thick mahogany components.  The linkage is pulled/pushed through an inspection port in the forward bunk.  Pull the link to extend the latches into lid mounted dogs, push to retract and release the dogs.  An operator's handle was later added to the link adjacent to the inspection port.

The starboard forward locker/head has received finishing coats of paint.  The corner step and the floor hatch will require a nonskid surface that I do not yet have materials for.  I may opt to varnish some wood on these parts just to spark things up.  A clip is incorporated into the lower right hand corner to hold the composting toilet's agitator handle.  A few glueing operations and this compartment will be ready for deck installation.

Above is a view forward into the foremost bunk compartment.  This compartment, in both hulls, received coats of primer, paint and surprisingly sturdy shelves made of 1/4" plywood.  I hope not to launch an embarrassment.  To that end I have added some ginger bread to the shelving to spark things up, this includes a varnished lip rail and decorative slots cut along the fiddle's (raised lip along a shelf edge) length.  All of this sold through an artsy image taken through the round bulkhead opening.

The deck panels above enclose the forward bunk compartments.  Preparations are being made to paint the panel undersides.  One panel has been masked off in the areas where it will later be epoxied to the hull.  The remaining panel needs to be scribed off while installed on the hull to mark the masked areas.  I managed to get one coat of primer on these panels when I realized I have a large hole to put in these panels.  I'm excited for the hole's purpose, but that purpose will not arrive until the next shipment; a month and another episode away.  

This shows the foremost bunk compartment with the painted hatch mount in place.  This compartment will be covered with a deck panel shown masked in the previous image.

Gingerbread Gone Wrong

My ginger breading could use some bent wood.  The table sports version 2.0 of my wood steam bending apparatus.  Version 1.0 had a 1000 watt electric hot plate that was too wimpy for the job and a PVC pipe for a steam box that went limp with the heat.  Version 2.0 features a powerful butane hot plate and a plastic sleeve steam box.  This arrangement delivers plenty of steam and heat to the wood contained within the sleeve.

My steam bending attempt was not successful.  Blocks were screwed to a scrap sheet at intervals along the bulkhead opening edge to force the steamed wood against the opening's shape.  The wood was not compliant enough to form to the shape and it snapped.  I later learned that my kiln dried lumber is the worst thing to steam bend.  I'm soaking the wood in water for a while in hopes of better results in a future episode.  

As you see, I have sprinkled this episode with some cliff hangers; what are the deck holes for?, will the steam bending efforts be successful?  For some, this harkens back to the days of the kid's Saturday matinee when you had to return for the next week's episode to see how Flash Gordon got out of that jam.