Sudden Assembly Event

A previous episode, Two Years In, discussed the above lashing pads through bolted to the sheer stringers.  The 16 lashing pads are closer to their finished state with rounded over corners/edges and epoxy filled through bolt holes.  In the foreground are the three drilling templates used to create the sheer stringer holes and now the matching lashing pad holes.

Each template has a fence screwed to one side, thereby precisely locating the holes relative to one lashing pad edge.  Lashing pad and template witness marks are aligned to position the pad correctly along the template fence.  A screw secures the pad to the template to assure accurate drilling and to later reattach the pads for final drilling.  Each hole is drilled three times, first to accurately locate the hole, then to enlarge the hole and finally drilling out the epoxy filling to 1/4" diameter.  

16 lashing pads, each with three holes drilled three times is drilling 144 holes.  Fortunately, 96 holes can be knocked out quickly with the templates and leave 48 oversized holes remaining.  With this many holes it is worthwhile to build a simple drilling aid.  A fence screwed to a plywood scrap then clamped to a drill press table sped up the drilling operations.  The fence was positioned to drill either the lashing pad top single hole or the lower two holes.  Lashing pad witness marks are aligned with those established along the fence.  Bing bang boom, a pile of holes is reduced to sawdust.  If done over more craftily; each hole would be drilled only twice.

The two electrical panels are taking shape underneath the typical shelving.  The solar charge controllers are behind the left panel.  A battery monitor is mounted on the left panel face at navel level.  It would be difficult to read at that level so it is mounted on an inch and one half protrusion that angles the face up.  I have to say this tricky mounting didn't look right the first go round.  The plywood had been cut out and the mounting was too high up to look comfortable with the right panel components.  In the end it was lowered to provide a reasonably pleasing result.

Below the panel ends to the left and the right are wooden enclosures providing passages for wiring to the electrical components.  The left side will carry leads from the battery and the forward starboard solar panel.  The right side will carry the port and aft solar panel leads as well as the switched/fused circuit wiring to the remainder of the boat.  The wooden enclosures are certainly a cleaner installation than the plastic conduit used in the galley outlet.

 The right panel contains the battery disconnect switch and the fused switch panel.  The switch panel controls and protects the circuits through out the boat.  I'm awaiting the next monthly shipment for wire terminals, wire markers and an additional switch to wire, epoxy coat, install and paint this compartment.  Lately some progress has been limited by needed materials arriving in monthly shipments.  There is always something else that needs doing, but it's not wise to leave too much hanging.  Fortunately, the last shipment provided materials for stuff long hanging:

Grey non-skid is applied to the head floor and newly epoxied in step.  This KiwiGrip non-skid is easy to use, it is applied with a special texture roller and cleans up with water.  I'm considering this off white color scheme with the KiwiGrip grey for the decks.  I think this would be easy on the eyes in the harsh tropical sun.

Here we peer down into the cavernous forward locker.  The white paint ran out and it received only one patchy coat months ago.  A fresh can of paint and another coat takes it off the list of things long hanging.

Primer paint has not been available for a while and the deck undersides could not be painted until the mana shipment.  A different brand of primer was used that only required one coat of primer as opposed to two.  This reduced the between coat sands from 3 to 2.  Any reduction to sanding is a great boon in boat building.

The painted deck face above sits above the forward bunk compartment.  Painting is very time consuming requiring three to four coats with sanding in between.  Paint is only applied to the undersides above the bunks to reduce the required labor.  The deck undersides are otherwise protected by two epoxy coats.  The lime green masking tape is a preparation for installation.

The forward bunk compartment is masked off for deck installation.  Areas adjacent to the tape are slathered with epoxy then the deck is installed with screws, squeezing epoxy out onto the tape.  A tapered stick scrapes away and collects the excess epoxy.  The tape is then pulled away to leave a painted surface free of epoxy smears and blemishes, if all goes well.  The most frustrating part was trying to rid epoxy covered gloves of the just removed wadded up masking tape.

As some may have come to correctly suspect this is the much ballyhooed Sudden Assembly Event.  Most of the efforts above were in preparation for installing all the decks and the forward locker combings.  These parts have been occupying space and gathering long hanging dust for months on end.  

Gathering dust has also been a problem in the compartments covered by a deck.  It will never be easier to clean these compartments than before the decks are installed and efforts were so directed.  All openings to the decked areas are now covered in plastic in what may be a futile effort to keep the compartments dust free.

Earlier I thought installing the decks would reduce the shop chaos.  Getting to this point required a variety of processes and materials so that working space could not be found on the 29 foot long workbench.  A chaos eradication effort has cleared the bench with other such efforts to come.

The decks are not yet fully installed.  At this point the decks are just epoxied to the edge of the 1/4 inch hull panel.  A wedge shaped gap, as much as one inch deep, exists between the deck and the sheer stringer below.

Above, the hull is rotated on its' side so the wedge shaped gap is in a better working position.  The deck has been flush trimmed to the stringer below.  Thicken epoxy is loaded into a baggy with a corner cut off.  Squeezing the baggy fills the gap with epoxy and securely bonds the hull and deck.

Robot Army

In a former younger life, in a country far away I enjoyed a robotic lawn mower and a robotic vacuum cleaner.  These were cruder times of basicly bump and turn random navigation robots.  I enjoyed watching these machines go about their tasks while satisfied with the work completed.  In time the vacuum cleaner was revived once and later expired.  I suspect the lawn mower may have fared better.  

Generally the windows are left open here in Belize.  I find that, in spite of living near water, the house is dustier than I knew living all the years in the Washington desert.  No one in my single person household takes the time to take care of the floors.  The solution to this dilemma arrived with the last mana shipment, I suppose as an early Christmas for me.

The image above shows the beginnings of a robot army.  One is to vacuum and the other is to mop.  The vacuum is an iRobot S9+ with the super deluxe feature of a base station that sucks the robot's dustbin clean.  The first time the vacuum ran the robot returned to base station to empty the bin.  An error stopped this operation.  The robot's bin exit port was clogged with great wads of hair!  A person would think this was a house of nine cats, but it is only me; the still greatly follicled one.  This was a one time issue.

iRobot has evolved from the earlier bump/random path approach into systematic navigation.  These robots make overlapping straight line passes with alternate behaviors to deal with chair legs, etc.  The passes are made systematically starting at the base station mid house and working to the east then the east end adjoining rooms then moving to mid house and working west then the west adjoining rooms.  It is interesting to me seeing these robots accurately navigate through a room's door way then abruptly turn to start new cleaning passes. 

I've been withholding the sad tale of the iRobot Braava jet m6.  This machine does a terrific mopping job.  The mopping fluid is contained in a removable tank.  The fluid is sprayed ahead of the robot and the robot moves ahead and partly back three times as it progresses mopping across the floor.  It then backs up to spray again and repeating the mopping sequence.

The first time I installed the tank with mopping fluid it went in hard and didn't feel right.  I got two good mopping runs out of it and thought I would put some citric cleaner in the tank to ward off insects.  It seems to go OK the first time, but later I noticed it wasn't always spraying, the tank was leaking and the tank lid would not stay closed.  The tank was very difficult to remove from the robot.  The tank was broken and distorted.  It is hard to believe the spray pump suction could be so strong to damage the tank this way, but no other explanation occurs to me.  Replacement tanks are only found from vendors in Thailand and the U.K. in initial searches.  The lesson is sure to be not to blow off the instructions stating to use only their mopping fluids.

Random News

Three years in Belize and I've become a cold weather wimp.  If the coconut oil is frozen, it is too cold to take a shower.  If it is less than 70° F and a breeze is blowing through the house I seek to close windows, put on long pants and possibly a coat.  Please friends from the North write and say how you've shed tears for me during a snow shovel workout.

Poking around inside the electric scooter, by a stroke of luck, seems to correct the cogging issue previously mentioned.  The scooter was back on the road briefly before developing a new issue.  The rear brake caliper had seized reducing range, top speed and not to mention damaging the brake.  In time it was discovered a caliper piston had somehow received a nick that prevented it from retracting.  A little work with a file and fine sandpaper makes the scooter good to go whenever the weather is accomodating.

Let There Be Portlights

Heavy rains have expanded the across the street and recently mowed swamp to record size.  This is the source of frog serenades and an abundance of mosquitoes.  I suspect the five white egrets are seeking the frogs.  Possibly a dozen of these large egrets are roosting in the trees behind the house next door.  This is the first time this has happened in the nearly three years I've lived in my house.  The egrets have many vocalizations.  At dawn and dusk they get riled up and I'm treated with background sounds from old Tarzan movies.

The bow and stern cleats received 1/8" thick backing pads secured by screws to the deck undersides.  The 1/8" stainless steel flat bar material arrived on the last once a month shipment.  The decks are now one process away from installation.  The shipment arriving at months end will provide the primer/paint to apply before installation.  I look forward to an upcoming sudden assembly event!

Solar Charging System

The beginnings of the solar charging system is shown mounted on the starboard hull.  All of these components required wooden standoffs so the equipment mounting screws don't penetrate the hull.  A 100 amp hour battery will reside below the bunk in the painted compartment to the left.  The battery leads will pass through the bulkhead and then up through a hole (lower left in unpainted compartment) to connect to the charging system.  My estimated electrical loads are small.  The battery positive terminal is fused at 30 amps.  Smaller diameter and more flexible #6 battery leads are suitable in this low amperage arrangement.

A shunt is mounted in the upper left.  The battery negative lead attaches to the shunt's lower brass stud.  A lead from the shunt's upper brass stud will pass over the blue box tops and connect to the negative distribution buss mounted upper right.  The shunt measures all the current flowing into and out of the battery.  This is tracked by a battery monitor that displays the state of charge as well as other parameters.

The three blue boxes are MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracker) charge controllers and said to be the most efficient type.  These receive input directly from the solar panels and adjust the voltage and current to match the battery's state of charge requirements.  Why three charge controllers you might ask?  The output of solar panels wired together is markedly reduced if any of the panels are shaded.  A boat with lines and sails is likely to be shading any one of the panels at any time.  At least one of the three panels should be able to do its' best when others are shaded. 

 To the right, below the negative distribution buss is a fuse block.  The battery positive attaches here with fused connections only to the charge controller's positive outputs.  The charging system is always energized, there is no on/off switch.  These charging components lay the groundwork for a disconnect and switched/fused circuits to come.    I await a future shipment of wire, lugs and other items to begin making connections.

Best of all, the battery monitor and charge controllers are equipped with bluetooth and an app.  I'm destined for a future of nerding out as partly demonstrated above.  Enough with nerding and on to things more visually stimulating ....

The outboard cabin sides are prepared for flush mounted portlights on internal mounting flanges.  Portlight sizes and shapes can do much to affect a boat's visual appeal.  I like the upward sweeping line of the shear.  The portlights' bottom cutout "mirrors" the shear sweep while the top cutouts follow the straight roof.  I think this has a pleasing aesthetic while blending the transition from curving to straight.  It is difficult to judge what is really aesthetically pleasing within the shop confines, Hopefully, shock and dismay will not be experienced when viewed at an all encompassing distance in the light of day.

There must be compliance in the portlight mounting method to accommodate the differences in plywood and acrylic thermal expansion rates.  This is accomplished by cutting the acrylic 1/8" smaller in dimension than the flush mount opening all around as well as using a 1/4" thick bedding adhesive.  The mounting flange face is positioned 1/4" away from the inside cabin face by plywood spacers to provide the bedding depth.  These spacers are cut to match the flush mount opening and the mounting flange's outside perimeter.  

The image above shows one set of mounting flanges screwed to the spacers as the epoxy sets.  Clear plastic tape covers the cabin side so the mounting flange/spacer assembly does not adhere to the cabin sides.  The cured epoxy assembly is unscrewed from the cabin side to machine round overs on  the outside and inside edges producing the finished result in the background. 

Regular readers may have noticed the cut outs for the aft opening portlights are made.  I think it is traditional to hinge opening portlights from the top.  There may be good reason for this, but I value my headroom so hinge on the bottom it is.   Plywood rings the portlight opening to stiffen things up.  This extra thickness flushes out the aluminum retaining ring giving the portlight less of a tacked on flavor, 

The port hull galley is mostly complete, but awaiting paint for the sink interior.  The goosenecked lamp is mounted to a box on the right bulkhead.  The box contains a 12 volt DC outlet as well as two USB outlets.  This is the only electrical service to the port hull,  The starboard hull will have a similar lamp and outlet arrangement.

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.