Well, the entire stbd hull is "glue set" and just needs the angular braces next. Angular bracing and the keeltopping strips in those three places, and the ply webbing after that, then filleting.
Yeah, then the port hull goes into its cradles and gets same. After that, both hulls will be at the 'lowers completed stage' which I had originally called "Phase 1"
Phase 1 is far enough along that, if I HAD to, I could place the hulls on a trailer and move the build somewhere else, (such as if we sold the house and moved.) It's also the end of my initial plywood/epoxy materials order, and money will have to be spent again for more materials to do 'phase 2' which is the uppers and the decks, bunks, cabin, etc... Probably $1200 for the rest of the ply, and another $800 or so on epoxy and epoxy accessories, putting the grand total so far to about $5000 for completed, unglassed hulls and three beams. (Already spent $3000 on plans, first half of ply, and epoxy.)
The remaining .big. expenses are the glass cloth, sails, paint, rigging, and an outboard motor, and finishing the trailer. I'm guesstimating another $6000 for all of this and extra details, and maybe the T30 comes in at around $11k or so, though I figured twice that at the start. The extra costs I'm probably not considering too well right now are the upholstery.cushioning, the electronics, plumbing, tankage, probably a million little things that will being the total up to par. But they are add-ons in my head, (in my mind, the boat construction is finished when it can sail and motor away. The rest is "outfitting," done at my leisure.)
But phase 1 completion is still a ways off, I intend to make the diagonal bracings tonight, and maybe get them glued in, and hopefully the extra keel timbers as well.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Been a while since update...
Well, I haven't updated the blog in a while, but I have been working on the Tiki 30.
Starboard Hull is 3D!
Not only that, but most of the initial gluing is done on it. All the bulkheads are in place and wired, and BH's 7-3 and all the keels in between have been glued up. (Not filletted, just the initial gluing beads.
I've found that the 14g solid copper wire I'm using loves to snap whenever you twist it too hard, so it's pretty useless for pulling the bulkheads down into the hull. I've also been wondering what the next step is....
After gluing this hull, (and putting in the bracing) I could go ahead and fillet the lowers and the keel, or I could get the other hull 3D and work them side-by-side.
I wish I had a camera that wasn't a pain to use, but I'll be borrowing one from work to snap a few before long.
With what money we've saved up, we went to Ocean City for a few days camping this past week. We found a little "Dinghy Yacht Club" along the coastal road in Delaware that rented boats to sail on Rehoboth Bay. I picked out a Hobie Wave and we had a blast for an hour or two running up and down the bay in a 13kn breeze. This was my family's first time on any sort of catamaran, and the only sailing I've gotten to do all year.
Starboard Hull is 3D!
Not only that, but most of the initial gluing is done on it. All the bulkheads are in place and wired, and BH's 7-3 and all the keels in between have been glued up. (Not filletted, just the initial gluing beads.
I've found that the 14g solid copper wire I'm using loves to snap whenever you twist it too hard, so it's pretty useless for pulling the bulkheads down into the hull. I've also been wondering what the next step is....
After gluing this hull, (and putting in the bracing) I could go ahead and fillet the lowers and the keel, or I could get the other hull 3D and work them side-by-side.
I wish I had a camera that wasn't a pain to use, but I'll be borrowing one from work to snap a few before long.
With what money we've saved up, we went to Ocean City for a few days camping this past week. We found a little "Dinghy Yacht Club" along the coastal road in Delaware that rented boats to sail on Rehoboth Bay. I picked out a Hobie Wave and we had a blast for an hour or two running up and down the bay in a 13kn breeze. This was my family's first time on any sort of catamaran, and the only sailing I've gotten to do all year.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
more ugh
Still working on issues, still not 3d. Have not yet drilled the rudder lashing holes, but am about to for the starboard hull. Just have to glass the spots first.
Also hit an issue with the backbones being one inch too short, due to a mismeasure back in september or sometime. I had to fix that before continuing.
I wanted the hulls 3d before April, now I'm hoping before May. :(
Also hit an issue with the backbones being one inch too short, due to a mismeasure back in september or sometime. I had to fix that before continuing.
I wanted the hulls 3d before April, now I'm hoping before May. :(
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Ugh
I am STILL working on the damn rudder lashing points on the sternpost. I've got 'em all notched and filled but.....
Shit, as I am typing this I just remembered that I should have glued on the hardwood inserts BEFORE filling the big holes I cut! What am I going to clamp to now?!? Well, too late to cry over it. I guess I'll put a tiny screw in as a clamp and fill it, or else make a jig. Dammit.
Anyway, once it's done I am going to put the starboard hull together.
On a side note, I am usually in a continual state of "patting myself on the back" for choosing this design. I guess it's a necessity. If you are doubting your choice in design, you start on a downhill slide to somewhere you don't want to be.
The wharram Tiki 30 is definitely a safe, stable, small, trailerable cruising design that is very. very seaworthy. I know it doesn't move fast to weather, and I know it isn't a luxury craft, but I don't doubt that it would convey us, safely and relatively comfortably, wherever we might want to go.
But God damn, they're practically GIVING monohull boats away now. I could have a cruising boat for a song and a dance, almost without taking out a loan. It has begun to worry me a bit, a little taste of self-doubt that I am used to anywhere else in my life, but not in my choice to build the Wharram. I also have read some other things about the designer that worry me a bit. Mostly things I already knew, but had not heard in so many words. Things like how the whole aesthetic is more designed to sell plans than to create good boats. Things about self-serving design analysis and refusal to acknowledge weak points.
I have also re-read the Larry Pardey's nasty, horrifying article about how epoxy is garbage, and how your boat will definitely fall apart long before the wood even has a chance to rot.
These things worry me, but I have to shut out the worst of it and focus on the completion of the project. Whether it is the boat for me or not, it will still sell, to someone, for more than I paid for it, or I will get out of it what it cost in enjoyment. I have to believe that one day I will come over the horizon and see the Bahamas growing before me, that I will beach the boat I built, and my wife and kid will be thrilled as they jump off onto the sand.....
Shit, as I am typing this I just remembered that I should have glued on the hardwood inserts BEFORE filling the big holes I cut! What am I going to clamp to now?!? Well, too late to cry over it. I guess I'll put a tiny screw in as a clamp and fill it, or else make a jig. Dammit.
Anyway, once it's done I am going to put the starboard hull together.
On a side note, I am usually in a continual state of "patting myself on the back" for choosing this design. I guess it's a necessity. If you are doubting your choice in design, you start on a downhill slide to somewhere you don't want to be.
The wharram Tiki 30 is definitely a safe, stable, small, trailerable cruising design that is very. very seaworthy. I know it doesn't move fast to weather, and I know it isn't a luxury craft, but I don't doubt that it would convey us, safely and relatively comfortably, wherever we might want to go.
But God damn, they're practically GIVING monohull boats away now. I could have a cruising boat for a song and a dance, almost without taking out a loan. It has begun to worry me a bit, a little taste of self-doubt that I am used to anywhere else in my life, but not in my choice to build the Wharram. I also have read some other things about the designer that worry me a bit. Mostly things I already knew, but had not heard in so many words. Things like how the whole aesthetic is more designed to sell plans than to create good boats. Things about self-serving design analysis and refusal to acknowledge weak points.
I have also re-read the Larry Pardey's nasty, horrifying article about how epoxy is garbage, and how your boat will definitely fall apart long before the wood even has a chance to rot.
These things worry me, but I have to shut out the worst of it and focus on the completion of the project. Whether it is the boat for me or not, it will still sell, to someone, for more than I paid for it, or I will get out of it what it cost in enjoyment. I have to believe that one day I will come over the horizon and see the Bahamas growing before me, that I will beach the boat I built, and my wife and kid will be thrilled as they jump off onto the sand.....
Thursday, March 19, 2009
hold up
Wait a second.
I was about to put my first hull together, until someone (some several) reminded me that the rudder lashing points on the sternposts are way easier if done 'on the flat.' than after the boat hull goes up.
So I'm doing that now. I'm doing it Scott Williams style too, pouring in a while epoxy insert instead of drilling through the plywood. This isn't a quick job, so my 3D hull plans are going to have to wait until it's done and done.
Oh well, it's probably saving time overall, so here we go on that.
I was about to put my first hull together, until someone (some several) reminded me that the rudder lashing points on the sternposts are way easier if done 'on the flat.' than after the boat hull goes up.
So I'm doing that now. I'm doing it Scott Williams style too, pouring in a while epoxy insert instead of drilling through the plywood. This isn't a quick job, so my 3D hull plans are going to have to wait until it's done and done.
Oh well, it's probably saving time overall, so here we go on that.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Tools
Here is a list of the tools I have in the shop that I use most for the boat:
1. Portable 'jobsite' table saw with fence, 10" blade.
I find this invaluable, and I can't count the number of times I've used it to rip up long boards into stringers, beams, any of the dimensional lumber in the boat. Super important tool, for the $100 or whatever it was.
2. Hand held electric jigsaw
This has cut out ALL the bulkeads, all the hullsides, all the keel pieces, all the stems and skegs, and tons of other little trimmings and end-choppings, and I still am on the original blade! I have two others in the handle still, probably enough to finish the boat! I bet that blade had cut close to a mile of continuous sawline.
3. 3/8 corded clutch drill
I found out last year on the dinghy that a battery drill is next to useless. My wife got me this one for father's day last year, and it's gotten tons of use, I have a set of bits to drill holes with, a die-grinder sanding disc, and the awesome drum sander attachment, the drill works well.
4. Japanese Style pullsaw.
What boat builder is without one of these? I not only use it for endless wooden things, but it is the main workhorse when I have to cut bone. How many of your pullsaws have beheaded multiple deer? I can hear it now, in the Bahamas one day, some rich guy will be looking at my boat, and say "What's that dark reddish brown staining under the epoxy there, rot?" "Nah, it's just deer blood."
5. 9 inch tabletop bandsaw:
Another handy thing, but actually not nearly as useful as a lot of other tools are. I do use it whenever I can, mostly to save time or elbow grease with a handsaw on tedious jobs.
6. Electric power plane, hand-held.
This guy eats wood with the greatest of ease, and no effort on my part. I use him whenever the job calls for him. when you laminate a lot of plywood, some of the edged don't match up perfect, until this comes along.
7. Regular jack plane, sharp.
I got this at a flea market for $12, and it's done $400000 worth of work. I abuse it though, I am sorry. No plane should face hardened epoxy, but this one must.
8. Handheld belt sander
I hate this tool I HATE it. It is in my hands far too much, and it never seems to DO anything to the material. The belt always stops moving too. I thing I am faster with a sanding block.
9. Table top belt/disc sander
This is a different story. it works well, and I like it. It's relatively new, and only broke down after 20 minutes or so of run time, requiring me to disassemble it and put the centrifugal start/run switch back on the motor shaft, from which it had fallen off. Other than that, it's great.
10. Random orbital sander, 5"
This works well too. I hate sanding anything though.
11. Sur-form
King of the shop here, lifesaver of all lifesavers, etc...
I also have a circular saw that doesn't get much use. And a table top scroll saw that gets ZERO use, I don;t know why I own it. Maybe it'll gut out lexan windows one day or something/
1. Portable 'jobsite' table saw with fence, 10" blade.
I find this invaluable, and I can't count the number of times I've used it to rip up long boards into stringers, beams, any of the dimensional lumber in the boat. Super important tool, for the $100 or whatever it was.
2. Hand held electric jigsaw
This has cut out ALL the bulkeads, all the hullsides, all the keel pieces, all the stems and skegs, and tons of other little trimmings and end-choppings, and I still am on the original blade! I have two others in the handle still, probably enough to finish the boat! I bet that blade had cut close to a mile of continuous sawline.
3. 3/8 corded clutch drill
I found out last year on the dinghy that a battery drill is next to useless. My wife got me this one for father's day last year, and it's gotten tons of use, I have a set of bits to drill holes with, a die-grinder sanding disc, and the awesome drum sander attachment, the drill works well.
4. Japanese Style pullsaw.
What boat builder is without one of these? I not only use it for endless wooden things, but it is the main workhorse when I have to cut bone. How many of your pullsaws have beheaded multiple deer? I can hear it now, in the Bahamas one day, some rich guy will be looking at my boat, and say "What's that dark reddish brown staining under the epoxy there, rot?" "Nah, it's just deer blood."
5. 9 inch tabletop bandsaw:
Another handy thing, but actually not nearly as useful as a lot of other tools are. I do use it whenever I can, mostly to save time or elbow grease with a handsaw on tedious jobs.
6. Electric power plane, hand-held.
This guy eats wood with the greatest of ease, and no effort on my part. I use him whenever the job calls for him. when you laminate a lot of plywood, some of the edged don't match up perfect, until this comes along.
7. Regular jack plane, sharp.
I got this at a flea market for $12, and it's done $400000 worth of work. I abuse it though, I am sorry. No plane should face hardened epoxy, but this one must.
8. Handheld belt sander
I hate this tool I HATE it. It is in my hands far too much, and it never seems to DO anything to the material. The belt always stops moving too. I thing I am faster with a sanding block.
9. Table top belt/disc sander
This is a different story. it works well, and I like it. It's relatively new, and only broke down after 20 minutes or so of run time, requiring me to disassemble it and put the centrifugal start/run switch back on the motor shaft, from which it had fallen off. Other than that, it's great.
10. Random orbital sander, 5"
This works well too. I hate sanding anything though.
11. Sur-form
King of the shop here, lifesaver of all lifesavers, etc...
I also have a circular saw that doesn't get much use. And a table top scroll saw that gets ZERO use, I don;t know why I own it. Maybe it'll gut out lexan windows one day or something/
Saturday, March 14, 2009
QBU 3.14.09
Shaped foils on keel, skeg, finished gluing knuckle stringers and tapering them. Also filed and trimmed keel slots to for BH's 3 and 4. Finished coating stems and skegs.
Still to go:
1. End-grain edge coating of everything not done, with silica.
2. Abrade all fillet surfaces.
3. Add vents to BH 6 (or 3)
4. Mark hull end lines on all stems
New stuff thought of before assy:
1. Get screws and washers
2. Clear a space
3. Do the layout for the rudder lashings before going 3D
After that, we assemble the hulls and do filleting until the new wood arrives.
No pictures again, my camera is a pain in the ass to use for a few shots, it's set up to take 100 at a time in photoshoots, not shoot quick progress shots.
Shaped foils on keel, skeg, finished gluing knuckle stringers and tapering them. Also filed and trimmed keel slots to for BH's 3 and 4. Finished coating stems and skegs.
Still to go:
1. End-grain edge coating of everything not done, with silica.
2. Abrade all fillet surfaces.
3. Add vents to BH 6 (or 3)
4. Mark hull end lines on all stems
New stuff thought of before assy:
1. Get screws and washers
2. Clear a space
3. Do the layout for the rudder lashings before going 3D
After that, we assemble the hulls and do filleting until the new wood arrives.
No pictures again, my camera is a pain in the ass to use for a few shots, it's set up to take 100 at a time in photoshoots, not shoot quick progress shots.
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