Finishing Deck Framing and Fitting Cabin Sides

We are now finishing up the details of the deck framework and have made and fitted the cabin sides. Below you can see the foreward deck stringers in place. These were removed and taken to the workbench for the detail work.

The foredeck hatch openings shown below are one example of these details. Here you can see the deck beams fitted with the fore and aft carlins that are spaced on either side of the hatch openings. Since the Bomar hatches have a corner radius, we have made matching corner blocks of teak to finish out the openings.

Here's another view of the deckbeams and carlins with the teak corner blocks clamped in place while the epoxy cures.

On another bench we have all the cabin house sides and parts for the below-decks beam reinforcing boxes spread out for epoxy coating.

An example of one of these reinforcing boxes is shown below. Triangular in cross-section, their purpose is to spread the wracking forces induced by the beams to a wider section of the topside panels and adjacent bulkheads.

Below you can see the cabin house sides temporarily fixed in position with clamps and screws. The stringers on the upper edges are stiffening battens to keep the panels in a fair curve.

The portlight and companionway openings will be cut after these panels are actually installed. For now they have been removed and taken back to the benches for completion and coating.

With the cabin sides on, you can now see how deep the hulls of the Tiki 30 really are.

While all the above parts are in process, finish work in the hulls at bunk level continues. Here is one of the forward cabin areas, ready for priming and painting.

Deck Stringers and Beam Fairings

One more step in the process of preparing for the installation of the decks is fitting the longitudinal deck stringers that support the 6mm deck panels between bulkheads. These stringers are let into the bulkhead tops by means of notches cut in the cambered deckbeams to receive them. The placement of the foredeck hatch was taken into account in the exact spacing of the stringers on either side of it.

Front fairings are now going onto the crossbeams. The aft and front beams are closed in. The mast beam requires the extra detail of the dolphin stay wire that is fitted inside it before the fairing is installed. The custom swaged stay has been ordered.

Interior fairing above bunk level is mostly done and we will soon be priming and painting the hulls up to the sheer so that decks and cabin sides can go on.

Tiki 30 Cabins

With the topside panels now in place and most of the bunk work completed, our focus is now shifting to the construction of the cabin houses and the layout of deck and cabin hatches. Below you can see the middle ring frame clamped in position and the mock-up of the roof line using battens laid in place.

We made the middle frame in two parts so it can be precisely adjusted to position it so that the cabin sides and roof are fair.

Here you can see the details of the two-part frame.

Our adjustments to the middle ring frame also incorporate a slight rise in the mid-section to add a bit of curve to the cabin roof. Camber will also be added so that the cabins are not quite as boxy looking. These subtle changes to the cabin lines are similar to those of the newer Tiki 8-meter, which is an updated fiberglass version of the original Tiki 26.

In the photo below, you can also see the position of the Bomar access hatch that will be mounted over the forward bunk cabin. The hatch will face inward, just like the companionways, making access to this cabin from the cockpit and forward deck easier.

We are using high-quality Bomar hatches and opening portlights to gain good ventilation down below, yet retain watertightness when at sea. The larger hatch is for the foredeck. The opening portlights will be mounted one each in the aft cabin bulkheads.

Other interior details include the installation of a Whale foot-operated fresh water pump in the galley hull. This pump is mounted in a recessed box built in just above floor level in the aft cabin bulkhead, where it will be convenient to the cook yet intrude only minimally into the limited available space.

A view of the foot pump box from aft of the cabin. This area is going to be sealed off and will be a buoyancy compartment after the floor is installed, so it was an ideal place to locate this pump.

Fairing continues on the interiors of both hulls. Here the taped seam at the topside joint is being filled with a final pass of thickened epoxy in preparation for sanding.

The bow and stern buoyancy compartments are finished. Fillets and made and glassed over, and the stiffening plywood webs have been added. We put a web at each stringer level since they add much stiffness at negligible weight cost.

On to the Next Level

This is where we were at the end of another week, late Saturday. The topside panels are now installed on both hulls and you can see from this overview looking into the interiors how deep they are at this stage.

A view from the bows. The hulls are much closer together here where we built them side-by-side than they will be when spread apart to assembly width.

Work on the crossbeams continued as well. Here the beam end caps are fitted and the fairings will go on next. There are small vent holes in the bottom edges of these end caps to prevent damage due to heat expansion in a small, closed space.

The two photos below show that the interiors above bunk level are filleted and sanded and almost ready for primer and paint. We still have the support boxes to build under the crossbeam landing locations. This will be done next week and we should soon be ready for decks and cabin sides.

Port Hull Ready for Topsides

Today the water tank installation in the port hull was completed and the bunk panels glued on. Tomorrow we will be ready to install the topside panels on this hull.

Here is a view showing the prepared topside panels for the port hull in the foreground, and the port hull with just the lower hulls built in front of the starboard hull that now has topsides.

In the starboard hull the filleting work has been completed up to the level of the sheer, with glass reinforcements in the stem and stern joints.

Where the topside panels join the lower hulls, a structural fillet has been made between the lower hull stringer and the adjoining bottom edge of the ply panel. This joint was also reinforced with fiberglass tape, which can be seen in the photo below. The extra thickened epoxy visible in the photo is a fairing application that will be sanded smooth before priming and painting.

Here's a view of the two hulls from the starboard side. You can see that the bunk to topside fillets have also been made and are ready for sanding and fairing.

Water Tank Installation and First Topside Panels

Because of the extras like the ice box and the water tank that are going into the port hull, which will house the galley, this hull is a couple of stages behind the starboard hull, but catching up fast. Here you can see the main bunk panels have been glued in and paint work is finished in the compartments below.

A big step was taken on the starboard hull with the addition of the upper hull topside panels. Below you can see how much bigger the hull looks now that these are on. The accuracy of James Wharram's plans became apparent as these panels were fitted. We had lofted and cut them in the first week of construction, and today the assembled panels aligned perfectly with the already built lower hull, needing no adjustment at the stem and stern posts as we had first assumed.

The 25-gallon water tank was fitted in the port hull on a raised support of glassed-in foam. This is to get it up high enough in the V of the hull so the corners can't touch the sides. It's still has enough vertical clearance to fit under the bunk nicely.

Here is the finished bed for the water tank, complete with fiddles to keep it firmly in position.

As soon as the topside panels were attached, filleting work began immediately, bonding the joints where the panels meet the upper sides of the bulkheads and filling the large cavities at the stem and stern posts.

The hulls are so much deeper now that ladders are necessary to get in position for working inside.

With all their recent experience in the lower hulls, the crew made quick work of the upper hullside filleting.

A view of the starboard hull profile, showing the strong sheer that is characteristic of Wharram designs. It is the blend of traditional Polynesian and Western lines that lend these simple canoe-form hulls their timeless appeal and set them apart from the crowd of modern spaceship-shaped plastic multihulls.

Bunk Installation and Topside Panel Assembly

Most of the bunk panels were installed today. The tops will be coated and filleted when the hull topside panels are installed. These photos show how bright the white painted stowage compartments are. This will make it easy to find things stashed down below when out cruising and will make it easy to keep the interiors clean.

Here is a view from the inside of one of the stowage compartment interiors below the bunks. The unpainted area at the glue joint will get an epoxy fillet and will be painted as well. There is a lot of volume for gear and provisions in these convenient, out of sight locations down in the lower parts of the hulls where most of the weight should be carried.

This a view into one of the forward berths in the compartment forward of the main cabin. There's lots of storage space available under these too.

In the port hull, where the galley will be located, we are installing a 25-gallon fresh water tank below the forward end of the bunk. This size tank fits just right in the space available and the tank will be surrounded in foam to fix it in position. It will be plumbed to the built in galley sink with a foot-operated pump. This tank is set up for convenience in the galley. The boat is capable of carrying a much larger water supply that can be distributed between the two hulls in portable containers that can be used to top off the tank.

We are expecting to begin installing the upper hull panels (topsides) tomorrow. Here you can see an assembled pair for one hull. These panels have a central stiffening stringer that is pre-installed before the panel is offered up the hull. The bulkheads are notched to take this stringer. We will make epoxy fillets on both sides of these stringers and coat the interior sides before installation. Once the topsides are on, Tiki 30 hulls show their true lines and one can get a better sense of the overall size of the vessel.

Busy Monday on the Tiki 30 Project

Today construction moved forward on the crossbeams while part of the crew continued the finish work below the bunks in the two hulls. Below you can see the beams in the foreground. Many other parts such as the hull topsides are also in process on other tables outside this view.

The Tiki 30 beam interiors require many structural fillet joints where the floors are joined to the vertical webs and where the triangular fairing supports attach. After the fillets are completed they are sanded and smoothed with a second filleting application where needed.

The beam interiors were then coated with epoxy and are almost ready to be closed in with the installation of the front fairings.

The hull interiors below the bunks were painted today.

These compartments are now done and ready to be closed off with the installation of the bunk panels.

The underside of the bunks were also painted. The masking tape on the edges is to keep the paint off the bearing surfaces where they will be glued with epoxy upon installation.

Paint Prep Below Bunks

All the accessible storage compartments below the bunks have now been faired and primed with Awlgrip primer. The clean white interiors of these compartments will make it easy to find things stowed below the bunks and will be easy to maintain.

Before the bunks are installed the undersides of all the panels will also be primed and painted except for the bearing surfaces on the edges that will be taped off to allow a good epoxy bond. Sealing all these interior surfaces with epoxy, then primer, and finally paint will insure that all the wood components of the hull interiors remain moisture free and will greatly increase the longevity of the vessel.

Below is a view into the lower compartment aft of the cabin in the port hull. The first layer of foam insulation has been glued in around the diagonal stringers. This compartment will be an ice box, with a deck hatch allowing top loading of block ice from outside the cabin, and an interior door opening into the galley to allow easy access to the contents from inside.

Below is an overview of the hulls with primed lower interiors. Next week we are looking forward to moving on above bunk level and installing topsides and building the cabin accomodations.

Finishing Lower Interiors

As the fillets and keel fiberglassing get finished in each below bunks compartment, these areas are completely sanded and cleaned and then coated with a second, sealing coat of clear epoxy. Everything in these storage compartments will be smooth and easy to clean. Even the tops and bottoms of the diagonal stringers have been filleted to the hull sides so there are no dirt traps or flat areas to hold moisture. After this epoxy coating has cured, these compartments will get an Awlgrip primer, which will in turn will be sanded and faired smooth for the final topcoats of white Awlgrip paint.

Here you can see that the floors in the main cabin compartment have been filleted in and everything up to bunk level coated in epoxy.

This view into the aft section of the starboard hull shows the floor installed in the compartment behind the main cabin bulkhead. We will not use this entire area as a wet locker, as shown in the plans, but instead will cut out an opening from the navigation station in the cabin and use this as an extra area for securing navigation instruments and gear. An extra bulkhead from this floor level up will seal this off from a smaller wet locker in the aft half of this compartment. In this photo you can also see the horizontal ply web that is installed to strengthen the hull in the sealed buoyancy compartment just forward of the stern post.

Below are the bunk sections for the main cabins. These will all get two sealing coats of epoxy on the underside before installation.

Floors and Bunks

Work in both hulls continued early this week with finishing up the glass laminations in the keel interiors and completing work below the floors and bunks so they could be installed. In the photo below you can see the ventilation tube that extends out of the sealed buoyancy compartments below the floors. Small sealed spaces like this in wood-epoxy boats must be ventilated to prevent damage from expansion due to heat, especially in a boat that will be sailed in the tropics.

Below you can see the floors in one of the hulls, now glued in place with epoxy and weighted down with lead-filled bags to apply even pressure until the epoxy sets.

Here is a view of both hulls with the main bunk panels temporarily in place. These will not be permanently installed until the compartments below are finished and painted and built-in water tanks completed.

Assembling the Crossbeams

Laminating the solid Doug fir stringers to the ply parts of the crossbeams requires a bit of advance planning, due to the shape of the parts. The beams consist of a vertical plywood web with a curve along the top edge and a horizontal plywood floor with the curve along the leading edge. This shape allows for a good-looking finished beam with a sloping fairing on the front face to decrease windage and the slamming effects of wave tops when beating to weather.

Due to the curve on these ply parts and the size of the stringers, which are cut to an angle matching the fairing, getting a good glue joint with epoxy requires good clamping technique. Here at Boatsmith we use a very effective method we have developed on other big laminating jobs, involving making temporary clamping blocks and glueing them to the parts using an industrial CA glue with a quick-dry accelerator. This glue will hold the blocks in position on the finished parts and is strong enough to withstand clamping pressure on sprung parts like this while the epoxy glue mixture used in the lamination cures. After the epoxy is set, the blocks are easily removed with a blow from a hammer. In the photo below, the blocks are being glued to the large top stringer of one of the beams. Glue is applied to the block, and the accelerator is sprayed on the beam surface. A few seconds of pressing it in position by hand and it is secure.

Below you can see a vertical web (left) which has already been sandwiched between the two stringers that are laminated to the bottom edge, where it joins the floor web. The angled top stringer with temporary clamping blocks glued to it is shown just to the right of it. On the far right is another crossbeam assembly already clamped up and glued with epoxy.

Below are two beam assemblies in the clamps while the epoxy sets. We use lots of clamps on assemblies like this to insure even pressure while laminating. The use of clamps eliminates the need for making a lot of extra holes in such assemblies as you would have to do using temporary screws.

Below are the three beams: mast, aft, and forward. The next step will be to glue in the small ply triangles that support the front fairings.

Ten Days into the Build

At the Boatsmith shop we work 6 days a week, so today we made lots of progress on finishing the fillets in the keel and at the bulkhead to hullside joints and laminated most of the fiberglass reinforcement that is required inside the keel. At this stage of the construction of a stitch and glue composite boat you can't see much difference despite the amount of work being done, but it is critical to get this part right because the structural integrity of the hulls depend on it.

In the photos below a second layer of filleting blend is being applied after the intial fillets of yesterday have been sanded and cleaned with denatured alcohol. Here Tomas is finishing a bulkhead fillet below the main cabin bunk.

In the bow and stern compartments large fillets are necessary to fill and fair the deep recesses on either side of the stem and sternpost.

The fabric we use for reinforcing the keel interior is a biaxial double bias fiberglass that lends great strength to critical joints such as this.

End of the day on Saturday afternoon. We are now ten days into the build. Scott Williams will be heading back to Mississippi tomorrow after spending four days with us doing the work he loves best - building a Wharram catamaran. But he's got a Tiki 26 to complete for himself and with new inspiration, can't wait to get back to work on it. For the last four days we've had eight guys on the project, including Scott and myself. In the upcoming weeks a crew of at least four will continue on the project, with assistance from the others when they are not tied up on other projects.

Lower Hulls Almost Ready for Floors and Bunks

After hull assembly and set-up, the real work begins. The Wharram Tiki 30 catamaran is a stitch and glue boat, and this is where the glue part comes in. With so many fillets to make, mixing epoxy correctly and efficiently is the key to moving forward, and this is where the experience of our crew saves time. These guys already know what to do. Here Pascual is applying the first fill layer of thickened epoxy in the deep recesses along each side of the keel backbone.

In the photo below, you can see bulkhead fillets that will require only minimum sanding. The keel fillets will be built up in two or three applications, then sanded and laminated with a reinforcing layer of triaxial fiberglass cloth. The interior will be painted, rather than varnished, so the color of the filleting material will not be a factor.

Here is the epoxy mixing station. Thirty-five gallons of West System epoxy is a start, but will not be enough to complete the this build.

While part of the crew was working on the fillets in the two hulls, we kept a couple other guys busy cutting out parts that will be needed in the next few days. Parts that are cut and ready include all the ply crossbeam floors and webs, beam timbers, bunks and floors, bunk bearers and stringers and topside panels and stringers.

In the photos below, you can see the parts laid out on the tables, ready for coating and assembly. We expect to have floors and bunks installed early next week.

Exciting Day at the Boatsmith Shop

Today we went from epoxy coated bulkheads, backbones and hull panels to two assembled lower hulls. Scott Williams came down from Mississippi last night to help in the shop for a few days and with all the parts ready to go the assembly happened fast. Having recently built his Tiki 26 hulls, Scott was familiar with the process.

In the photo above we are moving the first hull into the cradles after wiring and screwing it together at the keel, stem, and sternpost.

Here, the hull is set up and bulkheads are in place. Minor adjustments were needed to align the keel where the hull panels meet.

By mid-morning, the second hull is preassembled on the table and ready to move to the cradles. And at the end of the day, here is where we are: two hulls set up in the cradles with all bulkheads in and alignments made. The next step in the morning will be leveling the individual hulls and locking them in position with braces until epoxy fillets can be made. We will also fit and install the diagonal stiffeners, and hopefully begin the keel fillets before day's end.

Stems, Skegs, Keels, Bulkheads and Topsides

Here the stems and skegs are being laminated together. Each one is made up of two layers of 9mm ply. Again, you can see the scrap ply pieces used as blocking on top to prevent the heads of the temporary screws from penetrating the workpiece.

The two photos below show the mini-keel assemblies for each hull. The keels will be shaped and epoxy coated after glueing up.

Here, some of the bulkheads can be seen, along with the installation of the floor and bunk bearers, milled out of Doug fir. Also on the table are stringers for the upper edge of the lower hullsides, scarfed to length from 45mm Doug fir.

Using a router to simultaneously cut stacked parts for both hulls. We use a lot of production techniques like this to save time and increase accuracy. Experience with much bigger jobs on a tight timeframe will enable us to quickly build this Tiki 30 catamaran to a high standard.

Tiki 30 Lower Hullsides Cut, Joined and Coated

One of the four hullsides being joined together with butt blocks. A piece of scrap blocking is put on top of the actual butt block so that the screw heads don't penetrate into the finish piece. The parts are held in place on the work tables with lead bags - each one containing 25lbs. of lead shot. These are great for applications where you don't want to make excess screw holes.

Here's what the finished hullsides look like, after joining together and coating with epoxy. These are all done and ready for assembly. With a crew of four and enough tables for glueing it does not take long to prepare the parts.

Tiki 30: Getting Started

The crew at Boatsmith looking over the Tiki 30 drawings and getting ready to start layout and cutting of parts. From left: Nicolas, Pascual, David, Tomas, and Alejandro.

In the shop the night before construction begins:

A stack of 6 and 9mm Ocoume marine plywood for hulls, bunks, bulkheads and decks; and some nice, clear vertical grain 8/4 Douglas Fir lumber for milling out stringers, clamps, beams and other structural components.

Using a Makita mini circular saw with a 4-inch blade for precise control in cutting out the curved hullside panels.