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.