Building a Wharram catamaran in Crete

On the road again...

2011-12-31T23:42:00.000-08:00

If I was in the process of building a car or any other vehicle with wheels, I would have been very happy with all the miles it would have travelled so far without being finished yet! Unfortunately, miles on land are not the purpose of a boat (.. or is it?) and mine has already traveled about 60 of them!

Everyone that has been following this blog must have realised that I was in a critical point in the past few months in which the future of the build of my catamaran was at stake. Having moved to another city, I was fortunate enough to find a large space in the basement of my new house. This played an important role as a motive for me to decide to take the boat from the yard she has spent the last two years without significant progress. Having the building sight so close, I can now continue the construction whenever I have some free time (which should be the scenario from the beginning!). This has reestablished the build as a recreational process for me and not the stressful obligation it had turned into the past few years. I hope I will soon have some photos of progress to send and a boat for some nautical miles some time this summer!

I wish a happy, peaceful year to all!

A five year voyage...

2011-09-25T11:54:00.000-07:00

It is almost five years this fall, since I received my plans from James Wharram Designs and cut the first plywood panels. I realized it with terror last week, as I was looking at some older photos of the project. Undoubtedly it was a voyage with storms and calms, with many disappointments but also with the happiness that the fulfillment of a dream gives you!

When you get involved in a project like this for the first time you can't possibly realize it's actual size and extensions. Early enthusiasm is a bad advisor and the designers estimations about building cost and man working hours required are far from true and totally disorientating, even if you want the "basic" yacht. In my case though inexperience in handling a boatbuilding project and a lot of unexpected changes in my personal life (good ones fortunately!) led me to a lot of wrong choices which have cost me a lot of extra money, effort and time. It is true that in some moments during these five years the thought of giving up passed through my mind. Then, something always happened and this bloody 31 emerged through the waves again!

Now, as anyone can see in the photos below, I am closer than ever in finishing the boat. The starboard hull is upside down, being glassed and prepped for painting. The port hull is ready up to the deck level as I write these lines. Crossbeams are ready, waiting to be measured, cut to length and installed as soon as the beam throughs of the port hull are ready as well.

At the same time though, the end of the project still seems so disappointingly far away that makes the last drops of motivation inside me to evaporate. My family and I have moved to another city, about 80 km away from the building shed. This led to the elimination of my own boatbuilding time. Vassiliadis bros turned out to be another wrong choice as they need constant supervision and guidance to keep up with the standards I demand on a boat that I pay to be prof finished...! All the above led to a lot of delays and a lot of extra money, way out of the original estimations. Furthermore, a dreadful economical situation in Greece at the time makes the future of the project even more uncertain. It is time for some hard decisions if this Wharram cat is ever going to be launced....

Intermittent progress...(?)

2011-04-10T11:59:00.001-07:00

As whoever is still following this blog must have realised until now, regular posts is not my strong point! However, I fortunatelly have some progress to report, although intermittent.

There are many reasons for this, the main being that my family is moving from Heraclion to the nearby city of Rethymnon but there is no point in getting you bored.

The following photos are representative of the delay in the progress of work on the starboard hull....a new 13,5 m Kaique is emerging right next to it as I am struggling to complete the cabin tops. Anyway, I am happy with my modifications and the shape of what might be the second (as far as I know) Tiki 31 with completely enclosed central cockpits (the first one being Lookfar). Beamthroughs also turned out well and seem extremely sturdy. I ended up using a second semi-bulkhead for each beamthrough, extending down to what should be the cockpit floor, according to the original plans. A framework of deckbeams are glued on the two bulkheads, supporting the "deck" of the through, which is then filleted and glassed. An opening in the semi-bulkhead permits the inspection of the framework and underside of the deck of the beamthrough from within the central cabin.

Decks, forward and rear, are also prepared and installed and there has been some progress on the port hull as well.

I have a couple of months until I will no longer be a resident of Heraclion. Until that time I will do my best to complete as many tasks on the boat as possible. Then I will have to decide if I will leave her where she stands until she is finished (this means I will have to drive for an hour to work on her) or if I will move her for the second time and find a place in Rethymnon to finish her. I think the final decision will depend on the progress of the boat at the time I will have to leave. We will see...

cabinsides are being cut and installed

Port hull progress. The floors and bunks are also ready for installation

Deckbeam and deck preparation

Reinforcement for the deck cleats

Beamthrough construction

Some more modifications and refinement will be made to the cabin sides

Summer update.

2010-09-25T11:28:00.001-07:00

It is a long time since I have last updated this blog but I have an excuse for that: It was a summer so full of windsurfing, sailing, boatbuilding and camping that I didn’t manage to find the time to send a post!

At the end of July, my friend Aris and I managed to finish the repair work needed on the Tiki 21 he had bought from an old English couple earlier this year. Our estimations from the first time we saw the boat were correct: There were only minor damages that required attention and most of the work done was painting, antifouling, applying new non skid on decks etc.

We launched the boat in August and since then she was sailed in the local sea conditions at this time of the year extensively. Although we didn’t have any experience at all in sailing catamarans, let alone Wharram’s, the boat looked after us at all times! She seemed very stable in forces of wind up to 4-5B and we had to reef only if there were larger waves ( more than 80cm-1m). The boat was also very fast on a reach or downwind. However, although we could sail as close as 40-45⁰ to the wind and maintain a reasonable speed, we had some serious trouble tacking at first. After a while, taking advantage of the Wharram’s tacking technique described in the Tiki 21 set of plans and some advice from other Wharram sailors, we managed to correct our mistakes and to get the hang of it! The link bellow is from a short video on You Tube of Aris’s boat sailing off Heraclion coastline with an unsuccessful attempt to tack and then a successful gibe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p83lbRClasQ&feature=email

There was also some significant progress on my Tiki 31! The large traditional kaique that was being built, was launched at the end of August so my boat came down from the loft and out of the hibernation…

After a good cleaning we started again from where we had left it. The upper hull sides are now glued on the starboard hull and all the fillets done. By the end of next week I hope the decks will also be on place, along with the beam throughs on Bk 5 and 7 so as to enclose the central cockpit.

On the port hull everything is ready for the floors to be installed, except from some painting in the bilges. I am using three coats of Hempel’s Light Primer for this on top of three coats of clear epoxy. There is no need for UV protection of the epoxy in the bilges since the sunlight will never reach it. All the floors and bunks for the port hull are reinforced with pieces of pitch pine glued and filleted on their under side and coated with three coats of epoxy. As soon as the painting is done they will be installed as well. I still have a few details to clarify concerning the new form of the cabins but I think that as soon as the beam throughs are finished everything will be on its way!

Tiki 21 in new colors, assembled and ready to be launched!

In the water and......

...sailing!!

The reason for all the delay in my boat!

Great work though...!

Tiki 31 as we had left it last December.

All the fillets are finished and sanded in the lower hull sides.

The areas bellow the bunks are all painted white (Hempel's Multicoat).

The upper hull sides are glued and screwed on. The central cockpit area

of the starboard hull, where the heads will be is visible in this shot.

Starboard after cabin, after the upper hull panels were installed.

The internal volume of the boat is now more clearly seen.

Stern view.

Side view.

Bow view. Instead of glueing the upper hull panels and then fairing the joint on the outside with fillets, we prefered to make the overlap 1,5 cm wider and plane this 1,5cm in an angle, obtaining thus a more even transition between the upper and the lower hull sides. Hopefully this will make the glassing of the hull easier and improve the overall looks of the boat.

I can already visualize her sailing.......!!!

Cretan Wharram....fleet!

2010-05-08T22:45:00.000-07:00

I haven't realy been close to many Wharrams. I can merely recall a Narai I saw from a distance some years ago in the Ionian sea, Pahi 42 "Bananas" in Agios Nicolaos marina in Crete and a Pahi 63 along with a couple of Tangaroas in Fetyie, Turkey last summer. I have never sailed in a Wharram. Haven't even seen one sailing, except from some short videos in YouTube. It seems like these boats are not very common in the southeast part of the Mediterranean.

All these didn't bother me though all these years that I was building my Tiki 31. I had some doubts, but my passion for Wharrams was great and the few things I was reading every now and then in other builders' blogs, along with some photos on the net, were enough to keep me going. But as another summer is approaching and the launching of my boat is still uncertain, my doubts seem to have surmounted my enthusiasm for the first time! Why was I so attracted by these boats? Which are their sailing abilities and who made me think they are suitable for the weather and sea conditions of the south Agean. If only I could gain some experience...

Then, an amazing thing happened! I saw an add for a Tiki 21 which was for sale in....Crete!

I couldn't believe there was another Wharram so close to me all this time! I spoke to my friend Aris who, by helping me with my boat every now and then, had developed the same passion for these unique vessels. He emmediately agreed to come with me and see the boat and was willing to buy it for the right price. I, on the other hand, was ready to do all the repair work with him, as it was a unique opportunity to at last sail a Wharram in local conditions and acquire valuable knowledge which I could use in finishing, fitting and sailing my own Wharram cat!

It turned out that the boat was in good condition and the previous owner was an English gentleman who just wished to see it go to the right person. Someone who could appreciate it's values and care to see it sailing again after five years of only occasional use. That was it! Aris was the new happy owner and the end of the week found us taking the boat by trailer to Heraclion where we will make the necessary repairs so as to hopefully launch her by the end of May.

One thing is certain though.....Wharram cats are not so scarce in cretan waters any more!

Tiki 21 on her trailer

Only the absolutelly necessary repair work will be done this year. Mostly painting that is.

Aris is the new happy owner and Wharram enthusiast!

Wings for migration!

2010-04-28T12:32:00.000-07:00

New sails from Jeckells arrived last week, along with a Facnor reefing system for the jib. The sails have a beautiful tan color, which I think will match nicely with the off white or the light beige color I intend to paint the hulls. My first impression on their quality is positive, but I am certainly looking forward to zipping them up the masts and testing their performance at sea!

The reefing system looks robust and was accompanied by a detailed manual, as well as all the extra bits needed for the installation.

In the mean time the crossbeams were finished and are now waiting for the last fairing process, before being primed and painted. The reason that I haven't done this yet, is because I haven't desided if I will cover them with glass, for extra strength and maintenance, or I will just give them four coats of clear epoxy, before primming them like Wharram's plans recommend. I have read controvercial things about glassing the crossbeams, most of them concerning their loss of elasticity in contraction and expansion due to temperature changes, which eventualy leads to cracking. I think I have some more time to think about it...

Two extra oval section crossbeams are also being constructed this week. They will be lashed on the stem and stern posts, supporting a forward and a rear netting. These will contribute a lot to the usable space on decks.

Things are moving along again, but, despite my enthusiasm, I have to wait until the end of May, which marks the end of the constuction of the large traditional boat in the boatyard and the beginning of the last stage of the building of my catamaran. If I am lucky enough and the people from the yard work hard, I could foresee a launch by the end of the summer. If I am not....

The drum of the Facnor reefing system

Wings for my boat!

The crossbeams waiting for their last fairing process

Traditional boatbuilding

2010-03-26T14:04:00.000-07:00

The productive and full of enthusiasm days of September, October and November gave way to the infertile boatbuilding days of this years’ winter. People from the boatyard undertook a major project: the building of a 60ft traditional vessel (karavoskaro), which will be used as a touristic coastal cruiser in Crete. Their deadline is by the end of May 2010. The wooden framework of the Golayath took over all the free space in the boatyard so there was no longer space for my tiny catamaran. We had to move it yet for another time. The two hulls were lifted to a balcony high under the yard’s roof, whose floor was used for lofting. I could now continue to complete some small tasks like painting the interior of the lower hulls and installing the floors and banks, while supervising from above the progress in the construction of the large kayki.

The completion of a traditional wooden boat of this size in only seven months is an operation that required all the men power the yard had available. Forty (40…!!?!) tons of hardwood logs (Iroco and eucalyptus) were cut and about 60% of that was used for the keel, stem and sternposts and for the rest of the framework. Every single rib of the boat needed a clark to lift it and hold it in place until it was glued-bolted. The more I watched the progress on this vessel the more I was impressed by the massive construction, but, also, the more the different approach of Wharram’s catamarans to the sea made sense to me. These lightweight crafts, though basically wooden, required only a fraction of the wood needed to build a wooden monohull of the same length (even if the monohull was constructed in the same wood-epoxy method) and based their seaworthiness on their ability to follow the motion of the waves rather than force their way through them. Lower aspect rigs with less sail area are needed to take them sailing in higher speed and only a small outboard is usually enough to maneuver a 30-40 ft long boat in and out of the harbor or motor with low gas consumption for miles and miles. No wonder why this combination of seaworthiness and economy in construction-maintenance has made these vessels so popular.

To my disappointment and also to disappoint the last few (bored to death) readers of this blog, only little progress was achieved in the hull construction during the last couple of months (..sorry Hector!). I managed to cut the banks and floors of starboard hull, reinforce them with pitch pine frames underneath and coat them with epoxy. The area under the floors was sanded and coated with two coats of clear epoxy, then three more layers of Hempels’ Light (epoxy) Primer was applied, before the floors were glued in place. No top paint was used in these areas since they will never be exposed to the sun light and Hempels’ Light Primer is said to be very durable to water and other liquid material that may fill the bilges. The areas under the banks as well as the rest of the inside of the cabins are being painted white with a satin finish, using Hempels’ Multicoat (three layers on top of a total of three coats of clear epoxy).

Meanwhile there was encouraging progress in the construction of the crossbeams which are now finished except for a few triangular section pieces. I am very pleased with the result as first quality Oregon pine in full lengths was used and the crossbeams are relatively light, though very strong! I haven’t yet decided if I will cover them with glass cloth before I paint them as I have heard controversial comments on this technique and Wharram doesn’t recommend it in the plans. Two more beams will be constructed next week to support the fore and after netting, but these will be hollow, round or oval section beams with the same construction as the masts (no plywood frame). The masts themselves will be constructed by the end of April along with the gaffs, tillers and various other small parts as it is my decision to finish with all these time consuming small tasks before the end of May. Then, as soon as the yard staff is available again, I will be able to focus entirely on the finishing of the hulls and the assembly of the boat before the end of the oncoming summer.

Only a third of the hardwood used for the framework!!

Constuction of the keel, stem and sternposts

Ribs in place (stern view)

Ribs (bow view)

Tiki before being lifted to the lofting balcony

Sanding and applying the last coats of clear epoxy on the inside of the lower hulls

Floors and banks reinforced and coated with epoxy before installation

Floor installation

Painting the area under the banks

Crossbeams almost finished!

Fast forward

2009-10-10T09:57:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since my last post, but I am happy to say that construction is in fast forward since I have moved the boat to Vasiliadis boatyard! In the last month there was progress I admit it would take me another year to make!

As I had already cut the lower hullside panels and the bulkheads for the port hull as well, they were easily coated with epoxy, longitudinal stringers, bunk and deck bearers were glued and port hull was assembled within two weeks. There were some problems with making the keel and bulkhead fillets as the yard's shed is open all around. That means it is exposed to outside temperatures, which at this time of the year were between 27-35C, too hot to work with epoxy in narrow spaces (it was steaming like hot Greek coffee!). As a result we left that task to complete later and went back in the completion of glass reinforcing the starboard keel fillets, cutting the floors and rear bunks of starboard hull, cutting and coating the upper hullside panels for both hulls and many other small tasks.

However, the problem now with all that progress on the project is that I have to make a lot of decisions in a short time! Things like water supply, wiring, configuration of the enclosed- in my Tiki 31- central cockpits, beam throughs, deck configuration etc, were supposed to occupy my mind within the next couple of years. Now I have to decide on all these matters in a few weeks! ( I will post on these decisions later)

Hopefully in the next few weeks we will manage to put the final coats of epoxy to the bilges and the space under the bunks of starboard hull, prime and paint them and glue the floors, bunks and upper hullsides. Keel, stem and stern fillets of port hull will be completed at the same time.

Starboard lower hullside panels coated with epoxy

At last a Wharram catamaran!

Galley floors

Rear bunk

Ex open central cockpit, now enclosed galley..

Stem fillets

Change of course

2009-08-16T02:49:00.001-07:00

Since the beginning of this project, almost three years ago, a lot of things changed in my life. I got married, my daughter was born and hopefully, in a few days my wife will give birth to our son.

As far as the boat is concerned, all these changes ment a considerable reduction in my free time, thus in building time. The distance of the building spot from my house made things even more difficult, resulting in almost zero progress during the last year.

I started building the crossbeams in a friends workshop near my house and for the last three months made an effort to find an inexpensive warehouse closeby to accommodate the hulls. I even traveled to Turkey to see an old Tangaroa which was for sale (..a long story) in an attempt to enter the world of Wharram sailors earlier. It was hopeless! I realised that my only chance to be sailing next summer was to have my boat finished and the only way to do so was by acquiring professional help! It wouldn't be cheap but it would certainly be a lot faster then building alone.

Since my decision was made it was only a matter of finding the appropriate people and moving the unfinished hull and the rest of the material to the boats new home. The appropriate people were Vassiliadis bros, with a long history in boatbuilding, mostly traditional Greek vessels (Traehandere), but also experienced in plywood-epoxy construction methods. They are located in Heraclion city harbour, which is only 10' drive from my house. This makes an almost daily visit possible to attend to a new stage of the construction, to short out some details or complete myself many of the different tasks remaining until the realisation of my Tiki 31.

Moving the hull was another thing...The narrow space outside the garage, where I was building until now, made the approach of a large crane impossible. The only way to take the hull out of there was by man power! A few friends came over and helped me roll the hull on small wheels out of the garage and down the steep and narrow alley of my parents' cottage to the main road where the crane lifted it. Fortunatelly the whole process went by smoothly and a few hours later the hull was lowered in it's new building shed almost thirty kilometers away!

Crossbeam construction

2009-05-03T11:39:00.001-07:00

Crossbeams are at last under construction. This part of the building process has hardly any difficulties except for the fact that the ply crossbeam web consists of nine pieces on which fourteen hardwood pieces must be glued (more if they are scarf joined). As a result every crossbeam involves a serious amount of work and demands a serious amount of clamps! Fortunately, in the carpenter's workshop that I am assembling the crossbeams, clamps are not a problem!

In the photos bellow the plywood web is seen, as well as the first croosbeam taking shape with the first hardwood parts glued on. A 6m long iron bar is bolted on the bench in order to keep everything straight until the assembly is over (cost 15 €).

I had some doubts about the strength of the crossbeams, considering the loads they will be carrying, but even the three first pieces of hardwood gave the ply web enough stiffness to resolve all my ambiguities!

Masts and crossbeams

2009-03-21T12:34:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I last updated this blog. Although I had a lot of other obligations during this period, I didn't neglect the boat at all! As the weather for the last couple of months in Crete was too cold for gluing, glassing, filleting etc, I decided to chanel other time consuming parts of the project such as the masts and the crossbeams. Their construction is straight forward but they consist of numerous components-ply webs, lots of softwood and hardwood parts-that take long to be cut and glued together, a fact that pointed out the significance of a workshop as close to my appartment as possible.

As mentioned in previous posts, I was in search of such a workshop, so as to be able to spent every free hour on the project. A few days ago, a friend and proffesional carpenter agreed to let me construct a bench in one side of his workshop to glue up the masts and crossbeams. Furthermore, his stuff was willing to help me cut and shape all the wood parts of the assembly.

The firt thing I had to do was find the appropriate wood needed. This was not easy as Douglas fir or Oregon pine (as is more familiar in Greece), the kind of wood specified for the job, is not very popular among house and furniture constructors lately. As a result wood suppliers in Crete don't import it any more. As if this was not enough, the ammount I needed was about 1,5 m3 and it should be first class. I had to buy from three different suppliers to find the quantity required and discard some when cutting and planing as unsuitable ( from lower quality). Total cost: 1800€ plus some 500€ for more epoxy and materials for the bench...a lot of money for pine...

The good news is that with the Douglas fir for the masts and crossbeams I have almost bought all the material needed to complete the boat except for some more epoxy and glass cloth. In a later post more economical aspects will be mentioned as I think every future builder of such a boat would be interested in having a realistic estimation of the cost.

In the photos below the first steps in organizing the construction of the two masts and four crossbeams are shown. Notice the 6m long cleargrained Douglas fir pieces I managed to find in a wood suppliers warehouse (unsought for two years..) and the beautiful Wharram mast bases that I cut from a piece of oak I found in my friends workshop. Mast crane is from Iroko.

6m long Douglas fir pieces. Not easy to handle but will save me a lot of scarf joining!

Cutting the wood

Only half the ammount required!

The two part gluing bench. A third part will be added for gluing the masts

Parts of the mast crane and the two oak bases

Heat!

2008-12-02T12:11:00.000-08:00

Boatbuilding must progress during the oncoming winter. This requires heat!
Although temperature in Crete is still 15-20C I started experimenting in finding a way to heat the garage.
Aris, a good friend and fan of the project, kindly donated the kerozene heater seen in the pictures below. It is very economic and produces heat constantly, without a thermostat, which makes it ideal for large not fully enclosed spaces. When I tested it though I realized it was small for my boatbuilding shed which has no insulation and part of which is enclosed by iron plates (thus completely exposed to externel temperature changes). Nevertheless, it managed to maintain a stable inside 19C, while the outside temperature fell by nightfall to a prohibiting for epoxy work 15-16C (unfortunatelly the West System 205 hardener which is specified for colder climates is not imported in Greece!?).
As a result I think I will buy an identical heater and with both in use I will be able to use epoxy even during the coldest days of Cretan winter.
During the heaters test I managed to apply the first coat of epoxy on the underside surface of the plywood sheets of the forward bunk and floor and complete some of the keel and bulkhead fillet sanding. As soon as I finish with the glass reinforcement of the keel in this forward compartment I will paint it white before the final installation of the floor and bunk.

Heater in action!

Forward bunk and floor plywood parts cut

and epoxy coated on one side

Sanding land!

2008-11-18T12:27:00.000-08:00

Although I rashed to cut the forward bank last week there is a lot of work to be done before its installation. Most of it is sanding and fairing!
A lot of people underestimate sanding as a basic part of these kind of projects. I think sanding is the finishing touch that will help reveal and then correct all the imperfections. It is what makes the difference between the smooth, elegant finish of a craftsman's work and an amateur construction. Keeping this in mind I removed the forward bank and started sanding the keel and bulkhead fillets in preparation for glassing the inside area of the keel with two layers of 6oz glass cloth as a reenforsment. I also removed with a dremel tool most of the fillets of bulkhead No4 - which were the first I made and looked like a real mess - and made new, before applying the glass cloth in this part of the keel.
When the new fillets were curred and sanded the area that was about to be glassed was taped all around at its boundaries (Scott William's technique). The glass cloth was cut and put in place and wetted out with a combination of brushing and using a squeege to remove excess epoxy. With epoxy in a tacky state the glass cloth was cut with a razor at the edge of the tape which was then removed leaving a clear margin between the glassed area and epoxy coated plywood.

Sanding...

Bulkhead's No4 new fillets!

Glassing the keel

Master bedroom...

2008-11-06T10:34:00.000-08:00

I haven't made considerable headway with the project lately as I was "up to the throat", as Greek people say, with deadlines and comitments, both at work and with familly matters.
As a result I didn't feel much enthusiasm as I was driving to the boatbuilding shed last afternoon. To my disappointment my free time has decreased a lot lately and sometimes boatbuilding seems to be one of my last priorities, leaving me way out of my timetable.
I desperately needed some encouragment, so, instead of following the right sequence (thus sanding the fillets and the inside hull area below the floor and bunk level) , I desided to measure and cut the forward bunk.
The trick had instant results and worked as a visual injection of moral! It was the first time that I stepped into the hull, sat on the bunk and imagined the space of the forward cabin...That was it! I was dreaming again!

Fillets done!

2008-09-17T12:20:00.001-07:00

I finally managed to finish all the lower hullside fillets today. Just on time as my daughter paid me a visit to inspect the progress of my work and, as you can tell from the look in her face, she was not very pleased! I must spend the next working sessions on sanding the keel and the bulkhead fillets and on coating them with epoxy before reenforcing the keel with two layers of glass cloth. On the same time I am searching for a warehouse closer to my house which, on a low rent can accomodate the construction of the four crossbeams during the oncoming winter. This will certainly accelerate things as work in my garage during the winter months is minimal. We'll see...

More fillets, more stiffeners.

2008-08-31T10:46:00.001-07:00

I finally managed to spent some time at the building shed during the last week after almost a month. We were away on vacation on Samos island in northern Aegean. Unfortunately there was no sailing this summer as it was our first holidays with our newborn but I managed to learn some windsurfing which was fun and great exercise!
I am trying to complete a rather boring sequence of tasks before It is time to install the floors and banks. Thus I made some more fillets on the bulkheads- only a few remain now- and I glued in some more diagonal stiffeners in the middle and rear compartments. Soon I will be able to reinforce the keel from the inside with glass cloth as well as the bow and stern area. As autumn approaches I should better hurry as there is a lot of epoxy work involved in this part of the building process and it should be done in higher temperature.

A new life!

2008-06-22T02:50:00.000-07:00

I've been away from the boat for a while, but for a good reason since my wife gave birth to our first daughter. These first few weeks with the newborn were both strenuous and fascinating at the same time! I think that our lives will never be the same again as raising a child turned out to be a full time job. On the other hand a horizon of new perspectives opened up in front of us and things that seemed insignificant take a new meaning. As far as the boat is concerned I am now motivated more than ever to finish and launch as soon as possible. I have a sea world to show to my daughter!
When I returned to my garage early this week, I found out that I was under attack! A rat had been dealing with my skilsaw, totaly ruining its cable on an attempt to make a cozy lair in the tools' box. Kika, my cocker spaniel, took care of the rat (...he must be still running) and I managed to make some more fillets on the bulkheads. This is getting easier now as I figured out the right amound of filler I have to add to the epoxy to have a non shagging mixture. I also add some more sillica, which makes the mixture more dense and the fillets turn out smoother (Thanks to the advice of "Boatsmith" from Wharram forums!). In the next few weeks, if I have the free time, I will try to finish with all the lower hull fillets, reinforce the keel, stem and stern with glass cloth and start cutting the floor and bunk panels. Meanwhile I have to deside on the location of the water tank installation and order them as well as order the paint for the bilges and the space underneath the bunks. By the way is there any advice from someone out there on this matter? For example do I have to use primer first or are there paints that I can apply directly on the epoxy coating of the hulls? Bellow there are some photos of my progress with an improved result on the fillets.

Some of the tools of my new job!

Filleting attempts.

2008-04-16T13:55:00.001-07:00

Using epoxy to glue wooden parts or sheath plywood was a straight forward procedure with no secrets for the amateur builder. On the other hand, I am now convinced that making perfect epoxy filllets is quite an art! The exact amound of filler one must add to the epoxy to make the right mixture for filleting is something you only understand after a lot of unsuccessful attempts. There is no rule. You just add filler until the mixture reaches the consistency of peanut butter.
After a lot of reading I desided to make my first fillets on bulkhead No 4, which will later on be completely invisible under the bunk of the forward cabin.
The first step was to apply pure epoxy with a cheap brush on the surfaces that would be covered by the fillets. Then I should apply the filleting mixture with a round knife or spatula along the bulkhead to hull side corner. Finally I, theoretically speaking, should form the fillet by draging a round ended spatula of the appropriate radius along the corner, forcing the applied thickened epoxy to take the right shape and leaving the excess portion of the mixture on both edges of the fillet to be cleaned later.
In practice, my first fillets on bulkhead No 4 were a disaster! Although the consistency of the mixture seamed right, as soon as I applied it, it saged down the vertical surfaces of the bulkhead and the hull sides. After a lot of efforts to keep the mixture in place I finally let it cure as it was in order to sand it later on and make better fillets, as soon as I managed to figure out the right procedure.
After some thought and a few more unsuccessful attempts I finally managed to improve my technique and make some beautiful fillets on bulkhead No 2! As it turned out to be, my mistakes on the beggining were:

While trying to squeeze epoxy in the fine cracks between the bulkhead and the hull sides I applied too much epoxy which later on diluted the filleting mixture applied.
I made large quantities of epoxy which was difficult to mix thoroughly as the right mixture should be very thick. Now I never mix more than three squirts of epoxy each time.
Although the mixture may seam thick enough it is better to try if it clings to vertical surfaces like the sides of the mixing pod before applying it. As a rough guide I add about 6-7 full soup spoons of Low Dencity Filler (I use West System products), for every three squirts of epoxy.

The photos bellow show the unsuccessful fillets of bulkhead 4 and the very improved fillets of bulkhead No 2. There is also a picture of a broken metal baking spatula which turned out to be a perfect filleting tool and some photos of the first diagonal stiffeners I installed this past week.

Bulkhead No 4

Bulkhead No2

Diagonal stiffeners

Spring...again!?

2008-03-20T11:06:00.001-07:00

During the last two weeks the temperatures in Greece rose back to an epoxy friendly level. For two months I wasn't able to do any sheathing, gluing, fairing or filleting because of the unstable weather and the low temperatures that didn't let the epoxy cure. I tried to find some low temperature hardener for the brand of epoxy I am using, but the Greek dealer didn't even import that kind of hardener, obviously because there was no demand for it. Heating the building shed was not an option, as I finally decided, as there was no insullation and it's one side was partly open to the elements. Even if there was some kind of heating the temperature would quickly fall bellow 15c , as soon as the heater was turned off, not a good thing for the epoxy that needs more than twelve hours to reach a tack free state in low temperatures and more than twentyfour hours to reach it's final solid state.
Anyway, warmer days that came with the begining of spring reminded me that I am already on the building process for a year and a half and that I should work faster, if I want to see this boat sailing before my enthusiasm wears out!
The larger Tikis like the 31 need a second reinforcing keel, screwed and glued to the original vertical keel between the bulkheads so as to form a "T" in cross section. Then the whole keel is beded in thickened epoxy as soon as everything is in place and lined up. The photos bellow show the construction of the reinforcing keel and the first keel fillets. To thicken the epoxy for the keel fillets I used "Low Density Filler" which is a ready mixture of Colloidal Silica and Microballoons with a light brown color. I was impressed with the amounds of epoxy needed just to fill the gaps around the keel. Now I know where all that epoxy, the designer claimed that is needed, will be used!

Everything is straight on line!

The pieces for the reinforcing keel are cut and ready to be glued and screwed in place.

The first keel and stem fillets that transform a few pieces of plywood into a rigid boat!

Bulkhead No 6 ready.

2008-02-10T13:02:00.000-08:00

I managed to spend a couple of afternoons at the garage this past week, mostly trying to finish and install bulkhead 6 and to clean up the place a little. Now that the main bulkhead of the central cabin is in place I can visualise it's dimensions and design it's configuration according to my needs. In one hull this central cabin will enclose the galley and it should have:

A food preparation bench with a sink
Shelves to stow food and provisions
A refrigerator (I haven't desided yet if it will be an electrical one or a plain ice box)

In the other hull the central compartment will be a separate toilet with enough space for:

A manual see toilet
A sink
a wet locker

Under the floor of each central compartment there is enough space to install a 70-90lt water tank which will give the boat and a crew of two water sufficiency to spend at least a week at sea without having to anchor in crowded harbours. I just have to figure out a way to pump the water from both tanks so that they empty simoultaneously. As temperatures are still low and I can't proceed with the fillets, maybe now is the perfect time to decide on the final configurations and start planning the boat's wiring and plambing.

Bulkhead No6 ready....

...And installed!

The central cabin.

Forward cabin.

All the bulkheads installed and waiting for the fillets.

Back to boatbuilding.

2008-01-20T14:07:00.000-08:00

Today was one of those days I could certainly use an extra hand. As I mentioned in my previous post I had some problems while installing the bulkheads . The idea was to push them into the lower hullsides so as to force them open to their final shape. However, this created great tension to the hull, especially near the stem (where bulkhead No1 was installed), resulting in the braking of the stitches holding the stem post in place. This costed me an extra day of work as I had to remove bulkheads 1 and 2 in order to releace the tension and restitch the stem post in place. Then I used my car's jack to open the hullsides. This time I managed to do it so smoothly that I reinstalled the two bulkheads all by myself and without even a crackling from the hulls. In the first photo below you can see bulkhead No1 in position while the stem post is held temporarily in place with thicker wire. The next photos show the result after the final assembly.

The other task of these days was to figure out the dimensions of bulkhead No6 which defines the shape of the central compartment of each hull. This area in the original plans is occupied by the central open cockpit. My idea was to permanently enclose this compartment in order to create room for cooking facilities and supplie storage in one hull and a separate toilet in the other. The height of the superstructure of this central cabin will be equal to the maximum height of the other cabins so as not to increace windage. I am thinking of achieving standing headroom in this cabin while at anchor with a lifting roof, like in the Pahi 31.

As the weater in Crete is still bellow 10C, I had to glue and coat bulkhead No6 in the living room of my parents' cottage (where my boatbuilding shelter is). Since all the other bulkheads are now in place I just have to wait for a few warmer days to pour some epoxy in the keel and start filleting. I hope it is not far now!

Wrestling with bulkheads!

2007-12-08T06:12:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I have sent a post but I didn't have much time lately and the weather in Crete was so bad the last couple of weeks that I didn't manage to achieve any serious progress on the project. As I have mentioned before on this site, my "boatbuilding yard" is not perfectly sheltered and above all, not heated. As a result epoxy work stops as the weather gets colder and heavy rainfall means that I have to cover everything up with tarpaulins because sometimes water finds its way through the concrete walls and floor (This is not exactly the right time for my boat's first contact with water...). I'm considering of buying some kind of a heater though, otherwise my progress during winter time will be minimal.

The major task of these days was to fit the finished bulkheads to the hull sides. This was not an easy job at all! I used a combination of ropes, straps and hand power but I had some problems, mostly at the bow and stern sections where tension is grater. For example when I tried to fit in place bulkhead No1, whose position is very close to the bow, the stitches holding the stem post in place broke. Now I probably have to remove bulkheads 1 and 2 again to refit the stitches or else I should try to use screws but it is doubtful that they can hold the tension. Unfortunatelly I haven't attached hooks on my ceiling so that I can use ropes to support the whole construction, as Thomas Nielsen suggested( I didn't want to drill more holes to the already not water proof roof of my garage). I don't know if that would make it any easier to force the bulkheads in the lower hullsides, but I think it will help a lot in turning the hulls over for the glassing later on so maybe I will do it anyway.

Hopefully, by the time I have managed to install all the bulkheads of the starboard hull the temperature will be heigher, appropriate for my first fillets attempt!

Modifications.

2007-11-04T01:15:00.000-07:00

One of the major advantages of building your own boat is that you can modify the original plans to adjust them to your personal needs. Wharram cats, with their flexy-space designed interiors and open decks, give you this opportunity to the maximum. Most of the internal volume of the Tiki 31 is sacrificed for the large open cockpits on the center of each hull. This for me is a disadvantage, because I would like to use my boat not as a day sailer but as a liveaboard for periods up to one month at a time. By permanently enclosing the cockpits I could create enough space bellow decks for a toilet in one hull and a galley in the other. These two features are essential for long time cruising ecpecialy when you want to spend the night in a harbor, next to other yachts. Moreover by having coocking and toilet facilities separate from the sleeping cabins you don't have to worry about unwanted smell, gass leakage e.t.c. I don't intend to increace the height of the cabins as this would affect wintage, nor will I try to change any other aspect of the original design. I love the scooner rig and the open deck area. That was the reason I chose to build the 31 instead of the Tiki 30 in the first place! In the photos bellow, Antonis, a friend, is helping me sand the bulkheads and give them a final coat of epoxy before installation.

Preparing bulkheads.

2007-11-01T14:32:00.001-07:00

The next step in the process is to install the floor bearers, bunk bearers, bunk supports and the deck beams to the bulkheads. Nothing difficult in this except for the deck beams, which are made out of 70x19 mm planks. Their upper side must be curved to give to the deck pannels (that they will support) their lateral curvature. Furthermore they must have notches for the deck stringers.
The fastest way I have found to cut these planks in the required shape is by making templates out of scrap 8mm plywood. I then clamp the plank with the template and cut it by using the router. In the photos bellow you can see the router mill I am using, with a ball bearing on its edge. This bearing uses the plywood template as a guide to give shape to the softwood deck beam.
As soon as I have managed to cut and glue all these pieces I then have to give to the bulkheads two coats of epoxy before I permanently install them to the hull. Hopefully I will finish these tasks within the next couple of weeks as the weather in Greece is still warm and epoxy work is easier.

At last something in 3D!

2007-09-09T12:26:00.000-07:00

I've been working on this project for almost a year now, mostly on weekends. During this time my enthusiasm stayed unimpaired but there certainly were moments that I doubted about the result of my efforts. My previous experience in boatbuilding was zero, although I used to make some wooden furniture for my appartment. My tools are mostly electrical hand tools which sometimes made it impossible to achieve precision cuts or a smooth finish ( It seemed funny to try to cut identical plywood pieces, with a lot of curves, that measured 286,5 mm for example, with a jig saw!). If you add to these my minimal free time, the fact that I have to work without any help, the strict limitations the use of epoxy and glassfibre imposes and the confined, not perfectly sheltered space in my "boatyard", you have a good idea of the causes of my doubts! However, one of the reasons I had chosen to build a Wharram cat on the first place was that it could be built under imperfect conditions from totaly amateur builders. At least that was what JW and his enthusiasts claimed.
Now, after almost 400h of work, I also believe so! The plans have some mistakes but they are precice enough and they give you a step by step guidance throughout the process. As for the tools, there always seems to be a simple, low tech way to do things. You just have to use your imagination but, I guess, this is something you start doing the moment you choose to build a boat like this.
Some friends came over a couple of days ago to help me lift the hull and place it on mounts. The moment the two hullsides, wire stitched along the keel, stem and stern, were opened and the starboard hull took shape in front of our eyes, all my doubts and fears were gone. For the first time I was certain that what I was building in my garage was the boat that would take me to the seas I dreamt of!

Wired.

2007-09-05T08:41:00.000-07:00

During the last few days I managed to wire stitch the two lower hullsides together with the stem, stern and keel. The whole thing is starting to remind me of a boat! Now I have to persuade some friends to come over and help me lift the hull and put it on the mounts I made. Perhaps if I tempted them with a BBQ and enough beer....

Serial keeler!

2007-08-26T02:17:00.001-07:00

No matter how hard I tried to stick to the plans during the construction of the keel it was useless! The broken keel that I had reglued and screwed started to crackle the moment I tried to bent it to follow the keelline. In the idea of it braking again I decided to cut it into its two parts which I would then skarf join together. To make the scarfs I followed Scott Williams' way. I clamped the two pieces together with one's end as distal to the other's as the length of the scarf I wanted to make( see photos below). The two pieces were then planed with an electrical hand planer making a continuous wedge which was then smoothed with the belt sander. The correct length of the scarf when joining pieces of wood like this is calculated by multiplying their width to their thickness. In my case the two pieces I wanted to join were 44x19 so the minimum length of the scarf should be 44x19=83,6 cm. When the glue was cured the result was almost perfect! The keel was as if it was made from one plank!

Making the scarfs.

The two planks glued together, hopefuly for the last time!

The constraction of two mounts with wheels was necessary so as to be able to moove the assembled hull on my own.

The two hullsides are layed precisely on top of each other and then screwed together.

The hullside was marked 10mm from the edge along the keelline and then holes were drilled every 12,5cm.

The stem that was predrilled along a line given by the plans is first clamped and then wire stiched in place.

The keel is ready to be drilled and wire stiched in place.

Accidents happen!

2007-08-09T14:47:00.000-07:00

I have just started working on the project again after ten days of summer vacation. Yesterday I managed to sand the inside faces of the lower hullsides-it is easier now that they are still flat on the ground-and drill the holes for the rope hinges on the stern. At the same time I am trying to finish with all the bulkheads so as to coat them with epoxy before I start assembling the first hull. Unfortunately as I was demonstrating to a friend how the keel flexes to follow the curvature of the keelline the keel broke a few mm beside the joint of its two parts!

This was something that worried me(I wouldn't like something similar to happen in an assembled hull!). For the keel I had chosen a kind of red pine as I couldn't find good quality Douglas Fir in Crete. This softwood was recomended in the plans and the one I found was of good quality, smooth grained, without knots. I guess I could use harder wood for the keel but then it wouldn't be flexible enough to take the shape needed and the tension would be larger. An other cause of the keel failure probably was that when I glued its two parts together I didn't nail them as well, as I was advised by the plans. I was planing to screw them together with inox screws just before the assembly. Keeping all these in mind I decided to cut off the broken parts and reuse the same wood for the keel . Hopefully when the hull is assembled and the keel is glassed ( at least three layers of glass cloth on each side) the possibility of it cracking will be minimized.

Working on the bulkheads.

Kika is testing the opening in bulkhead No3!

Sanding the inside face of the lower hullsides.

Drilling the holes for the rope hinges at the stern.

Reassembling the keel. I glued and screwed the two parts together this time!

A lot of small tasks

2007-07-24T12:58:00.001-07:00

As I am getting ready to wire stich the lower hull sides together with stem, stern and keel, there are a lot of small tasks to be completed. Details that you thought would take you no more than an hour need a full days work. This is a rather boring procedure as I am now impatient to take at last the project off the ground!

The two parts of the keel are glued together.

Installing inspection hathes to bulkheads 1 and 9

Grooving the stern at the position where the holes for rope hinges will be drilled

Preparing the bulkheads

The jig I made to drill the holes for the rope hinges at the stern

The first coat of epoxy is applied to the stem and stern

Bulkhead preparation part II

Glassing the grooves at the stern

More bulkheads!

The grooves at the stern are glassed and a second coat of epoxy is applied to the stem and stern.

March until today

2007-07-01T08:54:00.001-07:00

The space in my garage is not enough for both hulls, so I decided to assemble the port hull first. All the parts that will be used for the assembly must first be coated in epoxy (at least two layers). The stem and stern posts are made up of four layers of ply laminated. In addition I had to glue and precoat the two softwood parts of the keel and the lower hullside stringers.

Precoating the lower hullside panells.

Epoxy is a viscous material which makes it difficult to achieve a smooth surface. The best way I have found to do this is by using special made foam rollers that enable you to make an even, rather thin coat. After mixing the resin with the hardener I poured the mixture into a roller pan in which I soaked the foam roller, removing the excess epoxy by rolling it. If you pour the resin on the surface in a zig zag pattern, as suggested in the plans, you than have to spread it with a squeege first before you use the roller. As soon as I had finished coating the surface I used a piece cut from a foam roller ( as shown on the last photo) to "tip off" the coating. To do this you have to dragg the foam roller brush lightly over the fresh epoxy in long even strokes so as to remove the "orange peel" effect. It is possible to apply the second coat of epoxy while the first one is still tacky but, as the first coat raises the wood grain you will not end up with a smooth surface. From my experience ( ...I finally had to coat the lower hull side panells three times..) it is best if the first coat is left to cure completely and than apply the second coat after sanding the surface.

Laminating the stem and stern posts

I used nails to keep pieces in place until the glue is cured.

Precoating and joining the two parts of the keel and the hull stringers.

Gluing and nailing the lower hullside panels with buttblocks.

Gluing the stringers on the inside face of the lower hullsides.

I decided to open holes at the stern post at the place where it will be drilled for the rudder hinges and fill them with thickened epoxy. This is done to prevent rot of plywood as water could find a way in through the drilled holes for the ropes. This was suggested by Scott Williams at his blogg of the building of his Tiki 26 and I found it a good idea.

A last thin coat of epoxy is applied at the lower hullsides before assembly.

November, December, January, February

2007-07-01T07:35:00.000-07:00

During all these months I had just managed to cut all the bulkheads and the parts for the two hull shells. I could work on the project only during the weekends plus I had to stop all the time to figure out how could I complete every new task. Since this is my first boatbuilding attempt and my knowledge on the subject is based on reading and following other Wharram builders' progress on the net, I wouldn't like to find out later on that I made a mistake that would require undoing days of work!

surforming hull sides

Hull sides cut and surformed

Extending the sheltered space in my garage since it was only 7 m long

When it all started

2007-07-01T04:24:00.000-07:00

This Blog will show my effort, as an amateur builder, to fulfill a dream: To build and launch my own boat and then sail it arround the Agean archipellago, or one day, who knows, across an ocean! I will try to send posts showing the progress of my work so that friends can share my enthousiasm and other potential amateur boatbuilders can learn from my mistakes.

It all started about a year ago when I red an article about James Wharram. I, by that time, had already decided to build a boat and was doing some recearch on the internet, trying to choose a design. I was so focused on monohulls that the idea of building a catamaran had never crossed my mind. That article revealed a whole new world to me! Wharram cats are easy and economical to build but, most important, they represent a philosophy on the approach of sailing life and the sea in general, based on simplicity and self-sufficiency. Morover, the abillity to build one hull at a time and assemble the finished boat on a beach solved a lot of my problems concerning my available building space, which was on...the mountain! That was it! I chose to build a Tiki 31. I liked the scooner rig and it was the larger of the Tiki designs that I could afford building, without having the bureaucratic problems concerning boats larger than 10m in Greece.

The set of plans I ordered arrived in September. By the end of October a pile of 8mm plywood was laying in the garage I am using as a building place, waiting for me to start "lofting" thus drawing the lines of all the parts full size.

I am using Birch plywood B/B, WBP, glued with exterior grade glue. Birch is not durable when in contact with water but because the boat will be seathed and coated in epoxy I don't think there is a problem. On the other hand Birch plywood has a realy smooth face which I believe makes it ideal for a painted finish on the inside of the boat. My first mistake was that I didn't buy all the plywood required on the first place and now my supplier has run out of it. As a result, I have to wait for a couple of months before I can buy the rest of the same quallity plywood needed. Fortunatelly I have a lot to do until then

As soon as I finished drawing all the bulkheads and the parts for the hullsides full size I started cutting them with a jigsaw.

Enjoying boatbuilding!