Thank you all who helped Tiki Itatae from paper to water.
Special thanks goes to Ott, Olev, Rivo and Rauno and to my family – thank you for being patient and supportive!
Pro Marine Trade – thank you for providing main and jib sheet blocks.
katamaraaniga merele
three years
Read my face: three years in the garage and now…
PS! Arno, Ranno and Veiko – thanks for helping me with the mast trial 🙂
m u/a s t w o r k !
After couple of laborious days of planing-sanding-planing-sanding-swearing-sanding-planing-sweating-sanding-swearing-planing-sanding i finally managed to produce snugly fitting top and heel for the mast:
paired
A pretty grand moment 🙂
almost there…
Its already August – soon enough nasty long, damp & dark winter will knock on the door… Still I have some glimpse of hope, as I finished port hull paint job — I only need to fit windows, main hatch hinges and rudders.
Port hull with fresh paintjob
Just look at these neat curves 🙂
Just some few odd jobs left… here’s centre beam under pressure waiting epoxy to reach its final stage (slow hardener for gluing; 50% fast, 50% slow for fillets)
Starboard hull with its new paint (same as port hull — Tikkurila Temadur 20)
paintball
Playing with the paint & sniffing the fumes….
… two part epoxy based Tikkurila Temacoat RM40 serves as primer for the hull, I will let it to set for a few days, then there will be applied two part polyurethane Tikkurila Temadur 20 fas a topcoat. Interiors are already coated with several layers of Temacoat, which is a bit easier to apply in constrict spaces, as it do not go off too quickly after mixing and its a bit more viscose as well, a true virtue considering the situation where painter has to squeeze himself into the rear section of cabin, size of a smaller nightstand, armed with pot of potent smelling paint, flashlight, small brush and watering eyes.
… a fancy DIY knob for main hatch locking system, made of 2 layers 6mm plywood (will see how it works…)
… and little bit of woodwork as well — a base for jib block, made from 2 pieces of oak, clued and screwed onto the hull.
I decided to abandon jib traveler and went for barber haulers.
Now I need one dry and warm day for painting the topsides and another for hull sides…
to do list
Port hull almost done, still lots to do…
… waiting in the list:
glass 2 cabin sides, glass tape main companionway & forward hatch coamingsglue beam sockets/padsbolt & glue beam/shroud lashing padsproduce forward and center beamproduce mast top and step for aluminum tubemake tillers & gaff- lash rudders to hulls (port hull needs lashing holes as well)
- fabricate slatted deck
produce forward & main hatch for port hull- install all the necessary small bits that will make run everything smoothly (supporting pads for deck, jib blocks and barber hauler, main hatch locking system, beam cleats etc)
sand & paint everything (including starboard hull)install port hull windows- raise mast & get out onto water
forward deck
With extra pairs of helping hands it was rather pleasing act to glue on the forward deck.
Thanks a lot, mates!
winter camping
Those freshly glued front deck stringers got nice and cozy overnight stay under this i-love-to-hassle-with-masking-tape tent
in the beginning of journey to my other half
shot by mr Gab
roll & tip
A friend lent me a helping hand, so applying the roll & tip technique was a piece of cake. It took only 1,5h hours to entirely coat the hullsides. After few hours we added second coat and in next morning Itatae received third one. Im thinking to add fourth layer as well and this time I plan to add some thinner as well, to get a bit smoother surface.
By the way – I switched from Tikkurila Temadur 20 (polyurethane) to Tikkurila Temacoat RM40 (epoxy based), which is much easier to apply as it does not give such potent fumes as the first one, also it has a bit longer pot life as well – which are much appreciated characteristics when you are amateur builder working in tight conditions. So, will see how this thing will work out in the end.