HMD 18 progress

[Yoda]

O.K. notch frame "D" for landing. That should about do it.
Thanks Evan, how's your project coming ?
We'll be cruising past Sept. 1st on our way up the inside from Seattle.
Boat shop will be closed for about 12 days.

[Evan_Gatehouse]

Catamaran Project:

http://www.maiaaboard.blogspot.com

We're back in the water; still need to tape some cabin seams though and adjust the feathering propeller pitch (read the blog for the story)

[Doug N]

Great to get that straightened out. A different question has arisen for me on the side deck dimensions. When I 'just had to' put panels in place to see how they looked after flipping the boat a few days ago, I noticed that the side decks beside the forward cabin are pretty skinny. I'm already planning on putting a toe-rail on, which should help, but it is still a concern with going forward in anything other than perfect weather with anchor in hand etc. Not being the most coordinated individual at times, I could see swimming in my future. Any thoughts on this. I am considering a possible bow rail, mounting the anchor on the deck (pretty small foredeck though), anchor well or just leaving it as is. Going forward with nothing in your hands shouldn't be a problem as there will be solid handholds on the cabin top. This is still a long ways in the future for me. I have plenty of plywood to redo the side decks wider/cabin top narrower if necessary but I really don't to mess with the lines as drawn. Would also prefer to keep the anchor weight low in the boat. That said, safety on the bow, and getting there, is very important for me. Perhaps this question should be in the 'power boat' section but I'm looking forward to info from all sources, especially people who have had this same problem.
Doug

[Evan_Gatehouse]

The side decks are skinny to make the cabin bigger. No different than many power boats, both large and small. I've seen Bayliner type 30' express cruisers with sidedecks that are less than the 4" shown on the narrow part of the HMD18.

I'd suggest anchoring from the cockpit, then walking the anchor line only up to the foredeck to cleat it off.

Or put in a big enough hatch (20"x20") in the forward cabin to go through the cabin.

[Yoda]

I noticed the same thing a while back. Good deck shoes and non skid in the paint will help. Maybe a fluke anchor will be good enough. They're not too heavy. Also I was thinking a couple of bow chocks up front. Lower anchor from back deck and run rode forward and into chock. Then back down and control scope from back. Someone could push rode to someone already up front with a boat hook. They could place it in chock. Or get good at it and place rode in chock with boat hook. I want some chain too for setting and holding.

Hey Evan. This is an edit. I saw your post after I submited mine...

[Doug N]

Dropping the anchor from the stern sounds like a good way to go. Keeps the weight low as well. Great. Much appreciated.
Doug

[Doug N]

Wow, a year since I last posted on my progress. Not an awful lot got done but work has started again.
Tonight, I glued the cockpit sole down and it seems like a major step. Hopefully get it filleted and taped in the next week or so. Planning on putting down some 6 oz woven cloth on the sole for protection.
I installed a water tank under the floor but not a fuel tank. I will use portable gas tanks as I don't expect fuel consumption to be very much from a 10 hp 4 stroke. Where the fuel tank would have gone, I made up a reinforced area to hold spare anchors etc. Not sure how much this will get used.
Installed a couple of cleats in the area of the bilge pumps, so the pumps can be installed on a piece of plywood and then bolted in place in the bilge. Should make maintenance on the pumps easier. The plywood is 6"x 12" and so it will fit through the hatch in the sole.
Speaking of hatches, I bought one (tempress 13x23) for one of the compartments in the stern beside the outboard well. Not having too many marine stores in northern BC, I waited until I was vacationing on Vancouver Island a few weeks ago to get my hands on one to see how they were made and how they would work out. Looks good and I have ordered several more 13x17 hatches for bilge pump/water tank access and anchor storage area access.
For buoyancy foam, I partitioned the area between frames A and D so that the there was an open area 48" wide down the centre and outside of it was filled with foam. I also put in another partition 12" out from frame A to give a calculated total volume of 16 cu ft. I was quite relieved to find that I used slightly more than 4 gal of liquid to do this. I was worried that I had calculated exactly but out by a factor of 2. I have another couple of gallons to use under the v-berth.
Will try and post pictures in the next few days. Tomorrow is the first day back to work after 3 weeks off so I could be quite busy for a while and not want to look at a computer.
Doug

[Doug N]

One more note. Thanks to the folks who have posted on how to install a depth sounder transducer to work through the hull. I cut away a 3" x 3.5" section of the hull, a few inches off centreline, just leaving the fibreglass on the outside intact. Used a router to get most of the way there and then a very sharp chisel. Wasn't a problem at all but still nerve-wracking. Seems like the plywood has a hundred plies in it... I filled in the hole with biaxial cloth/epoxy and doesn't look like any bubbles formed. I have a bit more to add to get a level surface (made a dam and epoxied it in place) but I will wait for the transducer before I do that. Haven't 100% decided on what to get yet.
Thanks again for the advice. Can't remember who posted it but it is appreciated.
Doug

[Yoda]

Hi Doug, glad to see you pop back up. I'm still sanding and some fairing in between interruptions. All structual is complete. Think I will go with spraying the cabin and pilot house interior. Will probably roll and tip the outside. Need cooler weather to paint with boat outside. So have plenty of time for other stuff. Mounted the cabin portlights to get holes drilled. Used the flush barrel nuts. Need to cut instrument holes. All holes being drilled before paint.

If you haven't check out Copro's Baja trip.

[Doug N]

Just posted a few pictures. Old ones showing the foam locations and storage under the sole were done some time ago. Those showing the laminating of frame C were done this past weekend. The seat boxes were built a few weeks ago. And modified a few days ago... I remember thinking, at one point, that I should check the seats I was going to use against the installed height. Didn't. Until the boxes were all glued and good and solid. Way too high for me. The seats I bought look to be a little taller that what is recommended in the plans (perhaps 2" taller?).
The only reasonable way to lower the seat height, without having to redo the whole box, was to cut the seat section out in a vertical line, directly behind the seat, and then modify and re-attach it. My 40 year old handsaw (not sharpened in the last 30 that I've had it of course) wouldn't do it. The new one I bought did and more. I have a little more epoxying to do than I had planned! The second seat box that I modified, I used scrap arborite to protect the plywood that I didn't want to cut. The blemish that shows in the picture is the minor one. There is a reason for the camera angle on the picture of seat. Filler will hide everything. Cosmetic damage mainly. I found that even when I removed 4 1/2", the seats could be just a little too high still. After all that, the seats don't seem to be that great anyhow. I need something with decent back support and these ones seem somewhat flexible. Seemed ok in the store of course. We'll see.

Having fun now that I've gotten back at it. Lots of sanding ahead. Have to epoxy the seat boxes on the outside. Just got some 6 oz biax tape from bateau. Looking forward to trying it. The boxes aren't epoxied to the floor yet. I'll glue the upper section of frame C in place, make sure that the boxes fit ok, and then cut out floor hatch openings. Then glue the boxes down and start sanding again. Never stops, does it?

Any suggestions on bow chock locations? The centre of the 6" bow cleat that I'm using, is going to be about 8" from the inside of the bow. Do you place the chocks at a 45 degree angle forward of the cleat or something like that? I can move the location of the cleat back if necessary to make the chocks work out better, as I can still modify my cleat support as necessary.
Doug