Building a Wharram Hitia 14

[Building Wharrams]

Hello everybody. My name is Marcel. I recently moved to Bangkok, Thailand. My hobby is sailing and many different things related to sailing and the sea. I am now building a Wharram Hitia 14. Finished it will look like this:

 

If you are interested to follow the build, you can watch my YouTube videos in this forum thread. Please feel free to ask questions and I will do my very best to answer them.  ?

 

Here is my first Building Wharram Hitia 14 video:

 

This is episode 1 of the Building a Wharram Hitia 14 series. I receive and check the delivery of wood and I start drawing on the waterproof 4mm plywood. Two children from the neighbourhood come to check what I am doing and talk with me while I am drawing lines on the 4mm plywood. Since my last building video I moved to Bangkok, Thailand. This has always been on my mind, I imagined it in detail and now it is current reality. I am very happy. But with that move I had to make the decision to stop working on the Wharram Tiki 38 build, I miss my beautiful large workspace in Belgium. I also miss my friends in Belgium. I have made the decision to restart building Wharrams in Thailand and begin with a smaller Wharram, the Hitia 14, in order for me to learn techniques on a smaller scale and also have a small boat to sail with on the weekends.

Edited September 9, 2018 by SV Satoshi

[Building Wharrams]

On this new day I continued with drawing on the plywood. I am really taking my time here to make sure I am doing this correct. It's very warm in my workspace. I have a ceiling fan, but I ordered another ventilator. In my workplace in Belgium it was too cold and here it is too warm. But anyway I prefer the warmer climate here in Thailand. ?

[Building Wharrams]

In this video I am cutting pieces out of the plywood with the jigsaw. I connect the jigsaw with the vacuum cleaner so that I need to clean up less and there is not too much fine dust in the air. Normally I also wear a respirator, but I am waiting for it to be delivered.

[Building Wharrams]

Today I am cutting parts out of the thicker 12mm marine grade plywood. I change the blade on the jigsaw. I also sand smooth some of the sides of the parts. I am starting to realise the usefulness of a band saw in a work shop. ?

[Building Wharrams]

In this video I start by putting the parts that I already cut on a new sheet of plywood and draw the shapes on it. The building instructions provide drawings on how to get the most out of a sheet by drawing/placing the parts at certain locations on the sheet of plywood.

I feel very happy and relaxed when I am working in my workshop.

[Building Wharrams]

 

And here we are again on Monday, after a 2 day break in the weekend. On weekends I spend time with my family and I do not work on the boat. On this Monday I did a little bit of everything. Cutting with the jigsaw, sanding, drawing and unpacking deliveries. One of the deliveries was West System epoxy supplies that I ordered from East Marine Asia.

[Building Wharrams]

 

On this day I was only for about 3 hours in the workshop. I made the details at the end of the mid platforms and the tongue stiffeners. After that I had to leave to go to Thai Watsadu, this is a DIY store chain. I had to go there because I needed to buy paint rollers for upcoming epoxy work later this week. All the local small hardware stores in my area do not have the type of rollers that I need. At Thai Watsadu they had 37 rolls and I took them all. I asked for 100 pieces, but they did not have more in stock.

[Building Wharrams]

 

On this day I only had 2 hours of time, because I needed to go to a parents meeting at my son's school in the afternoon. I wanted to put 2 coats of epoxy on the inner faces of the deck and side panels and both faces of the bulkheads, but while I was preparing I decided to lay down some sheets of plywood on the floor to protect it against epoxy spills. Tomorrow I will start applying the coats of epoxy.

[Building Wharrams]

 

Today I used epoxy for the first time in Thailand. There is a difference between using epoxy in Belgium at temperatures below 15 degrees celcius and in Thailand with temperatures above 30 degrees celcius. In Belgium I was using West System's fast hardener (205), in Thailand I am using West System's slow hardener (206). Even with the slow hardener I can very clearly notice that the epoxy is curing much faster. Today I applied 2 coats of epoxy on the inner faces of the deck and side panels and on one side of the bulkheads.

[Esso49]

Looks great and if I was 50 years younger I would join you.   By the way where did you buy the marine ply in Bangkok ? assume it is resin bonded marine ply ?

[Building Wharrams]

12 minutes ago, Esso49 said:

Looks great and if I was 50 years younger I would join you.   By the way where did you buy the marine ply in Bangkok ? assume it is resin bonded marine ply ?

Thank you Esso49.

I searched in Bangkok, but I could not find it. I went to large wood sellers near "Wood Street" (Soi Pracha Rat 24), but most of these businesses seem to cater to furniture makers and they did not have marine plywood.  I bought the marine grade plywood at Phuket Siam Timber. I am using 12mm marine grade plywood BS1088, for the 4mm they did not have marine grade BS1088, but it is waterproof. I am satisfied about the quality, but I can say that in Belgium I was using Bruynzeel Hechthout marine grade plywood BS1088 and that was even better quality, but also triple the price per sheet of what I paid now. ? . Thank you for your interest.

Edited September 13, 2018 by SV Satoshi

[Esso49]

31 minutes ago, SV Satoshi said:

Thank you Esso49.

I searched in Bangkok, but I could not find it. I went to large wood sellers near "Wood Street" (Soi Pracha Rat 24), but most of these businesses seem to cater to furniture makers and they did not have marine plywood.  I bought the marine grade plywood at Phuket Siam Timber. I am using 12mm marine grade plywood BS1088, for the 4mm they did not have marine grade BS1088, but it is waterproof. I am satisfied about the quality, but I can say that in Belgium I was using Bruynzeel Hechthout marine grade plywood BS1088 and that was even better quality, but also triple the price per sheet of what I paid now. ? . Thank you for your interest.

Thanks for the info on the plywood. Best of luck with your build and enjoy your sailing

[StreetCowboy]

For "marine" supplies, maybe Klong Thoey would be better, if it is something that mainstream small operators would make use of, as well as hobbyists.

[Building Wharrams]

9 hours ago, StreetCowboy said:

For "marine" supplies, maybe Klong Thoey would be better, if it is something that mainstream small operators would make use of, as well as hobbyists.

Thank you for the advice StreetCowboy I am going to look in the Klong Thoey area.

[Building Wharrams]

 

On this day I went to the furniture makers area of Bangkok to find some copper or brass screws and nails. I had to go in and ask more than 15 shops before I found a shop that sold those. I bought a selection for my workshop. After that I went home and ate dinner with my son. It was already night. I was tired, but decided to go to the workshop anyway to epoxy coat the backside of the 4 bulkheads that I epoxy coated yesterday. I first moved all parts that were laying curing on the floor to another room on another floor. Then I decided to epoxy coat more than I initially planned and layed down the panels for the other hull on the floor too.

[Building Wharrams]

 

Soon I am going to stitch the panels together with copper wire. I have never done that before so today I did a little test with 2 small pieces of plywood. 

 

[Building Wharrams]

In the project I need battens with dimensions of 9mm x 19mm. Almost all the wood that I have ordered is already cut exactly to size, but for this one the 9mm x 19mm I have 10mm x 25.4mm, so I will use the planer to get it at that thickness. After doing that I marked the positions on the inner faces of one set of the sterns & bow panels.

 

Edited September 20, 2018 by SV Satoshi

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video you can see that the bow and stern panels are joined with a butt block. I also place 2 backing pads for the beam lashings. First I determine the location of the butt block and the backing pads, then the surface is sanded with 80 grit sandpaper and cleaned. Then I mix some epoxy and apply it on one side of the butt block and backing pad. I let it stay for a couple of minutes so the plywood can soak in the epoxy. Meanwhile I am adding a cotton fibre adhesive filler to the epoxy mix and thicken it to a "mayonnaise" consistency. Then I apply it to the surfaces and place the parts on the spot where I want them. In the case of the butt block I use some brass panel pins to hold the butt block in position while epoxy and cotton fibre glue sets. Later these brass panel pins will be removed.

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I am removing the brass panel pins from the butt block. You might have noticed that the brass panel pins are not totally hit into the wood. On the building plans they are totally flat with the wood surface for providing the necessary contact pressure. I felt and noticed that in this case there was enough contact pressure by hitting them in just a bit.

After removing the brass panel pins I did the same procedures for glueing the butt block and backing pads for the other side panel.

Then I proceeded with drawing the scarf joints on the 19mm x 9mm sheer stringers. I need 4 sheer stringers that are as long as the hull, and for that I need to make a scarf joint for every sheer stringer, because the battens that I have are not long enough. In total I have to make 4 scarf joints.

 

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I am glueing the scarf joints together. I first apply unthickened epoxy on the joint surfaces, then I mix come cotton fibre with the epoxy until it is a mayonnaise consistency and then apply it to the surfaces. I clamp it all together, putting plastic at various places where I don't want squeezed out epoxy leak on clamps or the floor.

I also draw the spots where I am going to drill holes for the copper wire stitching.

 

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I am fixing the sheer stringer to the side panel. I first prepare the scarf joints, after that I prime the surface of the side panel and one side of the sheer stringer with unthickened epoxy and after that I thicken the epoxy with cotton fibre and apply it on the sheer stringer with a notched spreader. I then place the sheer stringer and nail it down. I will try to remove the brass pins on one of the next days. I am not hitting the brass pins lower, so that they are easier to remove later, and I can see and feel the pressure is already enough (the epoxy is pushed out from the sides of the sheer stringer).

 

 

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I am doing more work on the hull side panels. First I am removing brass panel pins from the sheer stringer that I placed in the previous video. After that I go on and prepare the side panels of the other hull. Before I apply the unthickened epoxy I sand the surfaces a little bit with 80 grit sandpaper. After that I add colloidal silica adhesive filler (West System 406) to the mix and stir it well. I drill small holes in the sheer stringer where I want to put the brass pins. I find that it works better than trying to hit the pin all through. A food seller in the street comes to have a look and asked me what I am doing. People are very nice and friendly in my neighbourhood. I am very happy and relaxed here in Thailand.

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video you can see almost the same thing like in the previous 2 videos. I suppose this is very boring for people to see, but I am showing the reality of building a catamaran, where many things you have to do twice.

[Building Wharrams]

 

In my previous message I inserted the wrong video. Here is Ep.19

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I start with a little clean up of the workshop. After that I remove some pins from one of the scheer stringers. The sheer stringers are a bit longer then the panels, so I place each side panel on the workmates and cut the sheer stringers to almost the right length. Then I clamp two panels together and draw the locations of the holes, and after that I drill the holes. Towards the end of the video I also draw and drill the holes for the bulkhead stitches.

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I am stitching the stempost and keel to the side panels. The first few stitches took some time, but soon after I was doing the stitches very fast.

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I first remove possible residue wax (amine blush) from the bulkheads which have 2 coats of epoxy. Then I continue with making the deck supports and stiffeners for each bulkhead. After that I sand the bulkheads with 80 grit sandpaper on the spots where the deck supports and stiffeners will be glued.

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I am glueing the stiffeners and deck supports to the bulkheads. I also have started stitching the second hull.

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I am stitching the side panels of the second hull together. At the end of the video I am taking a look at the drawings to see how to stitch the bulkheads. I then discover that I have glued the stiffeners on the wrong sides on 6 of the bulkheads. So now I will soon discover how easy or difficult it is to remove the epoxied stiffeners and deck supports.

 

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I am glueing the stiffeners and deck supports again on the bulkheads, but now on the correct side. I discovered this mistake a couple of days ago. I think I don't have to remove the incorrect ones, just remove a little bit at places where these wrongly placed stiffeners and deck supports are in the way. I also started making a stand for one hull.