Building a Wharram Hitia 14

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I first clean up the workshop. Then I do some work on placing the stiffeners and deck supports on 2 bulkheads (again). I also assemble one of the stands for the hull. I use epoxy and some nails to keep it all together while the epoxy dries. Later I will add fillets to the stand to make it all stronger.

[Building Wharrams]

 

 

In this video I am glueing stiffeners and deck supports on the bulkheads and I am adding fillets for more strength on the stands.

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I am stitching bulkhead 3 and 2 in place in one of the hulls.

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I stitch bulkhead 1 and 4 in place. Afterwards I am spatulas with 2,5cm radius out of thin plywood, which I will use for making the keel and bulkhead fillets.

Edited October 23, 2018 by Building Wharrams

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I start with making the fillets for the keel. First I stitch and clamp the side panels to the sternpost which were still not together. I had to use clamps, because the copper wire that I am using is too thin to keep this part together. Next time I will use thicker copper wire. After that I tighten all the stitches. Then I lightly send the areas where the fillets will be and after sanding I use the vacuum cleaner to take the dust away. Then I start to do the filleting. The straight horizontal part goes very well. The stempost part that is at an angle does not go that well, there are several bumps in the fillet. I will try to sand that smooth tomorrow. It was a good day.

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I am making the keel fillet between bulkhead 4 and 3. I am lightly sanding the areas where I am going to apply the fillets, then I clean the areas, then I apply a layer of unthickened epoxy and then I create the fillet. I am mixing epoxy in paper small cups so every batch I can make only a fillet of about 70mm. I tried mixing larger batches of epoxy, but with the paper cup size I am using and the temperature in my workshop I find that smaller batches work much better.

[Building Wharrams]

In this video I finish making the fillets on the keel, sternpost and stempost of hull 1.

[Building Wharrams]

In this video I am making the fillets on the bulkheads of one of the hulls. The more I practice the better the fillets get. It has been more than 10 days since the last time I uploaded a video. I have been to Yangon, Myanmar for a couple of days. If you like to see a video about that trip, you can find it on my other channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVVduqBlU0J1lozDZy1EsjA

Edited November 8, 2018 by Building Wharrams

[Building Wharrams]

 

I start with a clean up of the shop. Now I am going to see how to fit the fore and aft deck. While I am looking at it I am thinking of doing some work to make it all look better, even though most of it will not be visible once the fore and aft deck are epoxied in place. I am also thinking about sanding everything inside another time with 80 grit sandpaper and apply a layer of epoxy. While I am removing epoxy and pieces of deck support that are wrongly places I notice how strong the epoxy bonds and fillets actually are. I use my wonderful Japanese chisel to remove the wrongly placed deck support. The end result looked very nice, but I can’t show it in this video, because the battery of my camera was empty. ????

[Building Wharrams]

 

 

In this video I cut out a notch in the fore deck panel where the stempost will fit. I also removed another deck support that I had epoxied in the wrong place.

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I first move the stands so that the boat is standing more stable while I am working on it. You will also see that I started sanding everything. The building plans don't tell to do this, but I want to inside and especially the fillets looks better, so I decided to sand everything smooth and then apply a layer of unthickened epoxy and at some places touch up with thickened epoxy. I am especially not satisfied about the looks of the stempost fillet, so I will try to make it better. After that I am drilling 12mm vent holes in bulkhead 1,3 and 4. These holes are sanded and will also get a layer of epoxy. I am also fixing then deck stringer to the fore deck. The method is to first drill a few holes so that the stringer can be stitched and kept in place. After that I put a layer of unthickened epoxy at the place where the stringer will be and then I put colloidal silica into the resin and hardener mix and apply this to the stringer. After it is in place and stitches tightened I put some nails into it to fix them.

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I am doing some sanding and cleaning in preparation for making the fillets and panels look much better. Most of this will not be visible later, but I still want to do it, because I am learning a lot about the materials and methods that I am using. I am feeling so good when I am working on my boat.

[Building Wharrams]

 

I did not do so much today. I just cleaned up the sanding dust again and fixed the aft deck stringer.

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I receive the sails, running & standing rigging & deck hardware from Rolly Tasker Sails in Thailand. At first I contacted them to order the sails, but I was very delighted that they are also able to provide running & standing rigging and deck hardware. I am very satisfied  about how the team of Rolly Tasker Sails helped me with all the things I need for my Wharram Hitia 14. I am also very happy that they labelled every item, because I am not yet familiar with everything.

Rolly Tasker Sails : http://www.rollytasker.com

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I am making the fillets look a bit better & apply epoxy coat on the inside hull panels & bulkheads. Another 3 work hours. Not much interesting happening, but I am just documenting all my work on the Wharram Hitia 14.

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I am planing the corner of the ply hullsides in preparation of epoxying the fore and aft deck in place.

[GarryP]

Very interesting. At one time I was going to try and make a stitch-and-glue kayak but was having so much trouble sourcing the marine ply that I gave up. Luckily at that time I had not already invested in the tools needed for the build.  

[Building Wharrams]

On 11/23/2018 at 10:13 AM, GarryP said:

Very interesting. At one time I was going to try and make a stitch-and-glue kayak but was having so much trouble sourcing the marine ply that I gave up. Luckily at that time I had not already invested in the tools needed for the build.  

Hello GarryP,

Thank you for your message.

In Belgium (where I originally started with the build of a Tiki 38) and Thailand I have not had any problem sourcing the materials. I can say that regarding the (electric) tools I have been able to buy better tools in Belgium than in Thailand. But it does not matter so much, because the Wharram designs can even be build with hand tools only. But I am not doing that.  ????

Edited November 25, 2018 by Building Wharrams

[Building Wharrams]

 

In this video I am using epoxy and nails to fix the fore and aft deck panels in place. While I am doing this my neighbours are happy it's Saturday evening and playing music and drinking beer.

[Building Wharrams]

 

I am trying something new here in the description, adding the precise time in the video with a description of what I think I am doing there ????

0:05 marking the location of the stiffeners
0:20 cutting the stiffeners to the correct length with the jigsaw
0:25 drilling holes for copper wire that keep the stiffeners in place while the epoxy sets
0:35 applying unthickened epoxy on the stiffeners
0:40 applying thickened epoxy on the stiffeners
0:45 removing clamps that held the fore and aft deck panels in place while the epoxy hardened
0:50 removing nails that held the fore and aft deck panels in place while the epoxy hardened
1:00 removing the copper wire that held the stiffeners in place while the epoxy hardened
1:05 coat the inside of the deck panels with 2 layers of epoxy
1:21 i wish it wasn't so, but at some parts the sheer stringer did not adhere flat on the hull. I fill the gaps to the best of my ability with thickened epoxy
1:25 seeing how the deck panel will fit
1:30 using copper wire to stitch deck panel to bulkheads, later I decide to use clamps, because my copper wire is probably too thin and I feel it is not strong enough to keep the curved deck panel in place

[Building Wharrams]

0:01 dry fitting the curved deck panel
0:15 using the block plane to make a corner fit
0:26 using clamps to hold it all together
0:36 using a large heavy sheet of plywood as temporary table
0:41 sanding a smoother curve on the bulkheads
0:51 sanding all other contact surfaces before using epoxy
1:16 applying epoxy fillets on the inside faces of curved deck panel
1:51 my epoxy work station
2:15 cleaning up the epoxy work station

[Building Wharrams]

 

0:01 cleaning the shop before starting work
0:11 filling some gaps and ridges with thickened epoxy
0:36 sanding excess epoxy on bulkhead
0:41 removing excess epoxy with the chisel
0:46 using my block plane to remove a part of the curved deck panel and create a bevel
0:56 dry fitting the flat hatch deck panel
1:00 removing dust and wood chips
1:11 prime the surface with unthickened epoxy in preparation of making a fillet
1:16 making the fillet on a part of the curved deck panel where the flat hatch deck panel will be attached
2:00 cleaning up the workshop

[Building Wharrams]

 

 

0:01 mixing epoxy
0:11 add one layer of epoxy to flat deck hatch panel, I do have rollers, but I wanted to apply the epoxy by brush to make me feel relaxed
0:20 cutting excess deck panel with the jig saw and block plane
1:01 sharpening the block plane blade
1:22 removing copper wire stitches
1:31 sanding contact surfaces before applying epoxy for flat deck hatch panel

[Building Wharrams]

Don't watch this video if you don't enjoy looking at someone making epoxy fillets.

[GarryP]

In a few years, when I finally retire, I am going to look up your videos to help me with the stitch-and-glue kayak project I was hoping to undertake earlier. I will have time on my hands and by then it should be easier to source decent marine ply (one reason for putting this project on hold before). Will also invest in some decent tools.  

Edited December 20, 2018 by GarryP