Thread: Building a Wharram Hitia 14 in Bangkok, Thailand

Originally Posted by OhOh

No problem. Whilst a schoolboy our senior maths teacher was in charge of the school sailing club. Those that were OK at maths he'd send off on sailing chores. As we got more e experienced we were allowed to use the dingies when we wanted. The sailing was mostly done along a large estuary. We also took over the maintenance of the dingies. We had a GP14, a Fireball and a Graduate. We used to bring them into the school quad for winter and scraped and patched them up as required. In the last year of schooling we sailed across the Channel in an old gaff rigged boat, owned I beleive by the Ocean Racing Club, to Cherbourg on the French north coast. We had two staff and 6 or so students. The crossing started well, sunny and breezy, but as the sun was going down the skipper decided to shorten sail. Our first attempt at reefing the gaff mainsail and tying the reef points whilst not falling overboard was hairy. During the night most of the boys were seasick so below decks got slippery. My role was to keep feeding the skipper and his mate with sweet milky tea. We spent a couple of days in the harbour, losing our anchor at one stage and rowing up and down with a grappling iron to try and finde it. The return was on a much more pleasant day trip.

Years later after befriending a work mate who owned a 10m sloop we regularly sailed across the Channel or along to Cornwall, once to Ireland.

So building a dingy is something I have investigated previously. Not being able to locate marine ply stopped me. I live in the sticks. You are certainly rekindling my interest again.



You say it's imperative to purchase marine ply, which I understand. What woods are all the other parts made from and do you buy them from the same source?

Presumably the planer was only purchased because you supplier didn't have the correct size woods available. Or will there be other reasons when you move further along the build?

What type of rollers are you using when applying the epoxy resin? I've seen both "fleecy" and "sponge" types in th DIY shops here? I presume it improves water resistance of the marine ply.

For the other parts it is recommended to use a fine grained softwood (white or red pine, spruce, Columbian Pine, etc.). Select wood for grain and "no knots". A light weight hardwood such as light mahogany (also called gaboon or okoume) or cedar can be used. Phuket Siam Timber could supply me with tulipwood which is light and strong.

The Wharram Building plans show a table with all the different pieces of timber that you need and their lengths. For this design Phuket Siam Timber was able to supply me with almost every type with the exact dimensions I need. I bought a planer, because for a few parts I need to cut of 2mm-6mm. There is someone else in my street who has a planer and I am almost sure they would not mind if I would use it for a short time, but I am going to build more (larger) sailboats later, so I bought the planer for my workshop. A planer is not necessary for building this boat, but if you don't have it, then you might need to ask your timber supplier to cut all the pieces exactly to the size that you need.

For the rollers I use cheap foam rollers, because they can be used only 1 time (20 minutes until the epoxy hardens). I did not try the fleecy ones. West Systems sells very good rollers which have a very thin surface which does not soak up too much epoxy like the foam rollers that I am using. You can see them in my old Tiki 38 videos (the yellow rollers). I am not using them because they are expensive and the roller handles (I don't know if they are called like that) damaged/got stuck quickly.

Originally Posted by Building Wharrams

cotton fibre adhesive filler

What pray tell it that in Thai?

Originally Posted by Building Wharrams

brass panel pins

If you're going to remove them, why do you use brass PPs?

Originally Posted by OhOh

What pray tell it that in Thai?


If you're going to remove them, why do you use brass PPs?

Great questions

I ordered the cotton fibre adhesive filler from East Marine Asia. Their staff can speak english, but apart from that it is a West System product on their website.

I use brass for just in case if one of the pins is stuck and I can't get it out. If I can't get it out, then I will just cut off what I can and leave the rest inside.

Great stuff BW and look forward to seeing more.

Years ago an old bloke in a nearby town had two Wharram Hinemoa (23’) hulls he’d finished but couldn’t turn into a boat so rather than see him put them in landfill I bought them for $200.
Added three hardwood cross beams with floor planks and net, a basic main and jib rig cobbled together from various leftovers and scrounged bargains, a 5 hp outboard and chucked some tractor wheels into the harbour for a mooring.
Twas heaps of fun until scraping the flying rat poo off the top and the weed and shells off the bottom got tiresome so I sold it for peanuts.

Originally Posted by Eliminator

Great stuff BW and look forward to seeing more.

Thank you for your message Eliminator, your message cheered me up.

Originally Posted by Building Wharrams

East Marine Asia

Thanks.

Even has a useful site:

https://eastmarineasia.com/collections/all

Originally Posted by docmartin

Years ago an old bloke in a nearby town had two Wharram Hinemoa (23’) hulls he’d finished but couldn’t turn into a boat so rather than see him put them in landfill I bought them for $200.
Added three hardwood cross beams with floor planks and net, a basic main and jib rig cobbled together from various leftovers and scrounged bargains, a 5 hp outboard and chucked some tractor wheels into the harbour for a mooring.
Twas heaps of fun until scraping the flying rat poo off the top and the weed and shells off the bottom got tiresome so I sold it for peanuts.

Hi docmartin,
You are right, after the build, a boat needs constant care, and that can be a burden.
Greetings,
Marcel

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.

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.

That’s true Marcel but a 14 footer won’t need much love.
Easy to store ashore.

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).

Originally Posted by OhOh

Hi.

You look to have placed a pin at the very thin end of the stringer to stringer joint (0:38). Did you remove it? If not did your plane catch on it?

Have you thought of using a plastic bag with a hole in it, similar to a cake icing bag/nozzle, to apply the thickened epoxy to the stringer? You appeared to only want a small % of the stringer width to be covered, prior to using the notched spreader.

Hello OhOh,
It was luckily no pin, but just a dark spot.

I know about the plastic bag method, I have not used it yet, but now you mention it, I am going to use it tomorrow to fix the 2 sheer stringers from the other hull and I will film how it goes. I think it will go much better. Thank you

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.

^ That's the same video as yesterday, Marcel (Episode 18). Did you mean to post it again? Or should it be Episode 19 this time?

Originally Posted by Neverna

^ That's the same video as yesterday, Marcel (Episode 18). Did you mean to post it again? Or should it be Episode 19 this time?

Thank you Neverna, by accident I inserted the previous video again. Unfortunate especially because of what I wrote about of doing things 2x

Here is Ep.19:

Have you considered having a Thai "apprentice" to assist when another pair of hands would be useful, perform some of the repetitive tasks and ultimately take on more production?

Originally Posted by OhOh

Have you considered having a Thai "apprentice" to assist when another pair of hands would be useful, perform some of the repetitive tasks and ultimately take on more production?

Great question, yes, I have considered that, but I have no plans to take on a lot of production and make sailboats for other people. I am building sailboats (and sail), because that is what I at the moment like to do and it makes me restful.

But... I think I am going to build a Wharram Tiki 26 after the Wharram Hitia 14 and then I can certainly use some extra pair of hands.

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.

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.

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.

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

A five star thread thanks for sharing the videos and all the other interesting contributions