Wakarua

James Wharram Catamaran Official web site

Wakaura 10/03/2006

I still have to put a red strip on and the rough glass down by the cross beams is not sanded for the sake of time as trying to sand them with a stick and sandpaper is way too time consuming. The white paint had to be thinned and will need another coat, or for that matter the entire boat could use a super pressure wash and paint. BUT DONE.

One will have to build new deck hatches as the top plywood is rotten between the laminations. I recommend strengthening the hull cabin join on the port side forward cabins as even though I have ground the old glass down to bare fiberglass beyond where Rick plastered the matt over the paint, the join is anything but perfect. All the lower edges of the port side forward cabin have been taped, using the demonstrated technique as it is the best I could do. The front built up corners have 2 layers of matt with tape across the join between the new and old. I did not grind and tape the top corners of the cabin as to get it down to flat enough to tape removed 70% of the glass , so bad idea. It will be fine as I doubled up matt on the edges.

The port rudder skeg had more de lamination than the starboard one and only time will tell how well the epoxy adhered, but you have a piece of tape covering the end grain and edges.

Wakaura 09/28/2006

Wakarua has a coat of fiberglass over the entire new cabin structure, and only the port side rudder heel epoxy is left to do. The boat is watertight for the winter, if not a little nasty looking, but sealed up and it will be done this fall.

The rain came back today and the weather has gotten quite nasty again. This will probably be the last update for a while as Defiance is about to move combined with the phone line has gone to pot. I however almost exactly where I should be according to my estimates. There are the touch ups all defined tasks except the deck hatches which must be rebuilt for safety and an hour on the port rudder.

I still have probably 3 hours of patch/finish on the port side forward and I have all but given up on creating a better bond between the hull and cabin on the port side forward cabin where someone had glassed over the paint. Once again, a toughie not of my making. I tried grinding down to the glass outside the paint on the hull and running a strip of tape to bridge the "glass over paint" area. But, still very unsatisfactory and hours of grinding as I was loosing up to 20% in some cases when I did the deed yesterday. I now believe the truth will require strengthening it from inside as if water (bad storm?) ever gets under that area could peel the join off.

The outside corners of the forward port cabin have a single coat of matt as it is all but impossible to get in to flatten the face enough to use tape. I have made certain that there is a good coating and may even out another coat on depending how well the clean up goes next run at her.

Wakaura 09/24/2006

The fix was easy and a tribute to knowing when to cut your losses and scrape. I doubt I spent an hour on grinding and credited 2. I have the port side aft cabin fully glassed now. Next time will be a monster day as I want to get the rest of the boat glassed before the weather gets too nasty so I am left choice.

Wakaura 09/20/2006

I called it quits after getting caught glassing the Wharram port aft when a rain squall popped up just when I had 6' of fresh matt laid up.

You know that you are in trouble when your polyester wetted matt which is normally a translucent brown goes milky white. Bah - Hum Bug!... Fortunately, I know the score and promptly took the scraper to it and had a ugly pile of one cabin side in no time. This is the fix. Never, ever try to let it go as the strength is shot. The water contaminated rosin must be ground off. Not bad perhaps a coffee can of rosin, and a half hour of sanding. Sometimes the bear gets you.

In the picture you can see the remains of the scraped off matt. Note how wonderfully nasty the million little razor strings are when we move to the section I had completed immediately prior to the one I really got caught out with. On the left you can see where I was successfull in removing 98% of the contaminated mat when it was little more than a jelly. In fact it really will not be too bad a fix grind, the aft section where the cabin tapers had a good hold and had kicked off. The client will not be charged for the repairs, my boo boo.

September 18,2006

Tuesday arrived with better than expected weather and I got in another 7.5 hours. Much of the time was spent trying to come to come to grips with the de lamination of the midships portion of the port side. The area was ground and thinned epoxy sealed to try to halt further de-lamination, then filled with epoxy and cabosil. This IS NOT the proper fix. That should involve removing the entire section of the hull and replacing it. But, according to plan and directions this is as strong as it is going to get once it gets a second layer of matt.

The port Side aft cabin has its 8" tape and a coat of polyester resin to guarantee that I keep the moisture level down in the wood over the next couple of days of forecast rain. The fill of the port side de lamination has gone well with the epoxy saturation appearing to solidify the original plywood.

With my move to my own shop and trying to wrap up my presence at Waupoos Marina have grabbed valuable days. Now the September rains have set in so I try to use each good day to it's maximum. Sunday the 17 was a monster day with over 8.5 hours of heavy going.

Port side fore and aft hull deck joins ground for a minimum of 3" to clean original F/G and 6" fiberglass tape applied to the edges using East System epoxy.

Port Side midships area of original hull where de lamination is taking place. Please study the images and understand that my directive is still not a forever fix. I spent a good 4 hours working in the area and ground off all the top lamination of the original wood that would seperate easily. However overall the inset section has moderate lamination and I would suspect that future replacement is important. Based on my understanding of "get it ready" I have come up with interim solution that will see the boat closed up with considerable strength by the snow. I have epoxy saturated the ground surface of the area and will "epoxy (not polyester) fairing. This will not cure the weakened hull section but will create a stronger than original overall structure. It is however NOT a long term cure.

The mid and forward Port Side cabin sections someone else has glassed continue to be a problem and a huge amount of grinding. You can see from the port bow how far I grind back into the original glass. compare that to what Mr. X did. Not only was the original hull NOT ground prior to applying the matt, there are many sections with voids under the glass.

My concept says that I continue to try to find a semi-acceptable way to fiberglass the remaining surface, before going too crazy on trying to flatten the rough matt, and tape the pre-glassed corners. First, I want to get the parts that are open closed up and ready for winter as this patch will go on and on

September 12,2006

I have now finished the entire starboard side with epoxy tape on the stb. hull, please note the distance I grind back the old paint and fiberglass back before doing new glass work as this is the critical part. That nice dark strip is clean original fiberglass that has been deeply ground flat, as it should be. The rest of the cabins and decks painted, the crossbeam and springs block access to the cabin face in a couple of places and I could not get sandpaper in to fair it. So it is rough. The starboard aft skeg and rudder are done except for a touch up.

The hatches are pretty much shot. The starboard aft is not worth glassing as the top plywood is almost gone around the edges. The starboard forward I filled the rot and glassed as is.

I had to grind the hatch from on port side as the hatch was about 0.5" too narrow, but it fits now. Thegn I got a couple of hours in on trying to grind and tape the stuff Rick did. Oh My! time - time. Then ther is nothing I can do to improve the adhesion as he did virtually NO grinding on the hull and glassed over the paint. Bad. I am going to work on getting glass over the entire structure

I did get the top parts 5' or 6' of the center and fore cabin roofs taped and a good start on the inside grinding of Ricks glass so I can start the fiddley bottom part of the mid cabin. Pictures will be up tonight. Perhaps a red stripe if I get a couple of hours of sun in the next few days. But Starboard side done except for paint on the bow.

September 8,2006

The weather is cooler and Wakaura is masking progress. Another 5 to 6 hours will see the entire starboard side done. Then comes the post side aft cabin which is quite rough and will take come fairing. Then the port midships de laminating side. But comming.

The starboard cabins are now glassed and painted as well as both hatches. I have gotten the aft starboard side hull deck join cleaned up and a layer of 6" tape applied using East System epoxy.I also have the bottom of the starboard skeg epoxy glassed.

August 23, 2006:

The uncured epoxy on the starboard aft inner cabin hull deck join has been dug out, acetone washed, and re epoxied. The aft starboard cabin top has been taped and will get the first layer of mat tomorrow if the weather holds.

The forward and mid starboard cabins are now 99% finished even though there are still some rough spots that I will sand and put a touch up of paint on, but done, and ready for winter. The aft port cabin had a lot of fairing and has some very awkward corners that I doubt I can ever get a good glass layer on as they are obstructed by the crossbeam spring assembly.

August 20, 2006:

The Wharram Cat is slowly getting back up to speed as my shoulder improves. The forward two sections starboard now have a single coat of paint and a hatch.

August 3, 2006 Report

The weather broke yesterday which will make progress easier. I finished glassing the first hatch with the exception of how the owner wants me to finish the bottom edge. Whether or not I tape around the bottom (probably another hour to hour and a half) or end it along the edge of the frame face, leaving the bottom of the frame covered with a layer of resin without glass.

August 2, 2006 Report

The weather is still very hot with temperatures in the upper 30's making glassing for much of the day impossible. my shoulder is much better and I am picking up the pace starting with the hatch covers that I can work on in the shade.

The tough part of this project is not so much the fiberglass sheathing but preparing the cabin structures for the fiberglass tape. Yesterday I spent 3 hours on a single hatch cover, with 2.5 of those hours taking the rough hatch to a point of smoothness it could be glasses.

Wakarua Dick has finished roughing in the aft cabin structures and I am 85% completed with glassing the post side mid cabin. Only the very tricky and pain in the butt inside bottom face is left. I keep telling people fiberglass is not magic, you can't have awkward corners and bumps if you want to get any strength.

The sun has been hot and grinding fiberglass has taken it's toll on me. IBy the end of Monday AM I found I was working with my left hand and had blown out my right shoulder. After spending 5 1/2 hours in the emergency room I got no shot of cortisone (normal fix) but have been shunted back into the long cat scan diagnosis process with the same orthopedic surgeon who told me it was inoperative 3 years ago. Sometimes you don't win. So for now I am on R&R for at least another day or two.

July 25, 2006 Report

This has been a week of HOT with temperatures and humidity oppressive. I have been changing projects and finally settled in to fiberglass Dick's Wharram Cat.Dick has come all the way form the Netherlands to work on his boat which is entering it's third year at Waupoos. Dick a schoolteacher from the Netherlands has been an avid Wharram design enthusiast for any years and gets the man of steel award for working through these 30 degree days in the back yard where it is a frying pan.

This is a pick up job where numerous other people have had a hand in the base conditions that I have inherited. It sounds simple enough but the odd shapes and angles that the corners present make the task of covering its corners a bit of a jig saw puzzle. As I talk to Dick about the build parameters I am amazed at the level of research that he has put into the project. I am no newbe to high tech but all this 0.50" ply and light glass are a stretch after Defiance's 0.25 steel. I however am comforted to know that there are lots of these boats making ocean passages all the time with a good safety record.

The biggest problem I see is that polyester resins, particularly when working between a old and new surface are not great bonding materials. Given my choice I would have though that I would have bit the $ bullet and used epoxy for my sheathing. In any case the first step was fairing the weathered wood then putting a 8" wide strip of fiberglass tape around the joins. By the end of Thursday the 20th I had the forward part of the starboard house done.