Oliver Knittel's Page

Hello Oliver

We left Panama the 28 April and reached Hiva Oa (Marquises) the 28 may. Unhappily impossible to get a good Web connexion until we have met a very kind familly in the village of Omoa in FatuHiva.

Now we are in the Tuamotu at anchor beside the motu Totoro (15°33.5S 146°14.5W) on the atoll Apataki. Here is a little shipyard with internet!

Thank you for your kind comments.

We are very satisfied with our energy system. We cvan cook with only electricity.

As it's a prototype I had a few problems and each time Hybrid Marine improve the system (new main boxes and new kevlar belts). He is testing a new control system for regeneration under sails to get a better efficiency.

I like the parallel hybrid propulsion which is at my eyes more safe than the serial hybrid propulsion : if you have a problem with the electric system or low batteries or need more powerfull you have the possibility to run the diesels to turn the propelleres.

Concerning the rig it is OK. We had a good experiment from Panama to the equateur line in facing light winds and now I know how to tack without the help of electric engines.. The shape of these long wishbones are not so powerfull than the previous ones but are stronger. 

From 40 to 90° of the apparent wind, the sheets have to be slightly released to get the best sdpeed!!

The problem is the shaffing with the masts when the wind decreased and not the waves!!

Have good suimmer sailings

Bertrand

Hello Oli

To follow our position and read comments (in french) you can have a look on our Mailasail blog.Zoom on the positions to have more detail and the comments are on the bottom of the page.

These next weeks if our internet connexion is enough good, I'll actualise the Sailing with Grand PHA blog.

Friendly

Berrand

hallo,

are you still looking for a tiki46...? ours this for sale

http://wharrambuilders.ning.com/forum/topics/tiki-46-for-sale-wakataitea

 cheers hans

Hi Oli,

In answer to your question on outboards on a Hitia 17, I mounted mine on a sideways facing bracket bolted on the inside face of one of the hulls, just behind the rear beam. I've seen a Hitia with the engine mounted on the rear beam, but it seemed to create a lot of twist on the beam, so mounting on the hull seemed a better option to me.

I have a Honda 2hp four stroke engine, which I have found to be plenty for the boat - on flat water it is pretty fast, motoring into a sea and a headwind it isn't so fast, but has still been enough to get me out of trouble whenever I have needed it. 6hp sounds a bit over the top to me! 

I'll post some pictures, so you can see the design I came up with. It is by no means perfect though, and when I get around to it I'll be modifying it a little. The main issue is that waves tend to hit the forward face of the bracket and splash up onto the deck, making the helming position on the starboard side (where the engine is) rather wetter than it should be, and creating some drag. I think this could be largely solved by angling the forward face down rather than it being flat and vertical. In other respects it works well. It is low enough down that I can get away with a standard / short shaft engine (cheaper and easier to transport than a long shaft one), I can tip the engine over sideways and leave it on the mount while sailing, so it is always there ready to go if I need it, and it is a good strong fixing which seems to hold it rigid (unlike on a cross-beam).

If I remember correctly, the bracket is mainly 12mm ply, with 8mm on the face against the hull, and sheets of rubber both against the hull and on the face for the engine. I just wired it together and then made all the joints with epoxy fillets.

If you are going to mount and engine this way, I strongly suggest modifying your rudders slightly from the standard Hitia design, so that the tillers are angled higher and they and the tiller bar clear your engine. In fact, I'd suggest doing this anyway because I think it gives a more comfortable steering position. I have some pegs in mine that keep the tillers up, but could be removed to drop them to their designed position. However, I have never once found a good reason to take the pegs out, and wish I had just made chocks so they were always at the higher angle. 

Hope that helps.

Dan

....one more thing - you'll see from the photos I added a "backing pad" (some more ply) inside the hull here the engine bracket is bolted through to strengthen things up. There's a photo of doing this on my blog. I did it during the build, but I'm sure you could retrofit something.