Marc LaFrance's Comments

Marc. That's not my boat, it was my first experience in a Tiki. My wife and I flew from Rio de Janeiro to Florianopolis in southern Brazil to sail on the Tiki 26, a friend. I am starting to do the shopping wood for a 21

Good Winds

Hi, 

First, let me congratulate you for achieving such a high standard of work.

My question is what makes your fillet so dark? they look nearly black.

What do you use to thickened the epoxy?

Cheers, C.

Thanks for the compliment and for reminding me that I'm still building a boat. Been so busy trying to stay afloat, that I haven't been able to work on her for months.  The fillets are wood flour. Maple, purchased from Raka

Must be the the photos, it turns a dark brown in the epoxy. Seems to make a good, strong joint.

Cheers to you.

Marc I have benefited much from all your construction pictures will borrow the interior sheer clamp of wood instead of slimey epoxy .TINEY INTERIOR space is more like an airplene cockpit than yacht.

so what I ment tosay was thanks for sharing knowledge thru pics.What is your thoughts on interior finish .Is that varnish topcoat or would you roll a final coat of U.V. RESISTANT epoxy and call it done?Maybe both/

marc Im worried that sandwich deck might cure too flat and imovable it must curve to cabin side also corkscrew slightly.Is this a problem? Maybe I should try laminating the topmost skin in place?

ThankYou Mark could not have done it had I not had your good pictures to go bye plans seem really pretty in  adequate in a lot of ways. Your pictures helped me a lot what do I do next let's see some pictures of your progress

This site has been a fantastic resource, I'm sure, to everyone who is building, repairing, sailing or thinking about a Wharram cat. Myself included. Thanks to you and everyone else.

Wow 78 mm must leave the beam well up above the deck. I was thinking to just clear the deck I think 55 might be enough. Having a hard time with these blocks

Are your inboard blocks higher than your outboard ? I'm beginning to think I should just hold off on this whole process until I get the beams made and see what I need in order to make them all mate up together.

I agree. It's not possible to get a fit without having the curved beam. As for clearing the deck, it's not that far off. It's that, with the camber of the beam, the bottom just keeps rising.

Yes Mark I see!! actually I hadn't even noticed that the  forward Beam is curved on the bottom.This  would complicate things even further. I must keep my magnifying glass close at hand ,and Remember Mr. Wharrams helpful words of advice about holding very tightly onto the saber saw and not sticking your fingers in the way of the blade as it goes up and down! Did you build your forward beam before fitting it with Deck block?

Thank you Mark that makes great sense to me now. My problem now is  that I have to move out of the shop into the snow with  hull  number two in order to make space for me to build the crossarm beams.

Right of course Mark all those raw holes got to be treated against rot and bugs,file:///Users/johnjames/Desktop/DSC09970.jpg wonder if G flex would maybe be the answer a simpler solution

Hi Mark looks like you're going to be a launching soon. I am puzzling over the tabernacle full-size patterns in sheet#4 --I am wondering if most of this mysterious construction  kind of telescopes into the mast---two side layers of 12 mm hardwood with the grain going up-and-down and one layer of16mm  layer I don't understand what they are talking about here can you help me

Hi Marc, 

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly!  After Grace spent 10 years on land at my brother's farm, me and a friend have spent the last 3 years getting her back into great shape. We are currently enjoying her as a daysailer and weekender around the West coast of Norway: 

It would be fantastic if you could share some of the history of Grace from the time you owned her. Some questions I have in particular is: 

- Where and when did you sail her?

- The current rigging deviates a bit from the drawings (shorter boom, longer mast, a bit "ad hoc" topmast). Are these modifications later, or did you build her with this rig? 

- The interior has clearly been rebuilt several times, what was the original interior you fitted her with?

- How long did you own her?

Also, feel free to supply any details from the construction of the boat.  The hull and deck have kept really well through the years (maybe not surprising due to the mahogany/epoxy combination), with only minor work needed. However the through-deck supports for the rail were all rotten and had to be replaced. It is really satisfying that these were constructed so that replacing them was actually relatively easy. 

Pictures are always great.  Feel free to send these also directly to my e-mail address (jan.nordbotten@uib.no); pictures tend to lose a bit of resolution when posted on message boards. 

Best regards, 

Jan