Water traps etc on Tiki 31

[Ian R]

Just returned from pressure washing my Tiki 31 which I have to do quite often:

the boat has many water traps (surface water ie rain), they collect muck which leads to ROT.

For any current builders or restorers, main areas are beam blocks/sockets, and centre cockpit area.

Re the beam block areas, I blast out behind the beams against the upper cabin sides and up the drain holes by the beam sockets, then all around the lashings. It's really a bit daft to have the drains venting water over the beam lashing cleat area but that's the way it is, hard to guess these things before you have built this boat or a similar one.

I don't think it's possible to clean these areas adequately without a pressure washer.

Building another one (ie with another life) I would redesign these areas. The centre cockpit has traps over the stringers which I anticipated with big epoxy fillets there and elsewhere over the entire c/cockpit area, I also put in little copper drainholes near the inner beam socket areas near their sockets in the c/cockpit area.  There's a trap each side on the deck behind the cockpit coaming which does not drain and needs one, but I have big fillets there so it hasn't rotted.

I made epoxy fillets below the upper gunwhale around the entire hulls and am VERY glad I did that, but that's a general issue. (It took a long time to do, 124 ft of the stuff, and  small one also below the upper hullside to lower hullside).

I would have left more clearance below the beam locking blocks (those underneath the beam on the foredeck) for water to drain clear underneath them. Mine are oak so not bad durability  but they are in a difficult position for water clearance, they are too close a fit to the deck.

The centre deck area is another matter, I have used accoya for the boards, and have redesigned the central area to dispense with the deckboxes and secure with lashings only and no penetrative fixings. But when you look at the overall design of these decks they are really bad from a durability point of view (ie water trapping/drainage), I would redesign a lot of that in another life...

But I'm an atheist........oh no, I'm stuck with it!