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Comment by Ann and Neville Clement on April 17, 2013 at 9:14pm

Not everybody wants the same kind of boat.  One of the greatest things about building your own, is that you get what you want.  Nev and I wanted a tiny pod, but this builder wanted a big one. 

The main thing is that the boat is finished and I notice that mostly it is to plan for the Tiki 46.  I wish you every joy for the launch and a lifetime of pleasure sailing her.  Nice name too.

Comment by boatsmith on April 18, 2013 at 5:20am

Looks great Marty. Very nicely executed. The pod  looks very comfortable.

Comment by Martin Phillips on April 18, 2013 at 10:44am

Well done on a fantastic transformation of a well worn Tiki 46 with a very imaginative pod design. It looks like you have restored the cat to as new condition. I remember seeing her advertised and looking at the previous cockpit arrangement. The new one is very similar to the design used on the Seascape Tiki 46's but with full height. Yes it is very yacht like but looks very professional to me.

Comment by Ann and Neville Clement on April 18, 2013 at 9:17pm

Now I see the restoration photos I must say I admire your boat more and more.  Double congratulations!

Comment by Mawibo on April 19, 2013 at 2:52am

Is this a James WALLY Wharram design?

Congratulations, what a transformation!

After Thailand and south africa, what are your projects now? If I may ask.

Comment by Marty Peters on April 21, 2013 at 12:28pm

Hi everyone,

Looks like me previous reply isn't displaying so here goes again.

Thanks for all the comments, and as you can all see I built a bigger pod and hard Bimini. Pretty much everything else is to plan.
I built a bigger pod for many reasons, comfort being the biggest reason. I have sailed a few tiki 46's and was always disappointed with the pod, itS just too pokey and this was confirmed by comments by the owners. The hard Bimini is essential and I learned this on my tiki 30. Put me in the sun for several hours and I turn a lovely shade of lobster. Also my better half really wanted a galley up, and as everyone knows its best to do what the boss wants.
So, we built the pod as wide as possible and it also overhangs the short centre beam by 700mm and I have built 2x 220 litre tanks and an area for fuel can storage that fits under this overhang. I didn't have a plan as such but a general idea on how the pod should look, and I took inspiration from many places but primarily I used the shape of the nexus 600 catamarans being built close by. We built the pod in pieces starting with a modified mast web, floor, sides and front and finally the roof. It was assembled in place using all of the per assembled pieces. The whole structure is a laminate of 9mm ply and 20mm airex foam 80 density glassed in both sides. The glass is 9mm laminated safety glass and I intend adding another plastic laminate on the outside for solar and impact protection. The engine pods were also pushed out as far as possible to aid manoeuvring. A new cockpit floor was made with additional strengthening to bridge the larged gap between the engine boxes....Of course all of these changes have knock on effects and hopefully I have solved all of the potential issues but we'll see when I go to sea for trials.
To address the windage issues, well I expect an increased windage but no more really than what was on here originally and she sailed ok then. Also I know a Pahi 63 owner that has increased all of his pods height to standing headroom and he report no noticeable drop in performance. It should be noted that I am intending to cruise, primarily in the trades and if I have to sacrifice some performAnce for comfort then so be it. Everything is a compromise...

The amount of work involved in bring this vessel back to this condition has been immense and was of the order of around 5 times on what I was expecting. I did make a rod for my own back by insisting early on that I wanted a good pro like finish. This means I spent a huge amount of time fairing and prepping for paint. If I did it again I could do it in half the time. If you are happy with a rougher finish then time saved would be huge.
We completely stripped her back to glass inside and out, and repaired where necessary. New skylights, new wiring, new plumming, the list is endless as any builder knows
The side port lights along each hull were removed and the openings strengthened by adding ply the the inside. We then route red out a rebate and sikaflexed the laminated safety glass into the rebate.
Inside is pretty much to plan, with the exception of the stbd hull. As we moved the galley up into the pod we had room to make a new head. So where the original galley was we built a new bulkhead and now at the stern end of the salon is a bathroom. We also cut a door into the bulkhead under the 4th beam I to the stern double berth so this is now onsuite.

So would I do it again?? Maybe but not outside as this made working on the boat miserable in poor weather. It's windy as hell here and working in the wind sucks. I started this project with lots of theoretic knowledge and little practice and I now feel like a boatbuilder. The skills I have learnt are numerous and overall it's been enjoyable but extremely stressful as it slowly dawned on me the immensity of what I had taken on. I had no idea what was really involved.
About another week and sea trials....
I'll keep you informed and post more pics soon.
Cheers
Marty

Comment by Nigel Signal on April 28, 2013 at 3:47am

Congratulations on an excellent job Marty, the boat looks great. Probably feels 4x the size of the 30?

Cheers

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