Kaimusailing
s/v Kaimu Wharram Catamaran
| Vessel Name: | Kaimu |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Wharram Custom |
| Hailing Port: | Norwalk, CT |
| Crew: | Andy and the Kaimu Crew |
| About: | Sailors in the Baltimore, Annapolis, DC area. |
17 April 2024 | St Marys, GA
Dinghy Skeg
I was suffering with what seemed like a cold and also had allergy symptoms. I awoke and felt fine. The green pollen that was coating everything was gone. Maybe it will return.
07 April 2024 | St. Marys, GA
Clammy Hands
Items came in from TEMU, the Chinese cut rate retailer. One was a nice little drone that cost about twelve and a half dollars. It looked like an easy thing to play with while I coughed and sneezed. I was fighting a summer cold, even though it is not summer elsewhere, it seems like it here. A nice [...]
02 April 2024 | St. Marys, GA
Sun Doggie
After laminating the cedar strips onto the gunwales of the dinghy I found the screws I used wouldn’t come out. The epoxy had seized them. The screw heads were stripped so I cut a straight slot in the heads with the cut off wheel. The cedar smoked when the screw heads got red hot. I could remove [...]
21 March 2024 | St. Marys, GA
Just Add Water
The rainy weekend started off with overcast and fog but no rain. It looked like I might be able to get something done on the D4 dinghy. I wanted to change the bow seat which is really the bow deck. The sailing option uses the deck to hold the freestanding mast. I didn’t like how the deck looked, [...]
01 March 2024 | St. Marys, GA
D4 Dinghy Alternative Seats
The rain event was more wind than rain, strong winds with gusts up to 44 mph. We drove into town to see what the harbor was like. There was a small sailboat that had dragged anchor and was sitting close to shore. The tide was out. We left and played with Bleu at Notter’s Pond.
23 February 2024 | St. Marys, GA
D4 Inside Seams
Day two of the dinghy build started out with me finishing wiring the hull bottoms together on the centerline of the bottom panels. This was much easier than the wiring of the chine edges of the bottom panels and the side panels.
Tortured Ply Main Hull Pt. XVI
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On the tortured ply hull, the gunwale top is not horizontal, it needs a wedge on top of the gunwales to make a level surface for the beam saddles. These wedges were cut on the table saw.
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The newly installed inwales received rounding off treatment with a 1/4” round off bit in the trimmer router. The gunwales were also rounded off except for the saddle contact surfaces. The bows of the tortured ply hull were left unrounded to provide good clamping edges for the decks that will go on there. That is also a good reason to have external sheer stringers at the gunwales, they provide a good clamping edge for anything glued to the top edge of the hull. There is another benefit of deflecting spray and upwash while sailing.
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All the wood surfaces need 2 coats of epoxy and 2 coats of paint. The first coat of epoxy is put on very sparingly, with an almost dry brush. Its purpose is to seal the wood surface. The second coat is put on relatively thick and the surface is made as horizontal as possible to help prevent runs and sags in the finish. The paint is painted on with two relatively thin coats, brush marks are OK, if two coats don't cover, then a third is necessary.
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The photo is of the tortured ply hull on its side getting epoxy, first coat on the exterior on the upside, and second coat on the interior below it. In the foreground is the wave piercer hull on its side also, getting a second coat of epoxy on one interior side and getting the first coat of paint on the visible exterior side. It's a light bluish gray.
