I finally got the slightly dated web address of the KHSD builder in Goa, India. Contact at www.multitechmarine.com

I’m beginning work on their passenger power trimaran next week.

I don’t know why it took me so long to realize this information should be here on the blog. It just might have been the extra oxygen from the bike ride just finished.
Tomorrow A19th at 8:30 in the morning Pacific time JR Watson will be on ProBoat Radio. He not only knows all about epoxy, but this will honor his long career with Gougeon Bros.
http://proboatradio.com/2011/04/14/glue-and-you/

As I was laminating the lunar lander bits on Tuesday, I got some perspective on the Earthwise ferry. I often take amazing things for granted, and I have done so with this. What Rob Smith has put together is really amazing. My 25 years of doing plywood/epoxy passenger cats were just what he needed for this venture.  He knew just where my skill set would fit in to the big picture.  And more than a boat, he has organized the entire venture where they will be built there in Africa with local materials. Showboats magazine has featured a mega-yacht with bamboo flooring and called it “sustainable”. This is the real sustainable deal.  It will be positively changing the lives of thousands of people. I’m surprised that Wooden Boat or even Pro Boat are not all over this. This is not 17′ lapstrake canoes for dilettantes. This is plywood/epoxy/core fusion creating big positive change.
I did try to interest Workboat in this a year or so ago. They were so disinterested. “If its not a tin boat built in Houma by a guy named Skeeter, keep moving.” was the sense I got.  It’s humbling to be part of this.

Uber surveyor Dennis Smith got to run survey on a couple of 25 year old KHSD CM multihulls. Both had minor rot places. Both spots were inside the hulls at remote locations where epoxy was skimped. The trouble is inside, not the outside. The take-away lesson is coat inside thoughly and make sure any damage is repaired.  Cove all the joints.  Epoxy hulls still need to be ventilated.  Note they were both the $6 door skins and not the 6566 that we use now.  But coat it good inside!

We had the only two sunny days in weeks this last Friday and today. I took advantage.  Forecast is again rain for as far as we can see. The lunar lander panels were taking over the shop. They had to be epoxied and glassed so they could be moved outside. The dozen panels were arrayed in the sun all over the yard outside as they were glassed.   Laying glass did give me ideas for topics here.  Not as Zen as sailing, but close.  Back in the office tomorrow catching up on designs again.

As I face the prospect of disassembling my trimaran, I am reminded about the most important thing to do with installing any hardware with epoxy. And I hope to find out that I kept this in mind when I built Geko. MOLD RELEASE
Every fastener set into epoxy should have already had mold release was rubbed into it and buffed. Or even green soap. New builders don’t believe it, but much of your hardware will move or be replaced over the years. And I will admit perfidy on this. The evidence is when is forced to use the battery and jumper cables to heat the fastener. Mold release!

Ok I’m still mumbling about the top level house on my 65′ plywood/epoxy passenger ferry being more like would be found on an 85′ cat, but I’m impressed. It sits well on the water and looks to move well. I can start breathing normally again. It should be the first of 10 vessels.  Rob is a visionary.
See http://www.earthwiseventures.com/The_Ferry_Project.html

I now have the kind of information that the USCG needs to accept unstayed masts. FEA studies like this are great.  Of course every boat needs its own study, unless the righting moment is similar.

I took a deposit on my boat. Will miss the zen of single-handing at 25 knots. Or passing F boats. When the prime directive becomes “don’t break anything”, the racing becomes less fun. New chapter, if it goes ahead.