Electrics, Getting Ready For Launching and Insurance Issues

Structurally, the boat is finished. She has a couple of coats of epoxy resin below the water line and over the internal seams along the rivet lines and is now ready for Silic One, patently a silicone based paint that is described, not as anti-fouling but fouling release, pressing home its mode of action relying on surface tension and anti-adherence properties. It has no biocides to pollute the water. The point of having a non-metal containing products relates to me seeing many dismal reviews on the net about those copper containing ones which have caused problems on aluminium boats in the nature of electrolytic action when the undercoat has been breached, which must be pretty common on small craft.

I say 'she' for her name is Tuanella 3. I bought my first yaght brand new and had to find a name that for the Southampton Ship Register that hadn't been allocated. Not the easiest I found but the word Tuanella came to mind out of the blue, one not already registered and, checking as best I could, rationalised Tuan, being Malay for master and also old Australian for flying fox, with the 'ella' component as a feminisation of both meanings to give mistress or female flying fox. Either meaning seemed ok; however much later a sailing colleague pointed out that Tuanella was the name of the realm of the dead in Finnish and Estonian folk lore. Somewhat dismayed at this information I checked the spelling and it was quite different being Tuonela, so I relaxed and left things as they were. Tuanella and Tuanella 2 both were marvellously care-free and on which my then partner and I spent thousands of enjoyable hours. The new name is emblazoned  across her prow and the tail end of her gunwales, port and starboard, in the biggest letters that would fit.

The navigation lights, starboard and port, were easy to install but the stern light was awkward, the boat's sharp aft design precluding any transom and therefore  needed a special bracket to clear the excursion of the rudder and tiller and be astern enough for the close angle of the light to be visible from both sides aft.

The battery for these, a typical leisure one of 12 volts, 60 amp hrs and weighing 16 kg sat low and forward to the starboard side of the keel housing. Allowing that a serious leek or problem could occur around the keel housing all the fixing of the battery is arranged for rapid removal to provide immediate hull inspection. Even the connections to battery terminals are of the quick release type.
The battery platform is held in place by an easy and quick release wooden chock that holds it hard against the bottom of the boat and the aluminium cross bar of the keel housing.

Also the battery itself can be installed or released quickly through the wooden batten that straddles the two bulwarks.

The 'outboard' engine has an alternator and a leash of wires emerge from it to charge a battery. Not of massive output (12v, 6amp, 80 W) but allowing this particular engine was designed for small sailing craft it is almost certainly enough. As the engine is, from a position of action down through the hull or 'lifted' for sailing, mooring or repair, there needs to be plenty of  length of the aforementioned leash to accommodate this change of position. This leash has a commodious connection by plug to the battery circuit.
The connection to the battery, somewhat free-floating to accommodate various positions of the engine, is that designed for an electric lawn mower and whose female pegs are well shrouded.

                                    When not in use it clips neatly under a nearby seat

The engine, a Tohatsu 9.8 hp long shaft four strokes, has a rectified output to charge a battery,
12 volts, 6 amps, 80 watts, which comes out on a plastic covered leash of some 60cms. To the end of this the male complement  was fixed - it too being exceptionally well shrouded, importantly of course as the pins could easily short by touching the aluminium hull.

The boat has been built in an arch underneath a railway line and getting the boat from there to an adjoining alley-way and thence to a public road for loading, has necessitated building a trolley around her which hopefully will aid in running her up on a transporter, trolley and all. The trolley will be useful in moving her around the boat yard when she reaches there. It has been made in square formation using scaffolding boards; cheap, cheerfull and strong - their rough finish provides good grip when they are bolted to each other. The bogies, two on each corner, one of each pair with a foot brake, are quite hefty being of the type to support large catering facilities.

Interestingly certain things come to light when building a novel boat, not the least being surveying and insurance, the former being necessary before the latter can occur. In the UK such boats cannot be sold before five years have lapsed after launching, presumably to generate appropriate sea-worthy provenance.
Also the question of insurance becomes awkward as such a lack of provenance makes underwriters quite wary. A bit of a Catch 22 situation develops -  the underwriters want a surveyor's certificate but and a he, in this case, won't give one till he sees her in the water. Anyhow the underwriters have covered her third party till a formal survey and valuation have been submitted which at least lets me get her into the water.
Another thing the insurance insisted on was installing an automatic sump pump and for this I chose the Whale Supersub Smart 650, http://www.whalepumps.com/marine/home.aspx, the automatic electrics relate to a 'field switch' which turns on when water covers it, but by virtue of a delay component does not turn on from the effect of trivial slop in the bilge. It also allows a switch to override this automatic component.
The unit is compact and bright yellow and the way its been installed, I can remove it quicky to allow access if  an emergency arises by way of a serious leak from the keel housing on the hull.

Here the pump can be seen sitting in the floor board housing in an aluminium 'recess' and is locked in place by a hinged strut that comes across its body and is pinned by a quick release bungee.

The makers stress the importance of not having anything touching the 'field end', here where the wires are seen emerging and the picture below, where the pump is in situ in the bottom of the boat, clearly there is good space all around the 'field' element.

Cabin lights - these would have in the past been hard wired but with 'led' technology and the ensuing battery and life expectancy of the bulbs I chose to install them in tapered aluminium sockets,one under the foredeck and one in the cabin. Ease of removal means they can double up as a torch.

The electrics, not quite complete are centred around the battery and the keel housing. Naturally one tried to keep them, or rather any wettable terminal or junctions boxes as high as possible. However one such junction can be seen, positioned for convenience in the wooden runner, at the proposed waterline. The switch gear, is held high below the seating.

Here the keel housing, the electric runs, the battery and the automatic pump are covered by boards,  creating a step in the general line of the floor boarding.

The boat, along its bottom, is absolutely flat, with not a jot of sheer to offer some central sump effect to any water taken in, so there will be a tendency for such water to slop from one end to the other whence in motion. For this I have installed a hand pum at each with the strum box at the forehead end fixed hard against the hull. The pump arrangement aft is much the same but the strum box is free from any fixture, the gutter here being narrow enough to keep it where it's meant to be.

The petrol tank is held convenient to the engine on a small platform under nearby seating and held there by two quick release bungees. In the matter of balancing being well to port, it somewhat offsets the weight of the much heavier battery which is to starboard but much more central.

Holy Problems - Two Different Types

Covering A Big Hole.
For purposes of access (securing the base of  the engine box to the hull) and storage I had to make largish hole in the front of the engine box. Nearly half of the volume of the box lies beneath the 'slippery dip' slide for the engine and represents 1.5 cubic feet of dry storage and buoyancy allowing that an airtight seal is made.
For quick access I chose a cam system to compress the gasket on the cover - convenient in that in one swift motion and its off or on.
Somewhat fiddly in the making because of its many parts I think the result has been worthwhile.

The cam lever was made from a tight grained hardwood and though I was worried about it splitting I soon realised the forces act in such a way that the strains of closure act on its thickest parts and, fortuitously, in my favour.

 The airtightness of the project comes from a firm fitting neoprene O ring around the actuating spindle, and its being cited between two hard surfaces on that spindle so it can be compressed against these and the spindle thus excluding air from reaching the domain of the outer cover. However this latter has a neoprene foam gasket over its whole surface, except where the spindle goes through its centre, and it this that offers the final seal.

Covering A Small Hole.
In forming the hull from plate two bluntish cones developed at junction of the bow with the bottom of the boat. The overlapping sections were easily riveted but the point of each apex presented a pin point hole.
Welding would have easily eradicated them but with so much metal at stake from the complex folding, I couldn't risk a burn through. Also a simple rivet would seal reasonably but it would tend to pull through the overlap so I knocked up a couple of backing plates to prevent this. These were shaped from 2mm  plate after perforating this to provide purchase for sealant, and they were then riveted snugly into place on the inside of the cone.

The problem

The solution

The result inside

The result outside

The plan is to run two part expoxy along the internal and external seams. It can be seen that the backing plate will 'grab' the epoxy easily to effectively cover the apical problem.

The Internal Outboard Engine and The Engine Box

 Outboard motors offer the advantages of compactness and portability with concomitant ease of removal for  servicing and repair over an inboard counterpart. No portals need to be made in hull for water ingress and egress, or exhaust fumes. In the case of sailing craft retraction of the propeller is a nice feature.
 However major disadvantages are how they affect the attitude of the craft, vulnerability to being swamped, difficulty to service or repair on the craft, theft and vandalism, that until the event of the four stroke version, noisy and smell and reliability were significant factors.
Of course there was the inboard / outboard which was initiated by Volvo and then by the major outboard manufactures. Their point was that the engine could be put anywhere along the lubber line and so related the
engines weight to the craft's attitude. Ease of fitting and the fact that the propeller's position close to and below the gear box negated the need for space and long shafts were other advantages.

It was these issues that coursed my mind in developing the engine box. Although I haven't researched it  I can't imagine for a moment that its particularly new. I have been on and seen small sailing craft where an outboard has been on pinioned lift on the transom where it could be lowered and raised as needed and also
where portal in the counter has been made to drop and accommodate an outboard. In both however exposu re to green water, general slop and driving rain made them vulnerable.
I suppose it would be germain to define 'an engine box' at least in the terms that relate to my boat.
An engine box is a delineated confine for an outboard to enable its easy movement in and out of the water below the craft and facilitate and ideal retracted position which will maintain a low centre of gravity, be able to be stabilised, and provide good exposure for fresh water flushing ( a good discipline ), maintenance and repair. Inevitably the outboard should be one whence that exhausts through the propeller but 'bleeds' on some engines will mean a diversionary pipe to take the exhaust to the bottom of the well. Similarly, the egress of water from the engine needs to be diverted somewhat from the spout that throws the water laterally from under the engine cowling. Of course this is really a directional issue  as long as this is down into the well and, importantly, vitally in fact, can be seen.

Arrow 1. indicates the usual exit for engine water. Here, in a functioning position, water would be filling the boat over the top of the engine box but has been rerouted in the cowling to arrow 2. where it will be well down in the engine well but above the cut-off seal and therefore easy to view at any time.
An exhaust bleed at arrow 3. would exit fumes into the boat, normally these would be going aft in the wake of a boat, and have been rerouted to exit at arrow 4., where an aluminium spigot accommodates the yellow re-routing tube seen in the picture below. At this level it is below the cut-off seal.

I chose a long shaft outboard to give me the broadest scope for manoeuvring the parameters for designing
the engine box and fit it into the boat.
At the outset it was one of my hopes, allowing that the boat goes through the water well, power on - power off, that it should go well under sail. Therefore a low centre of gravity for the retracted engine was quite high on my priorities as well as bringing its ballasting component forward where the bulk of the buoyancy in my boat's design lay.

In the absence of CAD I made full size mock up of the engine profile in thin ply and using this with thin battens worked out a the profile that would allow vertical lift of the propeller and subsequent forward incline of the engine.


The profile of the engine in the retracted position. The fine clearance of the propeller at the left margin (representing the aft limit of the engine box) shows easily.

The  profile being rotated down shows the flanges on the front of the shaft casing touching (bearing on) the
slippery dip profile of the box. The rectangular section, centre right , the would be transom in a normally situated outboard, has now moved up and backward.

The engine has now entered the water with its cavitation plate a couple of centimetres below the bottom of the boat represented by the bottom margin of the background sheet.

Boarding Ladders

This boat seems to offer lots of challenges and  none quiet so awkward as that of getting into and out of it.
Its displacement is as yet uncertain and so therefore is the free-board.
I estimate all up but crew free the weight will be 1100 kilos which, as the water mass it will displace, means 1.1 cubic metres. This approximates to the volume of the boat beneath the floor board runners and is a foot above the keelson.
Thus the free board will be some 4 ft at the stern, 3 amidships and rising to 4 again forward and except at  the stern the hull, being sans bilge, cuts in deeply and offers no vertical purchase to board. Also the decking slants up towards the lubber line. The combined result means a difficult boarding from a dinghy along side or from a pontoon. From the briny itself it would be near impossible.
So for safety and convenience I have solved this by providing a permanent ladder on each side, just rear of midships, which is hinged so that it can folds into and under the deck when not in use.
Below is a general view of the ladder between the forward shelf and rearward seating flat against the hull and
out of the way.

This shows some detail of the hinged wing supports similarly laying flat against the hull and the bottom section of the ladder is seen folded in and under its upper part.

Here is seen a retrieval lanyard and bash plate where the ladder will come to rest and below shows how hauling it from outside the boat causes the ladder to swing up, out and over the deck.


The ladder can now be seen unfolding completely. The hinged wing supports are swung so as to engage the hull where they keep the ladder 'vertical'  prevent it from swinging under the hull.

Some detail of the ladder across the deck and engaging the bash plate. The yellow cordage seen in these pictures is shock cord and the way it is strung causes a 'click fully open' effect on the bottom rung but a closing effect when folding is started.

The white line that shows along the hull will be where the boot top will be. The bottom of the ladder comes close to this and hopefully will allow someone in the water a chance to get on board.

Problems using Sikaflex

As best I can determine the Sikaflex 291 i  represents the pinacle of marine sealants but certain drawbacks exist over silicones, not the least being that it goes off quite quickly ( 30 - 40 mins at 15degrees - my estimate ) This is not bothersome for small jobs but when many tens of fastenings - screw, washer, washer, spring washer, nut and Nylock nut combinations have to be brought home then this becomes an issue.

The housing as shown needed to be fixed but allowing for some flexing of the hull and indeed Sikaflex seemed ideal. Where my helper friend and me founded was not looking up existing data on the handling of this sealant. Clean 'offable' before setting, at an exponential with time, but once set it become a extreme hindrance. The obvious use of gloves became out of the question for in the handling of the fastenings the glove material pulled itself off the fingers and onto the components so it became bare fingered.
Available data suggested that it could only be removed from the hands, once set,  using a razor blade, not exactly what the doctor ordered.

 The above shows the 'sandwich' that was to constitute the seal. The boat hull, to be the meat between the 'bread', so to speak, is missing here but shown below.

The above shows how the sealant was laid to encapsulate each hole through which there would be a  fastening.

   
After tightening up the job was horrendously messy and like our hands below it  took hours and great patience to remove. The cured sealant, by now cured,  needed four days before all traces left our hands despite washing, scrubbing and the use of all reasonable solvents and abrasive creams. I think this is the time that it takes for the skin of the hand ex-foliate the dead surface epithelium.

 This view underneath the boat shows pretty much the same picture.

I haven't solved the problem I've shown and it looms again in the business of sealing the engine box against the hull in much the same way. However the use of a gasket, especially a compressible one, such that could be made from Neoprene Foam, rides high on the list. This compresses by one third and is available as sheeting in a range of thicknesses up to 6mm from Ram Gaskets. I have asked for samples and this company is sending me some.