Village Rainbows

The Mana fits on the trailer very well, with the outside of the hulls sitting within the outside of the trailer’s wheel wells.

James Wharram Designs, the boat’s designer, had sent me photos of the  trailer they used to carry the prototype Mana to its first launch. They lashed temporary crossbeams between the two hulls to stabilize them and then placed the masts on top of them. I followed their example, placing the four panels that make up the centre platform upright between the masts. The proper crossbeams were then placed lengthwise on the trailer frames.

Once the hulls are pulled apart, crossbeams set in place quickly and are held down by straps and over centre cam buckles.

With both crossbeams locked into position, the four sections of lightweight honeycomb platform are put in place. The motor mount is the last part of the puzzle to be added.

Next comes the masts. Using the mizzen mast as a temporary gin pole and the trailer winch as muscle, the main mast is raised.

Next the mizzen…

Time to splash…

And voila, the Mana 24 Kit #3 is in the water, waiting for adventure.

Note: this series of photos was taken during the first assembly and launch of the boat. There have been some improvements to the trailer adaptation since then, including paint. More changes are planned for next season.

In an exercise of writer’s privilege I am going to jump  ahead in the story. A number of people have inquired about trailering the Mana, indicating this is an area of interest for folks who might be considering the construction of one.

Before the boat kit even arrived in Canada, I had purchased a trailer. It had been previously used to carry a 21 foot pontoon boat until said boat was flipped in a windstorm and destroyed. Someone’s loss was my good fortune. The trailer is galvanized and features oil bath bearings. It had seen very little use and I considered my self very fortunate to come across it at a good price.

After my experience with the Tiki 21, I wanted to be able to assemble this boat on the trailer and launch it ready to sail. That criteria presents a challenge – the Mana when assembled has a width of 12 foot 8 inches and the laws of the land stipulate that a trailer and its payload not exceed 8 foot 6 inches in width. I remembered that Stiletto catamarans built in the 1980’s used a telescoping trailer to get around the problem. Fortunately another sailing enthusiast with whom I was friends on Facebook had recently purchased just such a boat and trailer. I asked if he could take photos of his trailer which he promptly did (thank you again, Jim). With something to copy, it remained for me to buy some steel and get to work.

That led to a rather humorous scenario. My purchase at the local branch of Russell Metals consisted of one 20 foot length of 1 1/2 inch angle iron plus one 24 foot length each of 1 1/2 inch and 2 inch square steel tube . A multi tonne hoist, clearly accustomed to lifting loads many times heavier, was used to lift and place my meagre purchase on the trailer so that I could bring it home.

The Stiletto trailers use rollers for the inside tube to roll on. Small bearings, purchased at my go-to place for odd ball items when I’m fabricating, Princess Auto, looked like they would serve that purpose well.

Once home, the fabricating work began. For the next few days I put away my wood working tools and got out angle grinder, welder and drill press. I went through quite a few thin cutting wheels in the process. 

Bunks that mirrored those provided in the kit were bolted in place and braced.

It was time to add a boat to the mix. With the help of my sailing buddy and his very strong roommate, the hulls were moved out of the garage and loaded onto the trailer.

The next post will show the trailer in action, and I will discuss some of the changes planned to improve the launch and recovery process.

As I expected, once the build got into serious production, the blogging stopped. Priorities, you know. The build is more important than the blog. I did start writing a draft after  one hull was essentially assembled but didn’t get beyond the draft stage and soon I was well into the second hull. I posted photos periodically on my Facebook feed but not everyone is on Facebook. I believe it is important to share the building process with those who may be considering such a project – I am hopeful that my experience will act as encouragement for others to become “boat builders”. Boat building is a noble undertaking, I believe, one that is uplifting and at the same time, humbling.

So here it is  – many months since the last blog post on the construction of the Mana kit #3. I have decided to take the approach used by another Wharram owner, Stewart Coates who along with his partner Zaya, sails a Tiki 38. Stewart is a prolific blogger who shares accounts of his travels often a year after the event.

The Mana story continues…

When we left off , I had just moved into my new digs early in October, with preliminary assembly of some parts enabling me to set up the starboard hull  quickly.

The photo at the top of the post shows the keel along with bulkheads 1, 2 and 3 attached. In the next photos, the bottom panels were then slotted onto the bulkheads and temporarily held in place with the ingenious use of tabs and wedges.  The stem and stern posts were added, and stitched in place using zip ties. The precision of CNC cut components ensured that the bulkheads would be aligned correctly. Zip ties inserted into pre-cut holes made quick work of pulling the various components into a shape clearly resembling a boat.

With the boat turned right side up again, it was placed into cradles thoughtfully supplied with the kit. It was time to start gluing things together.