What's in a[nother] name?

I know it must be annoying to have my family covering this page with new names for the boat, but today at the dinner table we thought of the best one yet: Mahana, like the beautiful woman in the Johnny Lingo story. This boat’s history with us parallels the “ugly duckling” story of Mahana. Think about it:

Mahana, an ugly woman, is stuck living with her father because no one will marry her. One day, the wealthy Johnny Lingo returns from a trading voyage and makes an offer of a whopping eight cows for Mahana’s hand. Her father, naturally, accepts this offer and the couple marry. When the pair come back from their honeymoon, everyone is amazed by Mahana’s beauty and confidence. Mr. Harris, the storekeeper, asks what happened to Mahana, and Johnny says that because he treated her like a princess, she behaved and became a beautiful woman accordingly.

This is the perfect name for the boat! While it is currently in poor condition, soon it will be a beautiful boat our family will be proud to sail. Plus, my Dad adds, it would look good on shirts and hats with the CSK logo.

Mahana, you ugly, come down from those blocks.


-Emily

Carbon Fiber Wing Mast will definitely add value to the boat, according to my neighbor who is a naval architect. He has worked with Wayne and been by Gils Catamarans. He thinks he has seen the boat, and will stop by and look it over again.

He didn't feel a great need for an electric head. He thought a propane stove was fine, as long as the tank had a proper storage box. He also recommended a propane sensor below the stove.

Conversation with Frank Russell:

I spoke with Frank for about an hour tonight about Ipo Kai. It was based on the Makai model (Imua). They added passages into the hulls. The original plans called for a lower cabin. Mr. Russell as 6'4" and wanted more cabin room, so they raised the cabin roof. Mr. Russell was friends with Buddy Ebsen and shared a cabin with him in the Ensenada race on Sea Smoke. Buddy would visit Mr. Russell when he came to New York. Frank says the pictures he has of Ipo kai's construction show primarily Warren Seaman and Alfred Kumalai doing the actual building.

The Ipo Kai was one of the last CSK's built and had the advantage of the lessons they had learned over the years. Rudy was very fond of the design.

The sink had a hand pump connected to 5 gal Jerry cans mounted below.

There was a built-in ice chest in the forward port cockpit seats.

When running, they had a rubber preventer that went around the boom, which was connected to a block attached to the lifting points, and then run to a winch. That helped preven gibes, as well as giving a flatter sail shape.

The sail had the same connections on the rear crossbeam as it does now. However there was no track on the cross piece for lashing the tramp.

Originally, the front cross piece was an aluminum tube, which bent in heavy weather when an avon on the tramp was filled with a large wave.

The bunks in the front hulls are actually structural supports to maintain the hull shape.

The asymetric hulls on CSKs can sometimes overpower the helm on a beam reach and fall off the wind. This is partly because the CSK sail plan derives most of its power from the genoa/head sails, rather than the main, so there is a lot of force on the front of the boat. Combined with the asymetric shape of the leeward hull on a beam reach when the windward hull is mostly out of the water, the boat can sometimes overpower the helm and veer off the wind. Frank thought the wing mast would add more power to the main sail and help overcome that tendency.

The Ipo Kai hulls stayed dry under sail and at anchor. They didn't have the problems created by the flush hatches that were refitted on the Makai.

Ipo Kai originally had a 35 hp 2 stroke outboard with 5 5" extensions. The engine nacelle was much smaller and higher. Consequently the engine box was higher in the cockpit. It was higher than the entrance to the companionway. Because it was so long, it was stayed with guy wires on each side and in front, to allow it to operate in reverse and to keep it from twisting from torque. It would cruise at 7 or 8 kts in most weather and up to 11 under perfect conditions. They planned to replace it with a 50 hp motor. He thinks we need at least a 25" shaft. More power helps you back out of dangerous situations (a lee shore in bad weather, or a tricky dock in the wind). He did think a 15 hp would work, but it would require more patience. He said most of the later CSKs of our size were outfitted with 50 hp engines.

Frank says boom vangs don't work well on Catamaran's because of the pressure on the bottom of the mast, which is only supported by the flybridge on a cat, rather than going straight down to the keel, as they do on monohulls.

He thought the traveler that Makai used to have on the rear boom sounded like a nice setup.

He thinks the CSKs are much faster than the typical french charter catamaran. They have a smoother ride because of the deep narrow V hulls. They perform well under light winds.

Most of the exterior of Ipo Kai has been sanded, except for the decks. Maybe they don't have to sand the traction part. They have started sanding the interiors. I gave my simplified spreadsheet to Wayne and asked him to add more detail. He said he would. Wayne thought the portholes had been sundamaged and should be replaced for safety, so they have been removed and will be replaced.

New Names

My son and I felt that the boat should have a different name, here is what we came up with:Possible New Names for boat

Ipo Kai: Lover (of) Sea

Kahakai: sea shore/coast

Mahi kai: Strength, Sea

Pono: righteousness

Pono: kai righteous sea

Akamai:

‘Ino kai Wind sea?

Mahi Pono: Strenth (and) righteousness

Mahi a Pono: Strength and righteousness

Pono Kai: righteous Sea

Polu Kai: Blue Sea

Ohana Kai: Family Sea

Mono Kai: Sea Shark

Holokai: Voyage

Hana ka kai: work the sea

Richard

Wayne Iwamoto says the mast is aluminum. He doesn’t think the mast is why the boat capsized. He thinks the carbon mast is about 1/3 the weight of the aluminum mast, which would be perhaps 500 lbs lighter. Reducing the boat’s weight makes it faster and reducing weight aloft reduces the boats movement in light air.

I asked him about fairing the front cross piece. He said don’t bother. However, he will look for an aluminum tube remnant at a cheap price that we might could replace it with which will lighten the weight at the bow, which improves performance.

He didn’t think we should remove the nar-pole, if that is the pole going up the middle of the tramp.

Mike

Rich:

Engine Mount, etc. Ipo Kai's engine housing has a nacelle to protect the engine which juts down from the fly bridge. It's like the Makai had before Bruce modified it. It wasn't a problem before the modification. The engine would pivot up to 90 degrees into a long horizontal box in the cockpit. Ipo Kai has a similar set up. In the Makai renovation the motor nacelle got much larger and a hoist was added. The nacelle hit lots of waves, as did the motor, which could only pivot to about 45 degrees. The box in the cockpit had gotten higher and shorter, which made more cockpit room, but a lesser ability to raise the engine out of the way of the waves. Therefore, I think the current set up will be fine and I don't plan to change it except to customize it for whatever engine goes there.

Similarly, I told him to retain the raised hatches, which keep the hulls much drier, even though they stub toes.

We also won't lower the rear crosspiece to catch waves either.

Wayne is checking on the necessary shaft length. We know where the mount is and where the waterline is, so he will measure from that. Most engines from 8 to 50 hp come in 15 or 20 inch lengths. I believe our Yamaha 50 was a 20", which was too short. Our 25" 9.9hp motor worked much better, even though we could only go 75% to 80% as fast. Our fuel economy was about 4 times better which greatly increased our range.

Wayne did say the plastic on the hull windows were weathered an degraded and should be replaced. It thought it was somewhat of a safety issue, since they can be below wave level. I have approved that as of now.

Everyone should feel free to look for a propane cooktop/oven and four stroke motors for sale somewhere. Same with instruments, etc. Savings on the trampolines would help too.

Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: Rich
Sent: Friday, June 26, 2009 6:02 AM

Good call on not modifying the cabin just for a larger tank. I believe this will mostly be a coastal sailer and day sailor. How will we know how long the shaft should be without getting it in the water. I don't want them to do what they did last time with the motor....don't let them create a big transom that catches waves and knocks the boat speed off every time a wave hits it. Much better to have a longer shaft or a float controlled transom or a lowerable transom so at least the motor is only in the way under power.

Rich

More on Discussions with Wayne:

Wayne cut a hole near the port rudder to inspect its installation by a previous owner. He wanted to make sure the repair is good.

He needs to add a chain plate mast support and verify that the new daggerboard sheaths are water tight. I told him to go ahead.

He was going to spray the boat, but he talked with the paint distributor who told him that because of pollution regulations, they have developed new paint that can be brushed on that looks the same as sprayed-on paint.

Since the boat has optional 120V wiring and sockets in the cabin, I suggested that we leave it and just rewire it along with the 12V wiring. He said he would make an interface for a small generator we could bring on board. This could supplement the 12 volt system for microwaves, blenders, etc. I don't think it is crucial, but a previous owner thought it desirable. Any thoughts?

I have suggested we replace the missing propane oven/stove with another. The tank is in the cockpit, along with the gasoline tanks, which are also heavier than air. (Stuff you don't want to fill the hulls with). The tank has a safety shut-off. I think propane warning devices in the hulls would also be a good idea.

I also suggest automatice electric bilge pumps and alarms for water in the hulls, along with some hefty manual bilge pumps.


Previous Suggestions posted again here:

Wayne suggested "deck lights", which are like skylights, to give more light in the hulls during the day.

Five Single Berths. We can put a single berth with a light in the front of each hull for adults. They would be pipe berths that swing away during the day. There could also be two youth size berths with lights in the same compartments, but horizontally in the fly bridge. However, I just planned to put the large water tank in one of those areas. Each rear hull also has a place for padded berths. That will make five singles inside.

Three Double Berths. The cabin has two double berths and a third is made from the table and the two dining benches.

Sleeping on Deck Under the Stars or Under Custom Tarp Tents. Many people like to sleep outside. I told Wayne to creat inserts we can add to the cockpit seats to make them into two nice single berths. I suggested additional sleeping pads to spread out on the deck, but which are stored in the hulls normally. However, Wayne thought inflateable mattresses would work as well and take up lots less space. We can make some nice tarps to go over the boom and turn the whole deck and trampolines into a large tent.

Controls and Instruments. A Steering wheel and post has been added . The old tiller steering system like the Makai’s is also available though. The steering post has throttle and forward/reverse controls.

I told Wayne we want to add a nice seat or two for the helmsman like the Makai had when we first started sailing her.

For instruments, we want to add a VHF radio, GPS (which will show speed), wind direction and speed, and a knot meter. CD/stereo system would also be nice.

Wayne will help us assemble a leak repair kit to keep on board to avoid the problem we had with the Makai. We have an autopilot from the Makai that might work. We would want a solar panel to keep the batteries charged too.

The boat still has an anchor chain, and I think we may have kept an anchor and some chain and anchor rode from the Makai. We need to have a good place to raise and lower and maybe keep the anchor and chain.

Sail Equipment. The boat has a spinnaker pole and some headsails. We want to install a roller-furling jib. We likely need a new mainsail, although Wayne said we might be able to find a used one that would work. He would try to help us with that.

Engine. The boat has a 30 hp tohatsu. Wayne thought we might want to overhaul it and keep it as a spare and get a new 4 stroke which is quieter. It should have an alternator with extra charging power for the batteries. Wayne likes the Honda and Yamaha 9.9 hp four strokes that we had.

Storage. I suggest we will design a specific place for everything that needs to be stored, and then some additional storage for gear and sleeping bags. That should keep the boat neat under sail.

Galley. The boat has a double sink. Often they have a dual salt water/freshwater setup, with an electric pump for salt water and a hand pump for fresh water. The boat already has a freshwater pump, so I told Wayne we would like a pump and plumbing for salt water also. I assume we want to install an ice chest compartment (possibly under the other galley seat, so it would be near the galley, and perhaps another in the cockpit for soft drinks).

We should buy some custom utensils and cookware, along with plates and cups, etc. that will store neatly and work well on a boat. I think we would also like a propane barbecue outside to cook steaks (or fish for me) while cruising the harbor.

Swim Ladder We should install a good swim ladder.

Weather Gear. It would be nice if we could get a volume discount on some good weather gear for everyone. Can Todd or Susie help with that? Kristofer got a great free weather jacket when he went with a friend to the Power Automotive Group's special Disneyland activity. Some Catamaran crews have matching Hawaiian shirts. Dad always thought we should have had "Makai" shirts to give to business contacts that we had taken for a cruise.

We also need spare life jacket storage. They make bags that can be strapped down on deck.