Figuring Out the Hardware

It was time to figure out some of the running rigging so I could install cleats and hardware before painting. I started with the hardwood cleats on the beams. I installed them in 2017 finished clear with varnish and no epoxy - that didn’t last at all. So I removed all the cleats and gave them three coats of epoxy. I also added wooden anchor cleats to the fore and aft beams on the inboard side of the hulls. All the wooden cleats were reinstalled with butyl tape and thread locker and were then painted.

On the aft beam I positioned and temporarily mounted the swivel cam cleats for the mainsheet and the headsheets (2), and smaller cam cleats for the traveler control lines (2). I over-drilled and filled their mounting holes before re-painting the beams.

I’ve been trying to find logical places for using Dyneema soft shackles to replace metal hardware. The Tiki 21 plans call for U-bolts in the stems to attach the forestay bridge. Instead I drilled two large holes there and inserted a soft shackle to do the same job. I’m hoping it will spread the load over a larger area and be easier to disassemble for traveling. I did something similar on the stern posts to attach the mainsheet traveler.