I picked up the Hobie TI front crossarm  today.  The below photos are a quick clamp together of the parts to see if it works.  The spacing is great.  The mast dropped in fine and locked in with a sharp "click".  The release worked fine also. 
I need to do some fine tuning and figure out all the hardware and shims for attaching it but I think this will work.  I may add another brace from the piece of wood at the bottom of the mast tube to the bottom of the hull.

I've ordered the Tandem Island front crossbeam with the plate for the roller bearings from Hobie.  Hopefully that will resolve my mast installation issues.  We'll see when it shows up.  I got back to work on the big stuff. 

The mail hull ready for fairing.

The main hull fair and with the cloth ready for glassing tomorrow.  6 oz cloth on the exterior and 4 oz on the interior of the main hull.

I couldn't resist putting the amas in the water to see how they floated.

The ama's are done and it's back to work on the main hull.  Today I cut the deck into sections to fit around the cross arm structure.  It's going to be easier to work with the smaller deck section now anyway.  I have another idea for the mast set up and will try to make a mock-up tomorrow.

One more coat to go on the Amas and I can put them away and get back to the main hull.  They're not perfect, but good enough for an adventure racing boat.

I'm still scratching my head and trying to decide what I want to do for the mast mounting system so I decided to at least get the ama's completed and out of the way.  I'm regretting the decision to tape the seams in an effort to save on weight.  A lot of sanding to get all the edges feathered.  It would have been easier to wrap the hull in 4 oz cloth.  Got the first coat of primer on one of the ama's today and should be able to do the other tomorrow.

Mast base details.  I made the base for the mast tube and made a mock-up of the roller bearing plate.  I need to have some one fabricate the roller bearing part out of aluminum.

I used a pool noodle with a dowel in the middle to stand in for the mast so I could get it all centered.

 

A little more progress.  The base plates for the ama tubes are in and the drain fitting hole has been drilled in each ama.  I should be able to glue in the tubes tomorrow and have the decks on the next day.

 

The centerboard, centerboard trunk and several other parts are getting the final coats of epoxy and should be ready for installation by the end of the week.

 

The next challenge is the mast tube.  I've changed direction here and decided to use the Hobie TI tube and mast/sail.  I already have the TI mast and sail so why not.  I need to fabricate a base for the tube and a plate for the roller bearings.

 





Back to work on the boat

Well, unfortunately and very unexpectedly I am currently unemployed.  While I'm job hunting I have a little time to get back to work on the trimaran.  This being the first and only one of this boat so far there have been a few challenges.  Yesterday I worked out all the cross arm and ama connections.  You'll notice in two of the photo's that there is an unexpected gap under the cross member on the side of the mail hull.  I'll get creative and find a way to fill it when the main hull deck goes on.  Now that I now it will all fit together I'll concentrate on getting the amas finished up.
making sure the main hull is level.

Gap at the front and rear cross arm structure on the main hull.

Cross arms clamped in place.

Ama in place.

No progress update

About Christmas is became obvious that I was not going to finish the boat in time for the EC this year.  There have also been some significant events in the family life so I decided to stop work until after the EC.  I will be doing the EC this year in a Hobie TI with my oldest daughter, Tori.  I'll get back on it as soon as we get back and rested up from a successful EC.