Wharram Tiki Sailors..........

[salticrak]

Rory is a legeng and a good bloke to boot. Here are some of his vids doing his thing in the Atlantic.



http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rc...47810305,d.dGI

[boatman61]

The Tiki is as cruiser friendly a vessel as you can get... everything is low tech.. and with todays ropes and cords the bits of string and webbing that hold your hulls together... support your rig.. and your rudders... lasts longer and stronger than the original concept ropes ever could.
Its the accommodation that folk find hard to visualise.. compared to a mono of the same size its cramped and basic..
Its a more extreme sailing lifestyle... you love it or hate it..

[salticrak]

yeah mate, i am not the smallest bloke around, so getting to the forward part of the accommodation part of the hulls to paint them was rather tight, shall we say. Second coat today, I look forward to it like a hole in the head.

But even so I am able to move around o.k. No standing room here

I do not intend to live much in the hulls anyway, they are more of a storage/shelter during bad weather. I will bodge up a deck tent of sorts or will just hang a bit of canvas over the cockpit for entertaining the ladies...

[w32honu]

Originally Posted by salticrak

james Wharram is reputed to have been asked by a young sailor with stars in his eyes as to the seaworthiness of a tiki 26.

His reply was on the lines of '' The tiki 26 will take you wherever you want to go.''

Glenn Tieman a bloke who has made long voyages thru polynesia on a small classic design wharram is an advocate for a drogue/anchor off the back end of the boat.

storm tactic - Wharram Builders and Friends

Good post Salt.

Just read that entire thread. Thats the info I was looking for.......

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by salticrak

yeah mate, i am not the smallest bloke around, so getting to the forward part of the accommodation part of the hulls to paint them was rather tight, shall we say. Second coat today, I look forward to it like a hole in the head.

But even so I am able to move around o.k. No standing room here

I do not intend to live much in the hulls anyway, they are more of a storage/shelter during bad weather. I will bodge up a deck tent of sorts or will just hang a bit of canvas over the cockpit for entertaining the ladies...

I cheated when epoxying... I dyed the resin...
I knocked up a spray dodger for my 21... got fed up with the bow spray at speed...

[w32honu]

My question is always, yes, but what about for a normal person? Based on all feedback, I think a Tiki 30 is still at the top of my list. Anyone on Massachusetts/Maine/New England coasts who wants to let me sea trial in one?
[/QUOTE]


There are a handful of Tiki 30's available for charter in Thailand. Thats probably not a huge help, I know. Its a long way to travel. But it would be a killer vacation!!!!

[SoItGoes]

Anyone on Massachusetts/Maine/New England coasts who wants to let me sea trial in one?

There is a Tiki 38 doing day sails out of Montauk... Might want to check them out.
Sailing Montauk's Catamaran Mon Tiki: Charter Trips , Sunset Cruises, Private Parties and Corporate Events at the East End of Long Island

[salticrak]

Not a tiki but you get the idea.

wharram tayoclassic 5/10 - YouTube

[melissajenks]

That's a great video. Looks like the Wharram life--but also good to see performance in (somewhat) heavier weather. As with a lot of sail videos I find myself wanting to see more of the rig setup and less of the scenery, but I know when I was cruising those were the photographs I was apt to take, too. Now I wish I had more of my rig.

I'm actually looking seriously at Tikis in Thailand and around SE Asia--why not buy a boat where it's cheap to live???

[salticrak]

Check this out.

Hans Klaar Sails - YouTube

[warrumbungle]

Hello Honu - Have only day sailed but find helm light as, no probs.
Have Fleming windvane, poorly set up, and can get it to work OK to windward and on reach, even being a novice. Have not tried downwind. Given a breeze, will tack thru 90* on compass, haven't tracked this on the ground though. Lighter conditions better to lay off a bit and bring back up, if you must. Will rock along nicely, 7-8kn beuoooootiful,ideal.
Have managed to average 11kn for several hours to windward eased up a little till rest of mob (grandkids and daughters) started talking again instead of looking a little concerned . Will do 14kn with wind at 18kn gusting 22kn measured on adjacent weather buoy.
A few random notes from "Rory" mentioned in earlier posts which may help answer some of your other queries. These refer to Photos which I haven't worked out how to add yet.-'
" Here is a pic showing the gaff pressed against the shrouds when the main is hoisted in normal mode. The big jib is goosewinged to stbd of the mast. Yes - I set the jib flying from the top of the mast and tack it to a cleat at the bottom of the mast. It works as a great mass of downwind sail either side of the mast and catches fantastic air! This second shot now shows the gaff when hoisted forward of the shrouds - bingo, no chafe at all and can sail up to an apparent beam reach before starting to luff. With the mainsail out so far - it makes it much easier to balance the helm and get Cookie to self steer at up to 7kts average. We peaked at 17.1kts on one surf on the way home with the windvane steering!! This shot shows the foot of the main sheeted outboard of the shrouds. I love catamarans where you have such a wide platform on which to string up the sails!! This shot shows the jib flying off the windward bow. On a broad reach this moves the jib much further out from behind the mainsail and into clear air. The jib can be flown like this up to an apparent beam reach. I use this split-sail combo lots at sea as you are rarely ever straight downwind. This last shot shows the main and big drifter goosewinged off the mast. As you see it closes the gap at the mast and spreads huge amount of sail for giving good speed straight downwind. In winds of 15kts or less Cookie often surfs faster than the wind making all the sails backwind and then billow fwd to pull her off on the next surf!! Hope these photos help convince Tiki sailors and builders that the gaff-wing rig is so well suited to these cats. It is so easy to use and powerful too. All those skeptics who say the gaff main won't go to windward.........I beg to differ. I'll post a few pics next on how powerful the wing main is! this shows Cookies full main and big jib hauled in tight going to windward in calm conditions.
This time I had Westaway Sails add 3 leach battens between the reef points to give a positive curved leech. Definitely more powerful to windward than the old main with a leech that curved inwards and hooked a little to windward. You can probably tell - I couldn't be happier with Cookie's sails and expect these new ones will last another 20 years! I do also recommend you get 3 reefs in your Tiki sails. Although you may well not cross oceans or venture too far offshore, you will get caught in squalls or weather fronts at some stage. With the Tikis being fairly lightweight, it really helps to be able to reduce sail and still keep making safe progress when the weather turns violent.
The Jester Challenge certainly gave ample time testing Cookie going to windward in open ocean. Much of my previous voyaging was with the wind and if the wind turned against, I would just heave-to or lay-a-hull and wait for the weather to change. With the Jester Challenge there was no option - I had to figure out how to drive Cookie onwards into the westerlies, safely but swiftly. After 19 years I learned a whole lot more about Cookie and the Tiki 21 and am happy to share what I discovered.
It's not a surprise that when when you reef down in a Tiki 21 the center of effort moves forward. If you keep a large sized jib up and put reefs in the main, you start getting quite alarming lee helm and the bows get blown sideways every time they leap off a wave. I used to take the main down to the second reef before I reduced the working jib . Now I put the 1st reef in the main at about 18kts, then after that I reef the working jib so it is half it's size. With this sail combo Cookie drives hard to windward in up to 25kts wind and has a nicely balanced helm. After that the 2nd reef goes in the main.

For you folks with roller furling jibs, it will be best to keep making sure the main is much larger in area than the jib when going to windward. This will ensure the least leeway and best drive of your Tiki through the waves.
This shot is with double reefed main and reefed working jib. Cookie is hove-to for me to cook dinner.
I am sure most new Tiki sailors will not have the problem of how to make their boats sail fast...........but rather to slow them down when the wind starts to blow hard!! With pennant reefing, the main sheet is left shackled to the main clew, and the pennant hauls the reefing clew down to the main clew. "
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[captain58sailin]

I've always liked the Wharram cat, after seeing Mon Tiki, I am officially in love. What a beautiful boat.

[Boatguy30]

I have done a bunch of sailing in a lot of performance boats. The Tiki 30 light ship mode sails well. The rig sucks. You loose all leech tension when you bear off past say 110 deg even with a traveler. With a proper rig, maybe the gaff would be OK with a wishbone booms, not sure.

Once you load them down I really doubt they sail very well. The immersion vs wetted surface of the V hull shape is not good.

If you want a simple light boat for solo sailing, the Tiki 26 would be a great boat. In my opinion you don't gain much going to the 30, just raise the cabins a bit on the 26.

In my opinion there are WAY better boats available to build or buy if you're thinking of a boat as large as the 38. The only slight advantage is you CAN disassemble the 38, but would need 2 trailers, big trucks, etc, etc to actually move anywhere.

you'll notice that most owner built Tiki 38 seem to be for sale within a few years of launching. Draw your own conclusions from that.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by salticrak

Rory is a legeng and a good bloke to boot. Here are some of his vids doing his thing in the Atlantic.
...

I know Rory from his time here in Belize. Good guy.

[boatman61]

Saw two non plastic cats in Ferragudo on the hook today... one a Wharram.. the other a very traditional looking Polynesian style... will try and get some pic's tomorrow if she's still there.. looks to be 40+ft.