Succumbed To "Wharramitis"!

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by StuM

With a deckpod, bimini and roll up sides, they're not too bad.

Spent a month cruising on this one.

Interesting boat!

I don't know much about Wharrams, other than seeing some in photos and reading a bit years ago.

It appears to have a wraparound mainsail (with gaff).

Was the main double layered or single layer fabric in the body of the sail?

What was the hull material?

[boatman61]

The Tiki's are a lot better than the old Tangaroa's and other early designs.. I've owned the Tiki 21 and the 26.. they tack okay once you get the hang of them.. and, they can be fast.. had 13kts on the 21 and 17kts with the 26.
I'd get one again.. but it'd have to be the Tiki 38.. delivered a Tiki 26 last year and definitely to old for the small ones..

[Redreuben]

Boatman; I've read similar before about the Tiki' but what is it about the hull shape or construction that is different from the older generation because without shelling out for plans I don't see much difference ?


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[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Redreuben

Boatman; I've read similar before about the Tiki' but what is it about the hull shape or construction that is different from the older generation because without shelling out for plans I don't see much difference ?


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They are a much lighter build using a stitch and glue method and epoxy and glass on ply.. materials have moved on a lot since the 60's/70's where the old designs were heavy frames and thick ply hulls. Masts are hollow aluminium tubes with gaff wing sails as opposed to the wooden masts of yore..
Heres a picture of a Hiemoa (old design) and then my Tiki 21 on its trailer.. the Hine is a stern shot but look at the stern then compare it to the stern of my Tiki 21 'Kali'.. myself and a friend could lift each hull off the trailer by hand and carry it one handed down the beach.. no way could you do that with the Hinemoa.
A couple of pic's of a Tiki 21 build.

[daletournier]

My first boat was a Tiki 31. Really enjoyed that boat but wouldn't have another wharram, even a larger Tiki 46. I'm still sucked into the dream wharram sold me and still admire wharrams big and small when I see them in anchorages. The problem for me is the small ones are to small and the big ones are to expensive for what they are, big ply wood canoes, just my opinion.

Personally I wouldn't build one unless you want the building experience. Ive seen good tiki 38's for sale for less than 60k, you just couldn't build one for that.

If you buy a used wharram its best to keep in mind that most are home built thus the quality can very greatly. Ive seen wharrams with expoxy fillets that have never fully hardened due to improper resin ratios etc. Ive also seen extremely well built wharrams.

The good thing about wharrams are they are easy to repair and easy to see that they need a repair. They sail quite well, no bridge deck slamming like modern cats and dont have huge bouyance in the sterns like modern cats, this makes them inheritantly safer in a larger following sea. The downside is they do hobby horse.

My favorites are the big ones, tiki 46, islander 55 and the pahi 55/63. I've been on all three and think they are very cool. Crossing the pacific would be awesome on a big wharram



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[lizziecrow]

Originally Posted by double u

The disadvantages of the Wharrams as I see them:
1. sailing:
Poor upwind ability
poor maneuvrability
extremely flexible platform with constantly changing riggtensions
very symmetrical fore-&-aft-bouyancy-distribution makes for pitching
2. Liveaboard/“comfort“:
Very limited interior space for size of boat
in anything of a breeze very (VERY!!!) wet
„commuting“ between hulls even at anchor when rainy & windy & no decktent is possible is a big drag, in a breeze while sailing anyway!
Companionways opening towards the center (& not the rear) were completely idiotic „watercatchers“ for us: water thrown up by the leeward side of the windward bow was aimed straight at the leeward companionway
Decent auxiliarypower nearly impossible
High-maintenance material (yes, despite everything being smothered in epoxi!)

Some of these point improve as size goes up, but summed up we constantly felt, that for the same effort in time & money we could easily have done very much better (& that was before the time when the conviction that a monohull is the much better bluewaterboat $ for $ than a cat had matured…)
Once the bias goes from rtw-cruising to „coastal gunkholing“ & liveaboard without serious passagemaking some of the abovementioned loses it’s seriousness somewhat – but I still say: many, many much better suitable boats can be found for the same outlay.
(& of course you’ll ask why the hell I built one & sailed it rtw: well, in 77 at 21 I simply didn’t know better, J. Wharram had just the right „marketing“ & there was no „knowledge-base“ like these forums in existence then. I do not regret it in any way & it was a great adventure of a lifetime, that our 2nd. & 3rd rtw in a muchmore comfortable monohull could not surpass, but it would have been an adventure too in a somewhat more suitable boat...)
...I'm sure

Thanks for the honest input on the downfalls. I to was looking into purchasing one of these boats. Do you have any advice on other Cat's that caught your interest? What monohull boat did you upgrade to? Thanks for the advice.