Wharram Tiki 38 vs Mike Waller CS35

[44'cruisingcat]

Guess I'm lucky the wind never gets above 10 knots when I'm sailing then.

8 years, and 35,000 miles....Pretty amazing run of luck.

[double u]

not at all, 44CC, you are just the exception that proves the rule. For every successful...there are umpteen abandoned projects & broken marriages & floating abominations.
I was the successful Wharram-builder, I completed her & rtw-ed her - to draw from this the conclusion: "start building a Wharram & you'll end up with a 7years circumnavigation" - now how silly would such a conclusion be? Of course ANYBODY COULD do it, if I could - the statisticts though say a very different thing...

[44'cruisingcat]

Maybe it varies depending on the country? Here in Australia, of the 30-40 home builders I've met over the past dozen or so years, there have been only a few who have "failed". One guy died before he finished. A couple of others have stalled.

The vast majority, probably 90+% finished their boat and went sailing. And some of them have sold their boat after a while, none of them selling for less than the cost of the materials, as has been claimed. (Although the unfinished deceased estate boat did sell for less than materials cost.)

As an example, some friends recently sold their plywood Arber designed cat very quickly for well over $200,000, and that was after having lived and cruised on the boat for 10 years. Well above what the materials would have cost.

[rabbi]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

Maybe it varies depending on the country? Here in Australia, of the 30-40 home builders I've met over the past dozen or so years, there have been only a few who have "failed". One guy died before he finished. A couple of others have stalled.

The vast majority, probably 90+% finished their boat and went sailing. And some of them have sold their boat after a while, none of them selling for less than the cost of the materials, as has been claimed. (Although the unfinished deceased estate boat did sell for less than materials cost.)

As an example, some friends recently sold their plywood Arber designed cat very quickly for well over $200,000, and that was after having lived and cruised on the boat for 10 years. Well above what the materials would have cost.

I think this is true. Australia seems to have a different market, and lots of home built cats and cat designers. Also good examples seem to fetch good money

In other parts of the world (Germany for example) it seems to be way different, with typical home builts fetching around or less than cost of building materials.
Maybe its because we have a larger market of production cats? I don't know


I applaud everyone who finishes the build of his dream and sets sail, but I read too many stories / blogs of failed projects. The ratio of success vs failure just isn't good.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by double u

........Of course ANYBODY COULD do it, if I could - the statisticts though say a very different thing...

I used to think the same thing, but it's not true.

It still takes a fair bit of money. I think the majority of boats that end up unfinished do so because people run out of money.

[double u]

I'm sure it varies a hell of a lot with the country! (& the times):
in Oz you can immerse yourself in a nautical subculture & there in an amateur-boatbuilder-sub-subculture. youc an go see other homebuilders, see finished boats, get a ride on them, & if the spirit is down all this will help buoy it up again.
In Austria in the 70ies - you were a minimum of 550km away from the next sea, there an unintelligible language was spoken, half of the year it was (& still is) damned cold & all you could do was go see other builders (there were 3 or 4 in my area then) - & other failed projects.
& also "the dream" probably is /was very different in Austria & Australia:
here (at least for us) it was always "the South Seas", palm studded islet, ... - & they were very far away...
in Oz - you are there already

[Fore and Aft]

Thats exactly right 44C, money is the killer for alot of projects. The other one I see is making the boat so bloody perfect that they never finish it.
I went crazy with our credit card when building our yacht. I knew once we finished building I could do more overtime and pay it back quickly. I think if you stop for any reason you often lose momentum and never finish building the boat.
Cheers

[double u]

I'm not so sure it's the money...
btw, even though my build was finished in 81 & the boat sold after our trip in 88 (at a loss of course, but never mind, such an adventure at our age - we returned from our 1st rtw 32 & 30!) & there were many many more miles afterwards: once in a while (getting rarer though) I still have a nightmare with the unfinished boat in the hayshed & what-not...