Wharram designs for the next millenium
Stephane Gauvin
I am pondering the idea of building an offshore cat. I am familiar with
James Wharram designs. The open-deck/canoe-shaped hulls has merits. These
cats appear to be seaworthy and cheap to build and maintain. On the other
hand, these designs are 20+ years old and I wonder if someone has updated
the concept. Catamarans have apparently evolved to become pricey floating
condos or racing machines. My family and I are looking for a sensible
alternative to a monohull (shallow draft, faster crossings, deck space,
etc.).
Any comment/feedback/pointer appreciated.
Thanks
Stephane
Larry Steeves
Belize. An ill fated day charter operation did not turn out and I traded the
vessel for a building lot on the inlet down by Placentia( Want to buy a lot?
E-mail me).
Anyway concerning the comments of the design. 17 knots? Only in a
hurricane if it goes airborne! Typically, 6 to 8 knots on a reach and going to
windward was something you read about in sailing magazines. The boat"s
interior did hold up well and was built with plain exterior plywood, but it was
coated with wood preservitive on the inside a number of times throughout the
years. Concerning using polyester resin, when I pulled the boat to paint the
bottom, I found lots of the surface coating of fiberglass had delaminated off
the plywood below the waterline.
Also when poking around, I found water had penetrated into many of the huge
voids that is typical of house construction ply. This is what originally
started me in the epoxy business. Two points! Use epoxy for wooden boat
construction and at the very least use marine ply for any part of the boat left
permantly under water.
Would I build the older wharram classic designs? No! They are
tremendously seaworthy and simple in design and maintenance, but are slow on all
points of sail and have very poor resale value. The newer Wharram designs with
dagger boards or keels sail much better. ( BTW, I have unused plans for a 42
Wharam Pahai design for sale. $600.00) I would be happy to give my opinion if
anyone wants to call me. E-mail, I have to restrict to one or two lines.
===========================================================
Nobody U Know wrote:
> Hey Steph,
> I have a friend that built the 34' Wharram design known as Raka. He used
> the boat for 12 years in Florida and the Bahamas. I sailed with him several
> times - it was much faster than any mono-hull of that size could ever be -
> think his highest ever speed was about 17kts. He kept the boat moored in
> the public anchorage in West Palm Beach for several years. Every year on
> the spring tide he would beach the boat at high tide, shove some wood blocks
> under it, wait for low tide, and paint the bottom. Never paid a hauling
> fee. The boat was built in 5/8ths AC fir plywood over fir frames. It was
> glued with resorcinol and finished on the outside with fiberglass cloth
> using polyester (not epoxy) resin. The deck and topsides were painted in
> household exterior latex. The interior was bare wood - no finish, no
> preservatives, no throughhull fittings and no bilge pump. The first time I
> saw this boat it was over 12 years old, had spend all of its life in salt
> water in the tropics, and there was no rot or deterioration anywhere. The
> interior of that boat was bone dry! My friend had build these huge
> ventilators fore and aft on each hull. Because the boat was always kept on
> a mooring, it always faced into the wind. Therefore the hulls were always
> well ventilated. It was the cheapest 34' boat to build, own, and maintain,
> that I had ever seen. Also it was a great boat to take 12 to 15 of your
> friends sailing - big deck area!
>
> By the way, my friend sold his 34' Wharram to a guy named Larry, who now
> owns a company called Raka Enterprises. You might give him a shout to get
> his opinion about the Wharram designs.
>
> Good luck,
> Thomas Bloomer
>
> Stephane Gauvin wrote in message ...
--
Larry Steeves, Owner
RAKA EPOXY AND FIBERGLASS PRODUCTS
http://www.raka.com
Phone 561-279-8929 Fax 561-279-2539
RAKA INC.
41 North Congress Ave., # 8B
Delray Beach, Florida 33445
Nobody U Know
Potbelly50
In article <784c95$o5m$1...@winter.news.rcn.net>, "Nobody U Know"
<NotV...@Address.com> writes:
>I am pondering the idea of building an offshore cat. I am familiar with
>>James Wharram designs. The open-deck/canoe-shaped hulls has merits.
Does anyone know where one can take a look at the designs?
Colin Bryant
> >>James Wharram designs. The open-deck/canoe-shaped hulls has merits.
>
> Does anyone know where one can take a look at the designs?
http://members.spree.com/captnemo/nemo01.htm
http://www.multihulls.uk.com/wharram_cats/index.htm
--
Colin Bryant
Vancouver, Canada
roger collins
catamarans' (www.sail4u..... site not answering when I tried
good luck
RogerC
Potbelly50 wrote:
> In article <784c95$o5m$1...@winter.news.rcn.net>, "Nobody U Know"
> <NotV...@Address.com> writes:
>
Yan Stambouli
Essaie www.wharram.com ou bien
http://www.multihulls.uk.com/wharram_cats/index.htm
Je crois avoir fais enormemant de recherche en vue de construire mon cat.
J'ai achetes
les plans pour un Narai MkIV (40 pieds) et je peut te dire que l'age du
'design' n'a pas d'importance.
Si tu veut les voir envoie une note a 00st...@pfizer.com , enleve le 00
pour que ca fonctione.
Comme ca tu pourra voir comment ils sont construit.
Salut
Yan
Stephane Gauvin <stephan...@fsa.ulaval.ca> wrote in message
news:pb3p2.12694$dB4.4...@carnaval.risq.qc.ca...
>Hi!
>
>I am pondering the idea of building an offshore cat. I am familiar with
Peter Vanderwaart
Wharram's boats have modest performance by high-tech cat standards, but they
have a good safety record, as far as I know. I would want to choose one of
his more recent designs - one that was subsequent to his Tiki 21.
The price that you pay for the simplicity and safety is that the boat will
have to be bigger (longer) that a more complex boat of similar capacity.
Thus, a Wharram 30 boat may have the accomodations of a 25 footer of more
complex model. The extra length helps to get back some of the speed lost by
having a smaller (safer) rig and simpler shape.
If you have the strength of character to have technology snobs sneer at you,
check them out.
Peter.
In article <pb3p2.12694$dB4.4...@carnaval.risq.qc.ca>,
stephan...@fsa.ulaval.ca says...
sami...@bix.com
Wharram as a strong candidate. I don't know that the age of ad esign
equates to its degree of obsolescence, even with multi-hulls;>) That said,
I noticed in the last Wooden Boat issue that Phil Bolger has a 32' cat
design out that is designed to sleep 5 (I believe) in a configuration
geared to sightseeing tours of Alaskan waters. I plan to examine this
design to see how adaptable it would be to generic live-aboard open water
use.
On Tue, 19 Jan 1999 17:22:29 GMT Stephane Gauvin of Universite Laval wrote
this re Wharram designs for the next millenium:
>I am pondering the idea of building an offshore cat. I am familiar with
>James Wharram designs. The open-deck/canoe-shaped hulls has merits. These
>cats appear to be seaworthy and cheap to build and maintain. On the other
>hand, these designs are 20+ years old and I wonder if someone has updated
>the concept. Catamarans have apparently evolved to become pricey floating
>condos or racing machines. My family and I are looking for a sensible
>alternative to a monohull (shallow draft, faster crossings, deck space,
>etc.).
sami...@bix.com sami...@cyberenet.net
card carrying member of the Java Conspiracy
Kevin O'Neill
>Hi!
>I am pondering the idea of building an offshore cat. I am familiar with
>James Wharram designs. The open-deck/canoe-shaped hulls has merits. These
>cats appear to be seaworthy and cheap to build and maintain. On the other
>hand, these designs are 20+ years old and I wonder if someone has updated
>the concept. Catamarans have apparently evolved to become pricey floating
>condos or racing machines. My family and I are looking for a sensible
>alternative to a monohull (shallow draft, faster crossings, deck space,
>etc.).
>Any comment/feedback/pointer appreciated.
>Thanks
>Stephane
Consider a more modern design without all the crap piled on! A boat
like a Prout is good for selling you a lot of stuff, all at a good
markup, but even the salesmen don't usually pretned they can sail.
Look at Chris White, Dick Newick, Kelsall, any of the modern
designers. Most of them have boats intended to be minimal cruisers.
You could build one without an icemaker, without a big (or any!)
engine, without all the fancy electronics. You can work it up the
rivers with sweeps, just like a Wharram, and shower on deck in a
bucket if you want, and yet have a boat that will really sail, with a
big board so you can get to windward, and real sterns so you won't be
pitched all over in a seaway, and that will have some resale value if
and when the time comes.
Look at Chris White's book on multihulls. Join the multihull list.
Or, if you want cheaper than building a new boat, read 'A $6,000
Cruising Catamaran', for sale through Multihull Magazine. Guy turned
a racing Stilletto into a cruiser, for very little money. Very
minimal, and would sail circles around a Wharram. Recycling is much
good karma.
Good luck!
Kevin
John Farrimond
Stephane Gauvin wrote in message ...
>
>I am pondering the idea of building an offshore cat. I am familiar with
>James Wharram designs. The open-deck/canoe-shaped hulls has merits. These
>cats appear to be seaworthy and cheap to build and maintain. On the other
>hand, these designs are 20+ years old and I wonder if someone has updated
>the concept. Catamarans have apparently evolved to become pricey floating
>condos or racing machines. My family and I are looking for a sensible
>alternative to a monohull (shallow draft, faster crossings, deck space,
>etc.).
>
>Any comment/feedback/pointer appreciated.
>
>Thanks
>
>Stephane
>
I am planning to build a Wharram Tiki 38 to replace my present boat; a Tiki
31 (which I also built myself). Wharrams later designs; after the Tiki 21,
are 26, 30, 31 and 38 foot in the Tiki range and 26, 31, 42 and 63 foot in
the Pahi range. You should be able to get more detailed information on all
these designs from the web sites listed by a previous poster. Of course you
can get the info. directly from James Wharram Designs themselves. The
address is: JWD, Greenbank Road, Devoran,Truro, Cornwall, TR6 6PJ. U.K.
They do not have an e-mail address or there own website.
The Tiki 38 has 2 double berths and 4 singles together with a deck steering
cockpit with a pilot berth and a huge amount of deck space. The beam overall
is 22'4", sail area 573 sq. ft. - schooner rigged wingsails like the
Tiki21 - very easy to handle. The low aspect ratio makes these boats
extremely stable and safe.
Regards: John Farrimond
>