wharram catamaran review

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• Sailboat Reviews

Tiki 30 Catamaran: A Practical Sailor Boat Test

This wharram-designed coastal-cruising cat is a tempting diy boatbuilding project for those looking to get back to the basics..

Photos by Ralph Naranjo

Part of the catamaran designer James Wharrams success story lies in the lifestyle he has been marketing along with his boats. For decades, like fellow cat-cult heroes Arthur Piver and Jim Brown, he has launched people as well as boats on voyages of discovery. He pitches the case for Spartan simplicity and self-reliance and backs it up with a forthright and savvy boatbuilding syllabus. His is the anathema of the ferro-cement craze, more of a “do with less” rather than “load her up” mindset. He sells his ideas as effectively as any self-help telemarketer, and his elixir to cure a mundane life ashore makes much more sense.

Those who drop in on Wharrams website www.wharram.com are encouraged to buy a pithy, 72-page book thats an unabashed advertisement for Wharrams boats, the practicality of his approach, and the need to shrug off shoreside claptrap and clutter when going to sea. This diehard pitch in support of adventure is infectious, and Wharram spells out how a handy, but not professionally trained, do-it-yourselfer can succeed with his designs.

The semi-hooked can order “study plans” of one or more of the Wharram lines, and the subject of this review-the Tiki 30-is part of the Coastal Trek series. These study plans afford greater specific detail about Wharram designs and spell out the materials needed. They also lead you through a materials tally that includes details about epoxy resin, plywood types, sails, hardware, lines, an outboard auxiliary, and other bits and pieces.

Once you have figured out where you can come up with an average of 900 hours of free time-Wharrams DIY labor estimate-you may be close to plunking down $1,000 for detailed building plans. Those who take the leap and create their boat from scratch say it was worth the investment. Those who also complete the voyage they dreamed about have even more good things to say about the “Wharram Way.”

“Living on the sea” is one of Wharrams favorite phrases, and in many ways, hes as much a cruising enabler as he is a boat designer. Like Brown, and his lure of “Seasteading,” Wharram dangles a mostly realistic getaway plan in front of potential clients. The price point is attractive, at least as long as one views the labor commitment as part of the recreational experience. But when all the glue and paint has finally cured, the bottom line is that the Tiki 30, and most of the other Wharram cats, are best suited to cruisers willing to slip away without huge battery banks, large-volume water tanks, and with less mechanical propulsion reliance. Theres little sense in fitting granite countertops and aiming for a monohull-like interior in the limited space available aboard these catamarans.

One Particular Tiki

Occasionally, we take a close look at a non-mainstream vessel, believing that the old adage “one size fits all” has less merit among sailors. And near the top of our “cult following” list of sailboats are the Wharram-designed fleet of catamarans that are built by dedicated do-it-yourselfers as well as professionals. When we heard that voyager/boatbuilder Dave Martin had just finished a Wharram Tiki 30, we knew that the timing was right for a look at a unique vessel, its crew, and the designer.

A Rare breed

Dave and Jaja Martin and their three children are among the rarest breed of family cruisers, a couple who have sailed and savored the razor-thin edge between high risk and even higher reward. Twenty-plus years ago, when Dave sailed off in his completely restructured and highly modified Cal 25 Direction , he found that single-handing held little appeal. So, after an Atlantic crossing and a Caribbean wedding, he and Jaja followed the tradewind route around the world. The singlehander was now part of a family of five that had outgrown their pocket cruiser. So with a Cal 25 circumnavigation astern, thoughts of a next boat began to take shape.

The curtain lifted on the second act with the Martins rebuilding a 20-year-old, 33-foot steel sloop, literally tearing out the interior and starting from scratch. After an 18-month refit, there came an Arctic adventure that would carry Driver and its crew to Iceland, Norway, Greenland, Newfoundland, and the experience of living aboard during winters in which the rolling sea became as solid as granite. The Martins exemplify voyaging tenacity, but they earn even higher marks for their self-reliance. Theres no sponsorships for their adventures, or independent wealth to fuel a whim. They have taken very modest vessels and turned them into passage-making vehicles able to handle the task at hand. They worked their way around the world and met the locals as participants in their culture rather than as spectators.

Having first met Dave in the Bahamas in 1984 and coaxed him to come work in a boatyard that Practical Sailor Technical Editor Ralph Naranjo was running on Long Island Sound, Naranjo had the good fortune of seeing how seafaring goals and a shipwrights set of skills can set the stage for special cruising opportunities.

except where noted

Act 3 in the Martin saga is like a symphony with a major change in cadence. This time, priorities such as heavy weather survivability, high-volume stowage capacity, and ice resistance were off the drawing board. In their place came priorities such as simplicity and sailing efficiency, along with the imperative that this will be a “from scratch” Dave-built boat. No mean feat in itself, this boat-building endeavor was all the more impressive because the top of the “honey-do list” was a cottage to live in, a shop to work from, and the building of Dave and Jajas dream house. For most of us, this would relegate the boat project to pipedream status, a project that would likely never be started. But for the Martins, in just over a half-dozen years, the trifecta was complete.

The tide has turned, and their family life proceeds with a shoreside cadence. Adolescents are becoming young adults, and the Maine woods rather than a blue horizon dominate the picture. But true to form, as soon as the house was finished, the table saw gathered no rust. Nor did the other tools in the woodshop, as Dave began cutting carefully scribed curves on Okume plywood. One-at-a-time the amas for a 30-foot Tiki filled the extended garage boat shop. The choice of a double- hulled canoe catamaran doesn’t surprise anyone who knows Dave and Jaja. As sailing adventurers, they have yet to sing the same song twice.

Gravitating toward a new mode of cruising, they embraced the theme of light displacement, efficiency under sail, and simplicity. Spartan minimalism is the common thread in this and the other boats of the Martins two exemplary voyages. The elegance in each of these vessels has little to do with opulence, and everything to do with how the boats have fit the job at hand. Simplicity, functionality, and cost effectiveness abound, defining the approach Dave brings to boatbuilding. He still alludes to a down-the-road, larger monohull project for more oceanic adventure, but for now, its all about quick getaways, coastal cruises, light-air sailing, and shoal-draft exploration.

Design Details

The Wharram Tiki design was a natural choice for Dave because the designer has always approached his work from a builder/sailor perspective, rather than as an independent exercise in naval architecture. Simplicity and practicality rule, and in many ways these boats are the extreme opposite of whats displayed at boat shows across the country. Instead of a living room afloat, the Tiki 30 offers wood-grained camp-style accommodations that are enough for a weekend outing, or two-week summer cruises for hardy souls, but will hold little appeal to those looking for a vacation home afloat.

The real genius in this boat comes more from whats not present than whats found on board. No lead, no liners, and no inboard engine adds up to, or more specifically diminishes down to, a displacement that is so light that a low-tech, no-boom small sail plan can provide enough drive to make way, even when the sea surface is mirror smooth. In light zephyrs, this agile cat will tack and make progress to windward. Behaving like a waterbug skittering across the water, the boat reminds the person handling the butter-smooth tiller bar how important efficiency under sail can be.

Like all multihulls, the issue of initial stability is handled by placing the source of buoyancy well away from the centerline of the vessel without creating the skin drag found in a monohull with massive beam. The combination of a high length-to-beam ratio associated with each ama, and ultralight displacement, the Tiki 30 is a thoroughbred when it comes to efficiency and agility.

Thanks to this ultralight displacement status, the Tiki doesn’t need a cloud of sail to deliver light-air efficiency, and Wharram further reduces the need for a tall spar by leveraging aspect ratio through the use of a simple gaff-rigged mainsail. On one hand, the complication of hoisting both a peak and throat halyard adds some extra complexity, but the result is a higher center of effort (CE) with a lower masthead height, and when it comes to building a simple timber spar, it all makes sense. Yes, a carbon spar and PBO rigging would do a better job, but the cost would be more than a DIY builder spends on all of the materials used to build the rest of the boat.

Every multihull designer is concerned about racking or twisting loads induced in a structure as the heeling force and righting moment interplay on rolling sea. Some use massive bridgedeck structures to transfer rig loads from ama to ama. The Tiki 30 incorporates three well-engineered triangular beam structures and a modern rendition of the Polynesian art of lashing canoe hulls together. Care must be taken during construction to make sure that each beam has a flush fit with a well-reinforced portion of the ama deck, and that the polyester double-braid line used for the lashing is tensioned to designer specifications. These rigidly held athwartship supports may creak in a rolling seaway, but the connection between hulls is rugged and long lasting.

Performance

Under sail, the Tiki is an agile and responsive performer. It balances well, and its V-shaped sections and long shallow keel plus outboard rudders provide good directional stability and responsive steering. The underbody configuration allows the cat to be safely beached, and the complexity of dagger boards is eliminated. The lack of daggerboards has its drawback: Theres less windward capability, but the V-shaped hulls and long run of shallow keel does pretty well to windward without them.

Perhaps the most rigid design characteristic that can’t be circumvented is the importance of keeping its payload in check. This is a boat designed to stay on its lines not bog down and suffer the consequences of excess drag. Its long, lean amas knife through the sea, but their ability to put up with excess weight is minimal. More weight necessitates additional buoyancy, and as the V-shaped sections are submerged, significant increases in skin drag occur along with a loss of vital freeboard. This runs contrary to the design attributes of the vessel and results in performance setbacks and poor sea-keeping ability.

These fast, nimble, cost-effective cats garner a following among do-it-yourself builders because they are efficient to build. Wharrams streamlined approach to construction is a comprehensive blend of materials and hull-shape development that results in a strong, light structure. The expedited build process is free of finicky labor-intensive work and costly esoteric materials. In essence, Wharrams approach uses a minimal strong back, a stitch-and-glue joining process, and lines that allow large scarf-joined panels of high-quality marine plywood to be bent into the shape of a double-canoe catamaran. Bulkheads act as the athwartship formers, and as Wharram puts it, the builder uses a thickened epoxy filleting compound to “weld” the wood together.

The Tiki 30 is well-tailored for Spartan coastal cruising but a bit gossamer for ocean passagemaking, despite the fact that many have done so. Its ability to tuck into tight places, to perform admirably under power with only a 9.9-horsepower long-shaft, four-stroke kicker and its ability under sail give it high marks in our book. For many, camper/cruiser comfort is enough, and with the easy unfurling of a full cockpit awning, the boat becomes spacious enough at anchor to fulfill the dreams of a vacation cruise.

The Tiki is indeed a versatile platform, a pleasure to sail, and a project worth tackling if youre not too worried about dollars and cents. Wharram boats backyard-built pedigrees and their fringe appeal make them a tough sell on the used boat market, so if you plan to build one, you had better plan to sail it.

• Interior Notes Tiki 30
• Download PDF Format

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Hi and hope all is well!

In the attached pictures you can see what has been done and where I am at this point (60% complete)… I live in Connecticut and in a perfect world, I would like someone to take it over- either with me or partnered or to just buy me out outright… The boat is amazingly special and needs to be finished and/or needs the right home… Any suggestions? 860-573-1154 -Johnny

It’s Wharram Tiki 30 BTW – Johnny

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Boat Profile

A Wharram catamaran

From Issue   March 2018

J ames Wharram is a multihull pioneer who has been sailing and designing exceptionally seaworthy catamarans since the 1950s. For his first voyage, he built, TANGAROA, a 23’ catamaran and sailed her from the U.K. to the Caribbean with Jutta Schulze-Rhonhof and Ruth Merseburger, both from Germany. While in the Caribbean he became a father, and the boat mothered a growing colony of teredo worms. With a strong desire to sail home, Wharram built a 40-footer and did the first North Atlantic crossing by catamaran. His designs are based on firsthand experience, regularly updated and improved, and have a safety record that is hard to beat.

I built his Tiki 21, which is designed as an easily built, trailerable coastal cruiser for adventurous folks who don’t mind bearing a small amount of discomfort to be rewarded with a boat which is in harmony with the sea. The plans are highly detailed and provide illustrations for almost every step of the process. The plans include a materials list, down to the last fitting, and an epoxy technique manual depicting everything from laminating to fairing. The plans call for 18 sheets of 1/4″ marine plywood and one sheet of 3/4″. My Tiki 21, BETO, took around 10 or 12 gallons of epoxy and a good helping of mahogany and Douglas-fir.

While the Tiki’s main is designed to be sailed with a loose foot, the author finds an easily mounted, aluminum sprit boom provides improved performance in light air.

The hulls are built using the stitch-and-glue method, making it a fairly quick build, even for the first-time builder, though practicing with some scraps of plywood and epoxy is recommended for beginners.

Construction starts with forming the hull panels and stitching them together, then moves on to installing bulkheads and bunks and fitting the decks and cabintops. After the hulls are complete, just three beams, two tillers and rudders, and a wooden mast remain as the last major projects. For BETO, I chose an aluminum mast—a 22′ length of 4″ aluminum tubing with a 1/8″ wall thickness, as recommended in the plans. I chose aluminum over wood in hopes of a lighter mast that would require less maintenance and be easier to raise when rigging.

The Tiki 21’s most controversial feature is, perhaps, the use of lashings, rather than conventional marine hardware, to hold the amas and akas (hulls and cross beams) together. Wharram believes that the lashings allow for shock absorption and decrease shock loads at the joints. Each wrap of the five loops has a 2,800-lb breaking strength. The lashings are frapped so tightly that small movements between structural members are unnoticeable. The lashing system is proven by both Wharram cats and the well-traveled Polynesian voyaging canoes of the Pacific.

The Tiki 21 plans include a motor mount set within the perimeter of the deck. The pod added to this boat frees up deck space and includes a place for the gas tank. The cross beams, or akas, are stitch-and-glue I-beams.

The Tiki 21 was designed to be assembled on a beach at low tide and to float away when the sea returns. It has a 14″ draft, and each hull weighs in right under 200 lbs when completed. For our negligible tidal range and for freshwater sailing, I chose to build a trailer with telescoping sides that allow the hulls to be expanded outward for boat assembly before being backed down the ramp. We currently sail BETO on a small lake, so it rests on the trailer between outings.

When we want a taste of salt water, we unlash the beams and slide the hulls together for a package that is a little wider than my small Toyota truck. I can assemble the boat by myself in two hours and disassemble it in an hour. This is pretty fast to be on the water, and a helper could easily bring this time down as the lashings and frappings are the most time-consuming tasks. Some Tiki sailors have had good luck with ratchet straps and nylon webbing when trailering to daysail. I wouldn’t recommend ratchets in lieu of lashings for venturing offshore, however.

The Tiki 21 was designed with cruising accommodations for two, but there is room for more on deck. The catamaran has a carrying capacity of a half ton.

So how does the Tiki 21 sail? I’m a former racing catamaran sailor whose friends all sail go-fast boats, and I think it sails like a dream! The rig is a Wharram “Wing” sail that keeps the center of gravity low and the power high. The sail is modeled after a high-aspect Dutch gaff rig, using a short gaff at the peak and an elongated luff pocket that envelops the mast and minimizes turbulent airflow. This unique arrangement offers performance similar to modern rotating masts and square-top mainsails without all of the moving parts.

The mainsail is sewn with a luff sleeve for a smother flow of air around the mast. The jib and main halyards run along the mast inside the sleeve. This Tiki 21 was built by Rick Hueschen of North Carolina.

Unlike older Wharram designs, the Tiki 21 has a power-to-weight ratio that can get one in trouble if the wind pipes up. In light air, however, it is slightly undercanvased, and a drifter works wonders. The deep-V hulls have hardly any noticeable leeway if sails are trimmed correctly, and can tack in light and heavy air even sailing just the main.

The rudders are lashed to the sternposts and skegs and do not extend below beneath them, so the Tiki can’t turn on a dime in tight quarters. However, when sailing, it tracks like it is on rails. I sail upwind all the time in up to 20 knots with just a bungee crossed over the tiller. The Tiki is superbly well balanced and will sail along happily with proper trim. To windward we have seen 7 knots with the wind at 50 degrees true, falling down to around 5 knots at 40 degrees true. Off the wind, BETO has clocked 15 knots while power-reaching with no noticeable lifting of the windward hull (check my video ). For normal cruising, we reef the main and jib in 15 knots to keep dry on deck and fully in control while still making 8 to 10 knots on a reach. For sails, we carry a main with three reefs, a jib with one reef, a nylon drifter, an asymmetric spinnaker, and a storm jib. I have an outboard, but I learned to sail on a 22’ engineless racing sloop, so I have plenty of patience when the wind dies, preferring not to deal with a nasty outboard and volatile gasoline. Using a stand-up paddle, I can move the Tiki all day at 3 knots in flat water, and with a second paddler it’s even faster.

While each hull provides room for a narrow berth, the deck provides more spacious accommodations when equipped with a canopy or a free-standing tent.

For coastal cruising on a small catamaran, one can really not find a better-suited vessel than the Tiki 21. The accommodations inside each hull provide a 12′-long bunk that is 2′ wide; the hulls span 3-1/2′ at the sheer. Our sleeping accommodations are often a two-person tent set on deck, or my girlfriend and I can get cuddly and sleep in one hull if needed. All of the bunks are above the waterline, and under them are the bilges, which provide loads of storage. The load capacity is listed as 1,000 lbs. The bows and sterns all have watertight flotation chambers. The anchor locker doubles as another flotation chamber. The Tiki 21 has six bulkheads in each small hull, making it a strong little boat. Resting between the akas is a plywood deck measuring 6′ x 7′ that never moves far from level when under sail. For my own preference I built a slatted cedar deck instead of a solid plywood one, and it has since been approved by the Wharram Design team.

Rory McDougall sailed his modified Tiki 21, COOKING FAT, around the world in the early 1990s, and until just recently he held the record for sailing the smallest catamaran in a circumnavigation. He experienced gales pushing waves up to 30′, and his boat suffered little damage. In 2010, McDougall sailed in the Jester Challenge, a single-handed transatlantic race for boats between 20′ and 30′, and came in second after 34 days under way, just a few hours after a larger monohull. When in storms, McDougall goes on his sea anchor and reports that the Tiki rides very happily and calmly. In his first gale on sea anchor, he even felt so relaxed that he tied a jibsheet around himself and jumped overboard to swim the swells!

Brad Ingram lives in Birmingham, Alabama, and enjoys sailing, running ultramarathons, and climbing. He spent eight years in 20th Special Forces Group on a small Intelligence team, and he’s now going to nursing school as a civilian. He plans to travel while working as a nurse, making it easy to spend a significant amount of the year traveling in the mountains or at sea. Among all of his recreational pursuits, sailing occupies the lion’s share of his enthusiasm and interest. He mostly enjoys small boat cruises and small, raid-type multihulls. He has a passion for simple, traditional vessels and enjoys sailing sport boats as well. 

Tiki 21 Particulars

Waterline length/18′6″

Weight/790 lbs

Load Capacity/1000 lbs

sail area/208 sq ft

Study plans (£19.00) and full sets of plans (£505.00) are available from James Wharram Designs .

Is there a boat you’d like to know more about? Have you built one that you think other Small Boats Monthly readers would enjoy? Please email us!

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Comments (9)

For anyone interested in seeing more Wharrams up close, there will be a Hui Wharram Sail-In in Fort Meyers on May 18 through 20th. I think SV BETO will be there as well. Details here .

Is the Hui sail-in still held in Ft Meyers? I live close to there and would love to see some homebuilt catamarans!

The book is also available as a Kindle edition . Editor

Merci pour toute ces informations sur Tiki 21.

(Thanks for all this information about the Tiki 21.)

Thank you for the article. Isn’t there a second pair of shrouds in the design? Why do you bother with an engine and all the paraphernalia attached to it, starting with the pod? Do you feel a stand-up paddle is faster than sculling a sweep? I am planning to use a sweep on my Tiki 26. I used to move my 35′ engineless steel cutter up to ¾ to 1 knot with a self-made 16′ oar. I never had an engine on my Shark 24. Do you think a ply platform might be structural and reduces the torsion leading to a slacker stay? I am planning to test the Tiki 26 without a platform, only netting, à la Cookie.

Sorry to just get back to you. The white boat is not mine. BETO is the green one with no motor. The platform is in no way structural, and I just like the SUP paddle as it goes right into action and I do a lot of paddling with the same motion for exercise.

I really like your engine mount. I’m almost finished building my Tiki 21 and don’t like the idea of stinking old engine sitting up in the middle of the deck and sleeping/lounging area. So I think I’ll copy you. Anything I need to be aware of? Could you send other photos that explain your system more clearly. Many thanks, Tom

How wide are the hulls ???

Does anyone know of a Tiki 21 in the NW US? Washington, Idaho, Oregon? I have built kayaks, sailed small boats, and really like what I see in the Tiki 21 but would like to sail one, or at least see one in person, before committing to a year of building. Thank you!

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• Yachting World
• Digital Edition

James Wharram: life and legacy of the iconic designer

• January 29, 2024

Julien Girardot meets Hanneke Boon in Cornwall to discover the legend and legacy of pioneering catamaran designer James Wharram

Falmouth, Cornwall, 1955: a legend is born along Customs House Quay. A smartly dressed young man with wild, curly hair has launched a 23ft catamaran, built in just a few months for the modest sum of £200 (the equivalent of around £6,500 today).

Rigged as a ketch with battened junk sails, the aptly named Tangaroa (meaning ‘God of the Sea’ in Polynesian) marked the beginning of the epic Wharram story.

At the time, catamarans were considered dangerous and eccentric, while yachting was a pastime largely reserved for high society. But sailing already has other visionaries. On the deck of Tangaroa, beside James, are two young women: Jutta Schulze-Rhonhof and Ruth Merseburger. In puritanical post-war England, setting off to cross the Atlantic with two young women – and German ones at that – was downright shocking! But these three young people care not a jot about conventional thinking. They dream of adventure and their enterprise is an act of defiance.

For years James Wharram has nurtured a passion for the history of sailing pioneers and the ethnic origins of the multihull. Devouring every book on the subject he could lay his hands on, he discovered the story of Joshua Slocum, the first solo circumnavigator (1895-1898), and the voyage of Kaimiloa by the Frenchman Eric de Bisschop. The tale, published in English in 1940, of de Bisschop’s attempt to prove the seaworthiness of double canoes by making a voyage from Hawaii to France on a catamaran he had built on the beach, became Wharram’s primary source of inspiration.

Riding out the storm: James Wharram at the helm of Tangaroa in Biscay in 1955. Photo: Julien Girardot

Wharram disagreed with many assumptions of the time, and his first Atlantic crossing was an opportunity to refute Thor Heyerdahl’s theory on the settlement of the Pacific islands. Wharram contested the assertion of the Danish anthropologist who, after his voyage aboard the Kon-Tiki in 1947, affirmed that the boats used were simple rafts. Wharram was convinced that the boats were more akin to double canoes with sails, capable of going upwind and holding a course. These early multihulls, consisting of two hollowed-out tree trunks, were connected by crossbeams bound together with plant fibre. The sails were probably made from what is known as ‘tapa’ in Polynesia, hammered tree bark, which was also used to make clothes.

The three young adventurers left Falmouth on 27 September 1955 on a boat loaded with books, basic foods, and very little else. Despite a fraught passage, encountering storms in the Bay of Biscay and being suspected of being spies by Franco’s Guardia Civil, the trio successfully crossed the Atlantic and reached the island of Trinidad on 2 February 1957.

Without a penny to their name, they adopted a simple island life, and Jutta gave birth to her and James’ first child, Hannes. The unconventional polyamorous family lived aboard a raft inspired by the floating dwellings of the Pacific, nicknamed ‘the paradise island of the South Seas’. Tangaroa, now tired, was abandoned, as Wharram decided to build a new catamaran. By chance, two solo sailors came to anchor in the bay where the Wharram tribe lived afloat, and the legendary Bernard Moitessier and Henry Wakelam helped Wharram build his new design, Rongo.

Wharram, Merseburger and Schulze-Rhonhof aboard Tangaroa in Falmouth, 1955, before their Atlantic crossing. Photo: Julien Girardot

Thanks to the experience of his first transatlantic voyage, as well as knowledge gathered from Wharram’s endless reading, Rongo was much more accomplished. While Tangaroa was flat-bottomed, Rongo has V-hulls. To prove the design’s seaworthy qualities, Wharram decided to tackle the North Atlantic, sailing from west to east with his two companions. This route was known to strike fear into the hearts of multihull sailors of the time, as the two previous attempts had tragically ended in two deaths.

The crew left La Martinique for New York on 16 April 1959, one year after Rongo’s construction began. The return voyage to Conwy in Wales took 50 days, but the gamble paid off, and Wharram’s new design was the first to achieve what many thought impossible. The curly-haired eccentric became something of a celebrity, and following his great Atlantic adventure, James published his first book, Two girls, Two Catamarans. The years that followed were Wharram’s golden age, with plans released to suit every budget and every dream. Soon there were Wharram designs all over the world, connected by a powerful community spirit.

Drawing a Wharram

My own journey to this remote corner of Cornwall began decades before. After 15 years of travelling the world, inventing and reinventing my life, including many years living in the Pacific islands, I felt the need to capture these experiences by creating the boat of my dreams.

Illustrations inspired by a visit to the Wharram design office in Cornwall. Image: Benjamin Flao

While living in Tuamotu, I was involved in several incredible projects to build traditional sailing canoes under the directive of talented local Tahitian boatbuilder, Alexandre Genton (now chief of operations at Blue Composite shipyard in Tahiti). At first we launched small single-seat sailing canoes with two outrigger floats. These are the simplest way to sail: a sheet in one hand, a paddle in the other, which you plunge over the side of the canoe into the water, and it makes a perfect rudder. Then we built a larger version, Va’a Motu, for a hotel in Bora Bora, of splendid stripped kauri planking. Finally, we worked with the local population to build an ambitious 30ft Va’a Motu with a single ama, on the atoll of Fakarava in the Tuamotu archipelago.

Curiously, after many experimental trials at building and sailing canoes, my imagined ideal yacht turned out to be something very close to a Wharram design, which I learned as soon as I shared my first cautious sketches with friends. I realised I had to meet James Wharram.

In October 2021, I dialled the number of JW Designs. A woman answered; James’ long-term life and business partner Hanneke Boon. I tell her my ideas to build from one of their plans: the Islander 39. We began an email exchange and when I asked her what James thought of this model, in November 2021, less than a month before he died, she replied: “James is enthusiastic about your project. He’s now 93 years old and nearing the end of his life.

The Pahi 63 Spirit of Gaia which Wharram and Boon sailed around the world. Image: Benjamin Flao

“He has been looking at the Islander 39 design for several years and often says, ‘I wish I had one myself.’ It’s the only Wharram design that has never been built, so your project is a wish come true for him.”

On 14 December 2021, James Wharram passed away. Out of respect for the bereavement, and due to Covid-related travel restrictions, we decided to postpone our meeting. Some months later on a beautiful spring afternoon, I landed in Plymouth with my friend and artist Benjamin Flao, himself the owner of a Wharram-designed Tiki 28, and headed for Devoran near Truro in Cornwall, the stronghold of the Wharram family.

Hanneke welcomes us into her office. It is a beautiful wooden cabin, warm and bright, overlooking the changing lights of Cornwall. The place looks like a museum telling the story of a life of travel and passion through yacht models, photographs and unusual objects. James is there, you can feel it. A glance at the shelves of the library shows an impressive array of rare and precious books, mostly dealing with navigation and shipbuilding in Oceania, and demonstrates the seriousness with which Wharram and Boon studied the history and technicality of ‘double canoes’.

“I’d like our boats to be called double canoes and not catamarans, which I think is a mistake,” Hanneke explains. The word catamaran, originally pronounced ‘catamaron’, comes from the Tamil dialect of katta ‘to bind’ and maram ‘wood’, as they were actually one-man rafts used to work on the outer hull of ships. The English pirate and adventurer William Dampier, in the 1690s, was the first to describe a two-hulled vessel as a catamaran, but although catamarans might be the commonly accepted word nowadays, it’s actually a mistake.

oon unfolds the plans of the Islander 39, the only Wharram design that has never been built. Many plans were hand-drawn by Boon. Photo: Julien Girardot

Hanneke unfolds the Islander 39 plan on her drawing board. Like all Wharram plans for half a century, it has been marked with her signature. Despite this unique pencil stroke, she has remained in the shadow of Wharram’s mythology for 50 years. Since 1970, Boon has drawn the majority of the construction plans by hand. They’re works of art and the best way to imagine yourself aboard a Wharram. Without her, JW Designs would not be what it is.

Originally from the Netherlands, Boon grew up in a family of sailing enthusiasts. By the age of 14 she was already building small canoes and at the age of 20 she joined the Wharram team and quickly became his co-designer. They criss-crossed the Atlantic twice in quick succession aboard Tehini, the crab claw-rigged double canoe on which James and several women lived for 10 years. Since then, Hanneke has escaped from her office whenever she can to sail thousands of miles on all the seas of the world, always using a double canoe.

Those radical vessels included the Spirit of Gaia, also built on site, through a sliding door next to Hanneke’s office. It was aboard this 63ft Pahi, Wharram’s flagship, that the Wharrams sailed around the world from 1994 to 1998. James described Spirit of Gaia as “a beautifully shaped woman he was in love with”.

Boon’s design office is adjacent to the Wharram HQ in Devoran and looks out over one of the River Fal’s many creeks. Photo: Julien Girardot

In Wharram’s wake

James and Hanneke’s home is a former veterinary surgery. The furnishings are basic, with only the essentials, but the doors close by themselves, thanks to an ingenious system of weights, ropes and pulleys. Benjamin and I offer to shop and cook, and in the living room, we put the dishes down and eat on the floor, like on the deck of a Wharram.

Jamie, James and Hanneke’s son, joins us for the meal with his partner Liz. “James has remained the icon of the business, but it’s really Hanneke who has been doing the job for the last 10 years. She is JW Designs,” confides Liz.

Jamie is at first more subdued, but talking to him you soon discover a true character. Given the world he grew up in, it’s surprising to learn that sailing is not really his thing: “I get bored quickly at sea and I’m sick most of the time! I prefer to be underwater. Above the line is not my thing.

Evocative illustration of the Wharram workshop in Devoran, Cornwall. Image: Benjamin Flao

“I do like the calmness of the ocean though, that parenthesis effect, detached from our hectic lives on land. In fact, I think the best thing about sailing is remembering long voyages, not making them,” Jamie jokes.

But he is keen to preserve Wharram’s legacy and the couple are thinking ahead to when Hanneke can no longer hold the fort. “As long as Hanneke is alive, the business will be run in her own way. But it’s certain that something will be put in place to enable people to continue to acquire the building plans, at the very least, this service will remain guaranteed.”

Back in the office next door, Nicki John answers clients and sends plans around the world. She’s only been with JWD for a couple of years, but that’s long enough for her to fall in love with the company’s story.

“One of the things I loved about James was that he came in every day. He’d knock on the door and jokingly ask, ‘Do you have time for some gossip?’ And then he’d tell me all sorts of stories. His travels, the women he had shared his life with, it was fascinating. When he was 18, he hitchhiked to Europe, smuggling coffee on the black market to finance his adventures. James’ story is just phenomenal.

Mana 24 is available as a CNC-cut self-build kit boat. Photo: Julien Girardot

“One day James came in, took out a plan, unfolded it as he sat down, and said, ‘Aren’t they beautiful?’ James was deeply convinced of Hanneke’s talent. He never stopped admiring her,” Nicki says fondly.

The community Wharram fosters is unique. Nicki shows us a photo that defines the ‘Wharram spirit’, of the hull of a Wharram being lifted out of the second floor window of a home in England. With no shed to build their Wharram design, they decided to use their living room as a boatyard. “This picture shows that if you really want to build a Wharram, you can do it anywhere,” says Nicki, “During Covid, we sold a lot more plans. Confined, people dreamed of freedom and took time to figure out how they wanted to live their lives.”

Now it’s Hanneke’s turn to shine as the head of JWD. In contrast to the technologically-led path that sailing often follows, James and Hanneke’s ‘low tech’ approach drives those who follow it to reconnect with past knowledge, practices, and philosophical approaches to our relationship with the world and the way we live in it.

Their love of minimalism is also at odds with many trends in modern yachting, but it brings its own luxury. The joy of not having too much of anything allows you to make room for the essentials, and for the beauty that surrounds you.

My dream of building Wharram’s unfulfilled plan, the Islander 39, remains. I’m in no hurry. Like the libertarian vision of James Wharram, it endures.

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James Wharram: Eight bells for the multihull pioneer

• Katy Stickland
• January 7, 2022

Tributes have been paid to pioneering multihull designer and sailor James Wharram, who has died aged 93

James Wharram dedicated his life to to proving the Polynesian double canoe was an ocean worthy craft. Credit: James Wharram Designs

James Wharram, considered by many as the father of modern multihull cruising, has died, aged 93.

The free-spirited sailor and designer specialised in double-canoe style sailing catamarans, inspired by the Polynesian double canoe.

Born in Manchester in 1928, Wharram designed his first offshore cruising catamaran, Tangaroa in 1953 having read about Frenchman Éric de Bisschop’s 1937-1939 voyage from Hawaii to France in his double canoe.

Ruth Merseburger, later Ruth Wharram, was an early believer in James’s designs and theories and helped build his first multihull, Tangaroa . Courtesy: James Wharram Designs

Determined to prove the seagoing qualities of the double canoe, Wharram, accompanied by Ruth Merseburger, who later became Ruth Wharram, and Jutta Schultze-Rohnhof, sailed his 23ft 6 inch multihull from Falmouth across the Atlantic to Trinidad in 1956.

Wharram wrote about crossing the Bay of Biscay in Tangaroa for Yachting Monthly in 1956, going into details about the catamaran’s performance, easy motion and stability. This was in direct contrast to the then held opinion that a motion of a catamaran would be worse than on a keel yacht.

Three years later, having built the 40ft Rongo on a beach in Trinidad with the help of French sailor Bernard Moistessier, Wharram, Ruth and Jutta sailed to New York before crossing the North Atlantic – the first ever North Atlantic West-to-East crossing by multihull.

Onboard Rongo in the Atlantic with his son Hannes. Courtesy: James Wharram Designs

James Wharram started designing for self-builders in 1965.

Along with his partners Ruth Wharram and Hanneke Boon, he created distinctive V-hull double-ended catamarans, from 13ft to over 60ft, selling more than 10,000 sets of plans.

Jutta Schultze-Rohnhof and Ruth Merseburger with James Wharram before they left Falmouth onboard Tangaroa. Courtesy: James Wharram Designs

Wharram believed in a ‘less is more’ approach to boat building, and all of his boats are of simple construction, aimed at amateur boat builders, including the Tiki 21, Cooking Fat , which became the smallest catamaran to sail around the world when skippered by Rory McDougall from 1991-1997.

In May 1992, Wharram launched the 63ft Pahi, Spirit of Gaia , from his home on Restronguet Creek in Cornwall, sailing 32,000 miles around the world from England to Greece via the Pacific.

Spirit of Gaia. Courtesy: James Wharram Designs

The catamaran, which has a low freeboard and trademark Wharram Wingsail Rig, was conceived as a base ship for studying whales and dolphins at sea, able to accommodate 16 people offshore.

Continues below…

Wharram cats launched to search for ancestors

Lapita voyage boats launched in Philippines

60th anniversary of first Wharram catamaran to set sail from Falmouth

60 years ago, on the 27th September 1955, James Wharram set sail from Falmouth aboard a self-built 23ft 6in flat-bottomed

In 2008, Wharram’s career came full circle, when 50 years after his pioneering voyages, he sailed 4,000 miles on one of two 38ft double canoes along the island chains of the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea and the Solomons.

Sailing Spirit of Gaia. Courtesy: James Wharram Designs

Known as the Lapita Voyage , the canoes were based on an ancient Polynesian canoe hull-form, and were powered by sail alone, using traditional Polynesian crab claw sails and steering paddles.

Paying tribute to her life partner, Hanneke Boon wrote: ‘ James was a trailblazer, a fighter with great determination and vision. From a young age he followed his passions – to roam the hills – for fair politics – for intelligent women – to sail the seas – to prove the Polynesian double canoe an ocean worthy craft – to become a Man of the Sea.

With his life partners, Ruth Wharram, who died in 2013 aged 92 and Hanneke Boon. Courtesy: James Wharram Designs

‘These passions made him into a pioneer of catamaran sailing and a world-renowned designer of unique double-canoe catamarans that now sail the oceans.

‘He designed for people who wanted to break out of mundane lives, gave them boats they could build at an affordable cost and gave them the opportunity to become People of the Sea like himself.’

James Wharram preferred sailing to building and tried to make all of his design as simple as possible to build. Courtesy: James Wharram Designs

In the last few years of Wharram’s life he developed Alzheimer’s. He died on 14 December.

‘He could not face the prospect of further disintegration and made the very hard call to end it himself. It was with great courage that he lived his life and with great courage he decided it was the time to finish,’ wrote Hanneke

‘In this moment of great loss we should all remember the good and glorious times of a life fulfilled. This is not the end, I, we, all the Wharram World will keep his work alive.’

James Wharram 1928-2021

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JAMES WHARRAM: His New Autobiography

Dec. 18/2020:  James Wharram, who first came to notice back in the 1950s after sailing a crude homemade catamaran across the Atlantic from England to Trinidad with two occasionally (and famously) unclad women, has cut a unique trail through the firmament of modern yacht design. He has always planted his flag far outside the boundaries of Western nautical convention, and in spite of this, or because of it, became one of the most successful creators of build-it-yourself boat designs in the history of sailing. Now in his tenth decade, with the help of his longtime design and business partner Hanneke Boon, James has at last shared his full story in People of the Sea , recently published by Lodestar Books . Those who have long wondered about this enigmatic figure, and even those who have never heard of him, will find it a fascinating tale.

Coming of age in Manchester, England, in the immediate aftermath of World War II, James Wharram came from a working-class background and early on developed a liberal, some would say libertine, frame of mind. His first exposure to outdoor sports was as a “bog-trotter” who spent weekends mucking about the moors and mountains of northern Britain, but his interest soon switched to seafaring after he found a seductive node of small-boat adventure books in the Manchester Central Library. The most influential of these was The Voyage of the Kamiloa , by Eric de Bisschop , who sailed a Polynesian-style “double canoe” from Hawaii to France via the Cape of Good Hope in the late 1930s.

The great “anti-influence” in Wharram’s life was the much more renowned Thor Heyerdahl , whose raft voyage from South America to Polynesia was documented in his bestselling book Kon-Tiki . Heyerdahl had hoped to prove that the Pacific islands were first populated by mariners who drifted downwind from the Americas. Wharram, with de Bisschop as his inspiration, has spent his life championing the opposite proposition, which has ultimately proven correct, that the islands were in fact first populated by mariners from Asia, sailing to windward in supple, seaworthy double-canoes.

Though he made his name in catamarans, Wharram’s first serious boat was a 20-foot converted lifeboat with a junk rig named Annie E. Evans . He’s seen here aboard Annie with his first sea-going partner, Ruth Merseburger. Ruth and James lived and worked together until her death in 2013

Ruth aboard Wharram’s first catamaran, Tangaroa , built in 1954

James sailed transatlantic on Tangaroa in 1955-56 with both Ruth (right) and another woman, Jutta Shultze Rhonhof (left). His first book, Two Girls Two Catamarans , tells the story of this voyage and its aftermath. Both Ruth and Jutta were German, hardy survivors of the apocalyptic postwar scene there. Jutta, sadly, was traumatized and badly scarred by her postwar experience

Tangaroa eventually disintegrated after James and crew reached Trinidad aboard her. Here we see James building a new boat there, a 40-footer to be named Rongo , with some help from the famous French singlehander Bernard Moitessier (center) and Henry Wakelam (right), who was a great friend and mentor to Moitessier

Rongo under sail. Wharram sailed her with Ruth and Jutta from Trinidad first to New York City, then on back to the UK in 1959. Rongo was Wharram’s first design with a V-shaped hull, a feature that became increasingly important to him

Those familiar with Wharram’s career will wonder if he explains in this new book what exactly has been going on with all the women around him. In addition to Ruth and Jutta, seen above, James’s Dutch partner, Hanneke Boon, whom he first met when she was but a teenager, has also played a very major role in his life. He has had children by both her and by Jutta. And indeed, one intriguing fact we learn in this autobiography is that Wharram at one point worked professionally with a group of five different women in Ireland, but was ultimately “divorced” by three of them.

To his credit, Wharram’s treatment of the subject is perfectly straightforward and not at all lascivious. He makes it all seem very natural–as it obviously has been for him and all concerned–and by the end you are left to wonder why more people don’t live this way. Wharram’s great talent it seems, both as a designer and as a person, is not that he has attracted women to sailing per se, but rather that he has fostered sailing communities (hence the book’s title) in which women have played very prominent roles.

Sailing in the West Indies aboard the third ocean-going double-canoe James designed and built for himself, the 52-foot Tehini

One of the great overarching goals of Wharram’s life had always been to sail one of his own boats into the Pacific, and it is surprising how long it took for him to achieve this. It wasn’t until 1995, aboard his great Pahi 63, Spirit of Gaia , the most Polynesian of his design iterations, that James and company (after a nearly calamitous Panama Canal transit) finally emerged in the great ocean that had originally inspired him as a designer.

It is also a bit ironic that just as James sought and did not receive recognition from the British yachting establishment early in his career, he likewise was dissed during his voyage into the Pacific by the traditional Polynesian sailing revivalists who emerged in the late 20th century. In the end, however, Wharram has had his sweet revenge. The British establishment has at last paid him his due. And in what was likely a crowning affirmation of Wharram’s career, when the last of the great traditional Polynesian navigators, Mau Piailug, boarded Gaia in Raiatea he at once pronounced “this is how it should be done.” Mau in fact was so impressed he eventually asked James for a custom design, the Islander 65, but unfortunately passed on before it could be built.

Design for the Pahi 63. James and company ultimately sailed this boat around the world

James meeting with elders aboard Gaia at Tikopia in the Solomon Islands

Hanneke Boon steering Lapita Anuta , a recreation of a prehistoric Pacific voyaging craft, into Rabaul, Papua New Guinea

I have read many memoirs by yacht designers, but this one, I have to say, has been by far the most various and intriguing. I am sure anyone else interested in the “outer limits” of modern yacht design will feel the same way.

People of the Sea

James Wharram with Hanneke Boon

Lodestar Books (2020)

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The enthusiasm for trimarans and cats in the 1960s-70s is an under-recorded part of the history of sailing. I think it’s because they were part the of counter-culture of the time (aka hippies) and the boats were not ends in themselves but part of a voyaging lifestyle- embodied by the likes of James Wharram, and Arthur Piver. I was a tangential part of that movement in the ’70s on the West Coast and it was a fabulous time. The sailing sky seemed to be unlimited and the Pacific Ocean a blue highway to a better, more integrated life. The whole scene had a lot of flaws but it was fun while it lasted!

I remember when a 10 year over 60 years ago in a boatyard at hoo a plywood catermerang being built, never raw it finished,

HI my name is Keith Davies and i know a man named Geoff Gatley who was a close neighbour of James in south Manchester and he helped to build one of his catamarans and then transport it down to the south coast. The reason i am telling you is he is reading People of the Sea and we were talking about his time with James bringing back happy memories . if there is any more information it would be much appreciated to remember more happy memories

Hello Keith! Glad you are enjoying James’s book and found this post. As for more information, I hope I’m not the first to tell you this, but James recently passed away: https://wavetrain.net/2021/12/19/dead-guy-james-wharram/

He had a good long run. But he will be missed.

Hi Charles yes. Wharram ‘s designs were a way for dreamers to become sea people. My wife and I Joined that gathering in 1976; we met Hanneka while building a Tangaroa. After two years cruising the Caribbean we vowed to build a bigger cat, using many of James’ ideas. For 10 years now, here in Florida, we have been creating a 46′ cat, and teaching apprentices boatbuilding. If anyone would like to learn more about the above, please shoot me an email.

I share your fascination for James Wharram, his wonderful designs and his reluctance to live a commonplace existence. Alas his autobiography, seems out of print at this moment.

@Anton: Is it? I know the first edition sold out, but I thought I heard a second had been printed, in a somewhat smaller format. I’d check the wharram website. I think Hanneke Boon may be offering them there.

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Wharrams to weather: How bad is it?

Discussion in ' Multihulls ' started by mental_boy , Feb 23, 2016 .

mental_boy Junior Member

Anyone here have any experience sailing on a Wharram? They have a poor reputation for windward ability, but how bad is it really? I'm curious about time to get from downwind point A to upwind point B, not how close to the wind one can sail or how difficult it is to tack. For example, would a Tangaroa 35 get shellacked by a Catalina 27? Or a cal 20? This is just an academic question, so please refrain from mentioning the cramped cabins, the apalling resale value, the inefficient use of timber or the propensity to rot. I've known three people who have undertaken 40+ ft catamaran construction. Two "yacht" type designs and one Pahi 42. The Pahi builder finished his boat in two years and spent ~10 years on and off cruising mexico and central America. One of the last posts on his blog says something about the mast step rotting, and then he doesn't mention the boat anymore. The other two guys spent 10+ years building, neither finished and both are now deceased.  

rapscallion Senior Member

I appreciate what you are saying. Wharram designs have many positive aspects, but I suspect that is you have to ask the question, then a wharram cat may not be the design you are looking for. Richard Woods has simple 40' cat designs which could be built in a time frame similar to a wharram, but would have superior upwind performance. Although a Wharram rig would most likely be cheaper to build.  

HASYB Senior Member

No experience on sailing Wharrams but perhaps, if you consider buying or even building and eventually sailing one, your question, academically, justifies an addition of how windward ability can (simply) be improved and tuned?  

gonzo Senior Member

It depends on what you mean by "shellacked". In storm conditions a Wharram will happily make some headway, while the Catalina of Cal may not even survive. However, if you mean a race around the buoys in fair weather, it won't perform as a racer. I have sailed my old Tangaroa in really rough conditions and it handled well. The worst was a wave breaking over and completely covering the boat. I climbed the mizzen mast when the wave was coming and saw the boat disappear. That was about 25 years ago when I could shimmy up a mast.  

Jamie Kennedy Senior Member

This one has a centerboard and starts doing the 'wild thing' in a gust. The admiral imposes some caution on the part of the skipper. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhNPGJQDuNk  

gonzo said: ↑ It depends on what you mean by "shellacked". In storm conditions a Wharram will happily make some headway, while the Catalina of Cal may not even survive. However, if you mean a race around the buoys in fair weather, it won't perform as a racer. I have sailed my old Tangaroa in really rough conditions and it handled well. The worst was a wave breaking over and completely covering the boat. I climbed the mizzen mast when the wave was coming and saw the boat disappear. That was about 25 years ago when I could shimmy up a mast. Click to expand...

Jamie Kennedy said: ↑ This one has a centerboard and starts doing the 'wild thing' in a gust. The admiral imposes some caution on the part of the skipper. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhNPGJQDuNk Click to expand...

rapscallion said: ↑ I appreciate what you are saying. Wharram designs have many positive aspects, but I suspect that is you have to ask the question, then a wharram cat may not be the design you are looking for. Richard Woods has simple 40' cat designs which could be built in a time frame similar to a wharram, but would have superior upwind performance. Although a Wharram rig would most likely be cheaper to build. Click to expand...

I didn't race the Tangaroa around a triangle course, so pointing high was never a crucial issue. Long distance cruising is different. However, the overall VMG(velocity made good) was better than the average monohull.  

david@boatsmith Senior Member

Our Ariki 48 has daggerboards and a modern big roach full batten main. We have limited (as in almost none) boat on boat comparisons. It seems to go well to weather. We were inside the other day and were tacking up the lake with the boards up and were passing through the anchorage area. We were slipping at a brisk rate. We dropped a board partially and bam, we were slipping about 90% less. Maybe 20 degrees better made good. This was in light air with a slight negative tide. My Tiki 30 had the stock Wharram gaff wingsail rig. Very conservative low aspect main sail. In light air going to weather in waves it flat sucked. In flat water or with more wind it wasn't so bad. crack off and the boat was very fast. A boat with bunks, sub $100k, 2' draft topped out in high teens. https://youtu.be/m5-iNnEPFVk  

Gary Baigent Senior Member

Peter Nannested had a Wharram 22 foot Hina which he sailed many miles called Superb, Strong and Tough; he raced it to and in a Bay of Islands race period way back in the early 1980s and on a fresh day, SS&T cleaned up the smaller size division which included some high performing Quarter Tonners from Farr, Mull and co. The reaching legs allowed the Wharram to gain but SS&T hung in there very well to windward too - and won by 3 or 4 minutes.  

patzefran patzefran

Hobie cat 14 and 16 has no boards and hulls similar to Wharrams, using strong aft mast rake, they got enough weatherhelm to use rudders as very effective leeway preventer. Balancing the rudders helps to recover low helm loads.  

jamez Senior Member

I had a Hinemoa for a few years. Had a lot of fun in her. It had a bigger than standard rig - about 22 sq meters -. In a breeze over say 15 knots it would foot it to windward against similar size light disp keel boats. However in light breezes <10 knots, it was frustrating, particularly trying to sail against a current, without foils you go sideways a lot. I would have liked to try it with a dagger board but never got round to building one for it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2YYOzfAfNA In the end I built a tri which solved the light weather/windward sailing issues.  

tdem Senior Member

I've attached a gps track from onboard a Tiki 26 with a conventional bermudan main/jib. This was tacking up quite a narrow channel in Whangarei Harbour in about 10 knots. We would basically sail right out to the edges, even hitting the sandy bottom a little at times. Try that on a keelboat! This harbour is the ideal setting for a boat like this, the day before we were blasting along in shallow water, almost flying a hull at times. Very reassuring to have a shallow draft strong boat.  

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Part track.png.

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Manie B Senior Member

tdem that's good thanks  

Proa Shunting in Heavy Weather

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Expensive compared to what???  

Hi Boatsmith, are you showing the 36 at the Annapolis show next month? I would like to see it! Cheers Nick  

Back in the late 60s as a teenager with ambitions(never realised) to sail the Alantic it was the 28 foot Wharram Tane that appealed both to my "flower power" sentiments ; my pocket and its design and construction concept Never owned one but occasionally see them about and get tempted. Would love one of the small day sailer ones particularly when getting my 33 foot ketch out for a day sail!. Certainly time spent last year in NZ where I saw several in their true environment of the south Pacific rekindled the facination of my youth! Wharram himself always argued that there was a philosophy involved in his cats-either you like them or loath them.  

Hi Boatsmith, Expensive compared to the Wharrams on sale. At the time I was looking at a recent vintage Pahi 32 for $60k.  

I'd point out that many of the earlier Wharrams were home-built and as such often had flaws due to the deficiencies in their construction rather than their design. I've sailed on a few of the Wharrams and agree that they're not as weatherly as some other designs, and Wharram's designs tend to be less rigid than other catamaran designs, and as such can have problems related to the lack of rigidity. I do not have any experience with the Boatsmith built Tiki 36s. But, I would point out that the open bridgedeck design tends to leave anyone helming the boat for any period of time in bad weather, relatively exposed and uncomfortable.  

Many early Wharrams are very flexible vessels. This is in part due to design and also to lack of building and rigging finesse and lack of maintenance. Wharram's newer designs are lashed together. This technique applied with diligence and modern ropes will yield a much more rigid structure. Part of Wharram's design philosophy is that a minute amount of flexibility in the beam to hull connection serves to absorb the intense shock loading inherent at these connections. Indeed if you look at a boat with aluminum cross tubes it is very common to see stress cracks and repairs. The open bridge deck boat certainly does leave a helmsman exposed, which over time in inclement weather can be both uncomfortable and dangerous. Much like many small monohulls. On the Tiki 36 we addressed this issue by adding a windscreen and roll down curtain/windows for the helm station.  

Say what you will about Wharram catamarans, but show me another multihull design with the proven seaworthiness of his Tiki range. Nothing comes close to the number of ocean passages successfully completed in these simple boats. Even the Tiki 21, which James Wharram never intended as an offshore voyager, has circumnavigated. And the same boat, again sailed by Rory McDougall, just completed a double trans-Atlantic this summer, the first leg over as part of the Jester Challenge, and return to England just for the hell of it and to take the boat back home. Needless to say, the larger Tikis are simply as seaworthy or more so than the Tiki 21. Many Tiki 26's have crossed the Atlantic, as have Tiki 30's and of course the larger Tiki 38, Tiki 46 and so on. These passages were not stunts, nor were they completed because of "luck." People who build and sail these designs tend to be out there living the voyaging life and going wherever they please, rather than debating the merits of boat design on Internet forums. I have sailed the Boatsmith Tiki 30, including a delivery trip to Nassau last summer. David has raised the bar on these designs without a doubt, showing what's possible when a great design is built to exacting standards by professionals using state orf the art materials and technologies. Sure there are some ratty home-built Wharrams out there. Many people who build these boats have no idea what they're getting into and lack the skill and the funds to build them to a high standard. Yet, the designs are so forgiving they still manage to build them and often sail them far. As for the overall appeal of the designs, as Wharram himself said, you either love them or hate them. I happen to love them because I know what they can do and I think they look really cool anchored in a tropical lagoon or pulled up on the beach somewhere.  

We had our first family cruise this summer on our Contour 34 - and while it was great - the appeal of something like the rigid deck of the wharram would have been even better. I've not sailed one - and am a bit concerned about the possibility of pitching given the pinched ends, so I lean a bit more towards Richard Woods' designs. Assuming the next couple of years are as successful as this years cruise, I'd expect that we'd be looking for something like this boat in 2-3 years time. I think a boat like this one would be ideal.  

C'mon down and go for a sail grmitche  

If I get to florida - I'll look you up for sure. Might happen around year-end.  

Many thanks to Boatsmith and Jeff H for their inspiringly articulated replies in this thread. I am in the process of looking for a boat to buy which i intend to spend many years on with my young family and learn to sail it to its apex. I have spent many years on the water, mostly coastal cruising in power boats. The romantic ideal of sailing now has me firmly by the hip pocket and i am wanting to buy a multihull. I have looked at Searunners, Cross's and Piver because Tri's in Australia are the affordable multihull option. Im not interested in plastic (unless someone wants to buy me a dragonfly or farrier) So when Wharrram's came into focus, my interest in Cat's resurfaced as a possible option. Much has been said about performance and perception of such but it is only the two aforementioned contributors who have given a would be/potential Wharram owner a balanced and objective view of their capabilities. I agree with you on your point of experience and sail trimming contributing to better overall performance, seamanship in navigating more windward points. Quality of build must also contribute to performance. then..If all else fails... a reliable motor to windward or anchor/beach up till the wind changes. Isn't cruising about enjoying time passing slowly? Boatsmith, in your professional opinion.. how close to the wind will your Tiki 36 sail? Is it possible to put a pilothouse on them with dry access to the hulls?My partner loves the idea of a cat which doesnt require accessing the other hull via the elements and a lounging area for shady mohito afternoons. Also thanks to someone ( cant remember who) for the comparison to an old Kombi.. I have always wanted one to modernise with newer technology whilst keeping the great Kombi "look".  

I was on a 43' Wharram once that later crossed the pond. It pulled right up onto the beach at my beach cat club. I was not impressed. It had very very little space for a 43' boat. The decks are not laid out in a way that makes the best use of all the space, there is no real bridgedeck, and the space in the hulls is very very small for such a large boat. Having a family in this boat would be tight, and I imagine a tiki 36 would be even smaller. They are seaworthy boats, but supposedly the flare of the deep V gives some discomfort and possible control issues in a seaway.  

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Due to the present period of financial austerity and increasingly high marina costs, a large number of would-be sailors are having a hard time financing the dream of sailing their own boat.

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In trailer/sailer design every increase in length equals harder launching and recovery work. At 23'6"- 7.15m hull length MANA 24 sits between our TIKI 21 and TIKI 26 designs (both very popular trailer sailers), with easier launching and handling like the smaller TIKI 21, but an interior space close to that of the Tiki 26 . Her new chined hullshape gives more width for the bunks, which are placed aft where the hulls are widest, and where there is least motion.

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MANA uses the well proven Wharram Wingsail rig in a new Catrig configuration. The Wingsail rig is a modern version of a high aspect Dutch style gaff rig, sleeved round the mast for maximum aerodynamic efficiency.

In this new Catrig configuration the mainsail gives the drive with a very clean leading edge. The small mizzen aids with balance, steering and tacking . Having no jib, there is no need for a very tight forestay. The standing rigging uses the latest dyneema rope, which is light and easily set up. The mizzenmast can be used as sheer pole for single-handed assembly.

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Summing Up Of The Times We Took

• All construction work; hulls, beams, gaffs, tillers, hatches, including epoxy coating all interior surfaces: approx. 500 hours
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> >   First Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on Cruisers Forums. 01-12-2016, 14:54   Boat: Catalina 470 (& if it is only because the had to cut corners on the to keep costs getting out of hand. my Tangaroa, finished in 81 had cost me 50.000DM (which then was quite a bit of for a built with xterior ply & fir & "equipped" like I never saw a yard-built one) & ~4300 hours. don't misunderstand me: it was an adventure I' wouldn't want to miss for the life of me & the 7 year rtw even more so, particularly in view of our age (then). But I certainly wouldn't recommend a to people of a more "mature" age, much less building one! 01-12-2016, 16:00   Boat: Scout 30 had to cut corners on the to keep costs getting out of hand. my Tangaroa, finished in 81 had cost me 50.000DM (which then was quite a bit of for a boat built with xterior ply & fir & "equipped" like I never saw a yard-built one) & ~4300 hours. don't misunderstand me: it was an adventure I' wouldn't want to miss for the life of me & the 7 year rtw even more so, particularly in view of our age (then). But I certainly wouldn't recommend a wharram to people of a more "mature" age, much less building one! 02-12-2016, 03:39   Boat: no boat any more 02-12-2016, 23:48   Boat: Wharram Pahi 42 , and building yourself allows you access to that dream. As has been said, self-building is not , but it does spread the cost out over many years allowing the "ordinary" person the possibility to get a decent, sea-going yacht without taking a big loan. But yes, you will never get your money back in full, so the process and experience better be what you are paying for! I didn't take that , I bought our 42 from the original builder when he wanted to retire from sailing. I don't have time to commit to a full-on build, but keeping her in good sailing condition fills my time anyway! ;-) 05-12-2016, 07:18   Boat: wharram tiki 26 , and building yourself allows you access to that dream. As has been said, self-building is not , but it does spread the cost out over many years allowing the "ordinary" person the possibility to get a decent, sea-going yacht without taking a big loan. But yes, you will never get your money back in full, so the process and experience better be what you are paying for! I didn't take that , I bought our 42 from the original builder when he wanted to retire from sailing. I don't have time to commit to a full-on build, but keeping her in good sailing condition fills my time anyway! ;-) 05-12-2016, 07:23   Boat: wharram tiki 26 06-12-2016, 00:48   Boat: Wharram Pahi 42 .I built my boat under the porch and later a tree....It may not have the finish of a big production boat,but I know no laminators on 10 bucks an hour with other things on his mind glued my beams together. 06-12-2016, 01:03   Boat: no boat any more 06-12-2016, 07:19   Boat: Scout 30 06-12-2016, 07:25   Boat: no boat any more I might have made in time, conscious that she was well & truly "amateur"-built 06-12-2016, 09:01   Boat: Scout 30 I might have made in time, conscious that she was well & truly "amateur"-built 06-12-2016, 13:27   Boat: no boat any more & had been more difficult to build. Still, it was an experience we wouldn't want to miss for the world! 06-12-2016, 14:11   Boat: Scout 30 & had been more difficult to build. Still, it was an experience we wouldn't want to miss for the world! 06-12-2016, 23:16   Boat: no boat any more 07-12-2016, 06:44   Boat: Scout 30   First , Thread Tools Rate This Thread : Posting Rules post new threads post replies post attachments edit your posts is are code is are are are Similar Threads Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post 380: 3Eagles Lagoon Catamarans 23 28-02-2013 17:25 Finditsurfit Classifieds Archive 4 22-08-2009 10:16 SkiprJohn Multihull Sailboats 6 12-08-2007 20:03 No Threads to Display. - - - - - - - Privacy Guaranteed - your email is never shared with anyone, opt out any time. 479 IMAGES Enjoy a day trip aboard the Wharram 58, a spacious catamaran, which is Professionally Built Wharrams First look Wharram Catamaran Restoration to Live-aboard Cruiser WHARRAM CATAMARAN James Wharram Designs Wharram catamarans COMMENTS Review of a Wharram Catamaran Posts: 41. Review of a Wharram Catamaran. Dear Forum: I have looked at a Wharram Catamaran, namely the tiki 38, that I have thought about building and then living on it in retirement. This way I can do what really brings me inner peace, sailing, and live on the boat too. I have looked at the wharram site and their builders as well. Tiki 30 Catamaran: A Practical Sailor Boat Test The Wharram Tiki design was a natural choice for Dave because the designer has always approached his work from a builder/sailor perspective, rather than as an independent exercise in naval architecture. Simplicity and practicality rule, and in many ways these boats are the extreme opposite of whats displayed at boat shows across the country. Review of a Wharram Catamaran Hi! I own a Wharram Pahi 42. We bought her about 10 years ago now from the original owner/builder. I'd always dreamed of building a wharram, but as other posters have said, you can buy a used one usually much cheaper, and you get on the water immediately. But unless you get a really good one, you will likely spend a LOT of time fixing her up, and a lot of money upgrading sails and equipment ... Review of a Wharram Catamaran Hi Fernao, I've owned a Tiki 38 for 2 years and recently sailed her from Cape Town to the Eastern Caribbean.I like the Tiki's for their safety record, speed, ease of handling, great motion at sea from the V-hulls, huge deck, natural ventilation for the tropics where I intend to spend most of my time. Wharram owners tend to share similar views on life, lifestyle, what cruising is really about ... James Wharram's First Catamaran Build James Wharram's First Catamaran Build. James Wharram. Jul 2, 2021. Ruth aboard Tangaroa shortly after the boat's initial launch. More than just a sailor and designer, James Wharram, originally of Manchester, England, is also both a free-thinker and an individual clearly dedicated to getting as much out of this life as possible. Tiki 21 A Wharram catamaran. Written by Brad Ingram. From Issue March 2018. J ames Wharram is a multihull pioneer who has been sailing and designing exceptionally seaworthy catamarans since the 1950s. For his first voyage, he built, TANGAROA, a 23' catamaran and sailed her from the U.K. to the Caribbean with Jutta Schulze-Rhonhof and Ruth Merseburger ... James Wharram: life and legacy of the iconic designer Falmouth, Cornwall, 1955: a legend is born along Customs House Quay. A smartly dressed young man with wild, curly hair has launched a 23ft catamaran, built in just a few months for the modest sum ... WHARRAM PAHI 42: A Polynesian Catamaran The catamaran designs that British multihull pioneer James Wharram first created for amateur boatbuilders in the mid-1960s were influenced by the boats he built and voyaged upon during the 1950s. These "Classic" designs, as Wharram termed them, feature slab-sided, double-ended, V-bottomed plywood hulls with very flat sheerlines and simple triangular sections. Catamaran Man: James Wharram Next time you climb on board a Lagoon in the Caribbean or spy a Prout bobbing in the harbor, spare a thought for James Wharram. Though this somewhat froward Englishman won't thank me for saying so, he is partly responsible for both—and indeed, all the other modern catamarans now sprouting like Sargasso weed among the world's warm-water cruising grounds. James Wharram: Eight bells for the multihull pioneer Wharram believed in a 'less is more' approach to boat building, and all of his boats are of simple construction, aimed at amateur boat builders, including the Tiki 21, Cooking Fat, which became the smallest catamaran to sail around the world when skippered by Rory McDougall from 1991-1997. In May 1992, Wharram launched the 63ft Pahi, Spirit of Gaia, from his home on Restronguet Creek in ... Tiki 38 Tested February 2001 By James Wharram. I must thank Lee Shipley, Ben Mullet, Colin Flynn for their recent discussion on aspects of Wharram Catamarans on our Web Forum between 16 January and 4 February (under headings NARAI Mk IV and Tiki 46 Rig). Lee Shipley for writing about the advantages on open decks, i.e. no or minimum deck cabins, Ben Mullet on the advantages of the Wharram Soft Wingsail (often ... James Wharram Sailed Across the Atlantic on a Home-built Catamaran Original: Sep 16, 2016. James Wharram was convinced his home-built Polynesian-style cat was capable of crossing an ocean. A great pioneer of multihull voyaging, James Wharram sailed from Las Palmas toward Trinidad two days before Christmas 1955. His crew consisted of two girls, Ruth and Jutta, and Pepe the dog. Review of a Wharram Catamaran Re: Review of a Wharram Catamaran. Quote: Originally Posted by GrahamHO. I had a short sail with James Wharram, his young lady friend, his wife and son on their own big cat. I can't remember how long it was but around 50' / 60' from memory. It seemed very comfortable with conveniently two cabins and communal cooking barbecue in the centre. Scott's Boat Pages: The Wharram Tiki 21 Catamaran The Wharram Tiki 21 Catamaran I decided to go back to a simpler kind of sailing for 2006 after loosing Intensity, my Grampian 26 monohull cruiser to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. I've long been fascinated with James Wharram catamarans and built one of his smallest designs the Hitia 17 beachcruiser, back in 1997-98. Tiki 36, Wharram design catamaran The Tiki 30 is one of Wharram's best sailing designs. He does refer to it as a backpacking boat. It also is a 30' sailboat that has a cockpit that seats 10 easily. It also is a very comfortable seagoing boat that will fit onto a trailer or into a container and be transported anywhere in the world cheaply. JAMES WHARRAM: His New Autobiography Lit Bits. Dec. 18/2020: James Wharram, who first came to notice back in the 1950s after sailing a crude homemade catamaran across the Atlantic from England to Trinidad with two occasionally (and famously) unclad women, has cut a unique trail through the firmament of modern yacht design. He has always planted his flag far outside the boundaries ... James Wharram Designs Dream. Study our Self Build Boats to familiarise yourself with our range of designs and their unique qualities. Download and read the Wharram Design Book which reviews each design in detail and offers a detailed introduction to the world of self-build catamarans. Order and download Study Plans and immerse yourself into the boat builder's mindset; evaluate the costs; the amount of time required ... Wharrams to weather: How bad is it? Maybe 20 degrees better made good. This was in light air with a slight negative tide. My Tiki 30 had the stock Wharram gaff wingsail rig. Very conservative low aspect main sail. In light air going to weather in waves it flat sucked. In flat water or with more wind it wasn't so bad. crack off and the boat was very fast. Review of a Wharram Catamaran Re: Review of a Wharram Catamaran. Quote: Originally Posted by captnandy. Yes, the cutter rig is very flexible. We have both a yankee and genoa with the staysail, so combinations of these with reefed main keep the boat well under control. She sails well with just staysail and double or triple reefed main. The pahi designs do have dagger boards. Tiki 36, Wharram design catamaran 15. #27 · Aug 25, 2010. Many early Wharrams are very flexible vessels. This is in part due to design and also to lack of building and rigging finesse and lack of maintenance. Wharram's newer designs are lashed together. This technique applied with diligence and modern ropes will yield a much more rigid structure. Review of a Wharram Catamaran Review of a Wharram Catamaran Click Here to Login: Register: Vendors FAQ: Community: Calendar: Today's Posts: Search: Log in Page 7 of 7 ... Wharram Catamaran: SkiprJohn: Multihull Sailboats: 6: 12-08-2007 20:03: Advertise Here. Recent Discussions: Hunter 356 mast base problem. IMPORT TAX ON ITEMS IN MEXICO? Mana 24 MANA's 23'6" hull length has a special significance for James Wharram. In 1956 he made the first successful catamaran voyage across the Atlantic in his first catamaran, the 'Tangaroa', also 23'6" long. In trailer/sailer design every increase in length equals harder launching and recovery work. At 23'6"- 7.15m hull length MANA 24 sits between ... Review of a Wharram Catamaran Re: Review of a Wharram Catamaran You choose to build a Wharram for one of two reasons - either you love the idea of the process, you like using your hands, you want to create something beautiful, or you are in love with the idea of cruising and like Wharram's philosophy of simple, elegant boats , and building yourself allows you access to that ... catamaran gulet motorboat powerboat riverboat sailboat trimaran yacht