Wharram Builders and Friends

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The decision has finally been made: We will build a Narai MKIV for our personal vessel upon which to take our family cruising again. We were able to procure a set of unused plans from a nice South African man who was never able to fulfill his dreams of cruising. The plans are quite old and have a definite 30-years in storage smell about them.

I will be making several other individual forum discussions detailing the modifications I expect to make, but in this discussion I will detail why I chose the Narai MKIV.

My first Wharram was a Tangaroa MKIV in the classic design series - I really liked that boat. Later I had a Tiki 30, and am now building a Tiki 38. Over the course of the last two builds, i have simply fallen out of favor of the stitch and glue method of building. The advancement in glues and epoxies since the Classics first came out of the JWD offices are significant to the point that build time for a classic design can be reduced when these newer glues are used in lieu of resorcinol glue, and building time is a definite factor for me.

I have also found that I simply do not like dealing with tumblehomes. These have been a royal pain the the ass to make look nice, adding far more time and materials than can be appreciated. I have also fallen out of favor of building the lower and upper hulls separately. Again this adds more time that it is worth. Yes it does make for a nice, roomy interior, but I will build a slightly larger boat more quickly.

The cambered and cored decks have also been time consuming and painstaking to make, fit, trim, and finish. Beautiful once completed, but they were burdensome to build. The final royal pain of the Tiki 38 has been the beam troughs. Yes, these exist on the Naria MKIV, but I will be eliminating them in favor of the MK I look.

So I choose the Narai MKIV to save time and money on building. Using my previous Classic Design building experiences as well as the Tiki design building experiences, I will be combining the best of both to build our dream boat, hopefully in record time.

Planned design modifications (to be detailed in other discussions):

• Use of epoxy and Titebond III glues

Use of Stainless Steel brad nails during construction

Four cabin layout

Near queen-size master bed

Elimination of beam troughs

• Increased overall beam

Hasler-McLeod Lug schooner rig (not bi-pole)

Dual outboards

• Boarding ramp
Possible design modifications:
• Lashed rudders
• Lashed beams
• Custom aluminum trapezoidal box beams

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Can't wait to read about this project as it develops.

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