Would a Pahi31 be trailer able?

[Arthur Jacobs]

I am doubting between  a tiki30 and a Pahi31.  One important consideration for me is movabillity by road.

Wharram site shows many fine examples of tiki30 boat on trailer and wharram also promotes the tiki30 as trailer able.  About pahi31 I can not find anything about that.

Does anyone have an idea or experience with transporting Pahi31 by road on a trailer?

[Andy Best-Dunkley]

Hi - I seriously doubt you would want to use a Pahi 31 as a trailer-sailor. I have a 42 and the 31 has similar weight of construction for the size. The Pahi 26 and Tiki 26 are as big as I would go. Apart from anything, the parts (hulls, beams, mast, etc) are going to be heavy to man-handle imo. Also physically driving around with that length is going to be interesting, but maybe you have less traffic on the roads! ;-) You'd need a big tow vehicle too.

[Arthur Jacobs]

Thanks for your reply Andy. YES you are right I guess it would be an awful job, but I would not think of using the P31 as a trailer-sailor in the true sense of trailer ing it here and there for a weekends sailing. Would rather like to be able to take it per season so if I am tired of the northern Europe and the weather gets a bit cold I could go to the Mediterranean. Without hsving to sail the long passage south. So once or twice a year, because it would take up to a day to load/unload and gear her up for sailing. The weight of T30 and P31 as stated in the Wharram brochure is equal 1,000 kgs Don't know of course if that is with reasonable gear loaded. The length 945 cm just fits a large trailer they use here for private use. With these figures all could also be done within the law here. I would also consider at least to replace the heavy beams for lighter weight galvanised steel ones. The mathematics seem to match. Just wanted to check the practical side.

[Andrés]

The Wharram Desing Book says weight of the T30 is 1.000 kg and of the P31 is 1.500 kg, and usually the weight is underestimated in the Wharram plans. Also you have to add the wheight of the motor, anchors, sails, etc. I have not seen reports of anybody using the T30 as a trailer-sailor, it is a lot of work to assemble and disassemble a 30 feet Wharram. The central plataform, beams and mast are heavy, and the lashings take hours of work to get them very tight. For instance, a friend of mine required a full day of work to get the lashings tight in a T21. I have a T26 and I have disassembled it once and it was a lot of work. The P31 is demountable, so perhaps in two or three days you could mount it and get it ready to sail, but I think it is not practical to do it once or twice a year.

[Andy Best-Dunkley]

Andrés is right - all the other parts also add to the weight and hassle of disassembly. ANY Wharram CAN be taken apart! ;-) But we don't want to do it too often - I find it bad enough to take the mast down and lift her out each winter. In principal you are correct - you could do this migration twice a year, but it is a lot of effort. If you build the boat with this in mind you might be able to make it faster and easier, but I would say you have to decide what you want to do with your boat, the type of sailing you will do most. If you want to do longer cruises then the T30 or P31 are minimum size for any comfort if there are more than just one of you (imo), but if you are doing day sails etc, then one of the smaller designs gives you that flexibility for trailering.

[Pius Bielowski]

We take our Tiki 21 apart at the end of every season and drive her some 50 km my to friends garden. With the gained experience we need about 1,5 - 2 houres to dismantle her and get everything tied on the trailer. In spring it takes about 1 houre to get everything back on the trailer and lashed down and another 2 houres to get her ready to sail. Minimum is three people but four are much better. My car has 75 hp and manages to pull the load up the pretty steep road to the lake (we are in the alps) but I think a Tiki 26 would be a tough challenge for the poor Dacia.

The Tiki 21 is very suitable for trailering but having said that I don't like the work two times a year and I would never do it for only a weekend. I assume that every aspect gets much more complicated on a Tiki 30 and you would need a lot of people or something like a crane to handle the parts. 

On the other hand I dream a lot about the Tiki 30 which seems to have the best of both worlds. The ability to transport it over land is great if you want to cruise on rivers or go to otherwise inaccessible places. The Tiki 30 can go nearly evrywhere... At least in my dreams.

[Ian Bamsey]

I've dreamt about a T30 too for the same reasons given. I've looked at one and considered all the differences to my T21. Having experienced assembly and dismantling the T21, I think I'd look only to trailer a T30 on exceptional occasions. I would look to winter the boat somewhere sheltered jacking onto stands out of the water or craning it out. I would only dismantle and trailer to undertake a full renovation under cover somewhere.

On the T21 with 4 people, it's out and on the trailer on a few hours. Assembly is different. The lashing take a lot of time. If you have a few people who know how to lash, it really helps. Even when the boat is back in, I have electrics to reconnect, trampolines to string, rigging so sort out. It's a day's work in the end and often a few trips to shake it all out again. On a T30 or perhaps a Pahi it would be a bigger task.

[Arthur Jacobs]

Thanks all for your advises. I think I get the picture. Choosing between T30 and P30 for me is not weather being trailerable or not. Can't think smaller though, because want to do extended cruising with small family. Might even think bigger now since I have left the idea of trailering anyway. Thanks again

[Pius Bielowski]

A bit late but here is lots of information about trailering a Tiki 30

http://wharrambuilders.ning.com/forum/topics/trailering-a-tiki-30?c...

[Pius Bielowski]

The crane I talked about has already been invented.

[Bob Bois]

I owned a Tiki 30 for several years and had to put it on the hard each winter and transport it to my house. I can tell you that I would not do that on a weekend basis. The literature may say the Tiki 30 is 'trailerable' but not in any practical sense. That aside, it was a fantastic boat!