This is the group what I don't like to participate, but I'm in...may 12 TikiRio do 2 years of build. In start my idea is 10 or 12 months. After, goes to 15 months, but now we don't have money to do a boat like my imagine. And we will do 24 months. Just one more...just a little money more. But is true I will sailing. Sailing to north, to Fernando de Noronha for surf, and before we go to caribe, if the boat don't sell in this trip. we go to west, Panama, Marquesas, Fiji, NZ and round world. See you in water, with TikiRio or another Wharram.

Hans, I think this thing may also be true for other boats? I also think the spirit of adventure and the idea of living a life on the sea seems to appeal to people like say with the hippies? People now seem to think they need to be millionaires to go cruising. Also i am sure you would have found not too many young people cruising? It seems it is only wealthy retirees that are cruising?

I hope to sail away in my small cat one day too, I did not build this boat to sit and rot.I will sail away, that is for sure.

yes that right... the "young people are missing. when i started sailing in 1999 ( i was 30 years old) there where more of them... but a lot of this "old and retired people are still fit and young in there mind and i look up to them. still on the way in this age...

of course, there are many other boats hanging around on a boatyard. but i look all the time on the horizon and on the hard for wharram sailors. to meet them and to talk to them.

since we are here in asia, we meet most time abandoned ships...

i want to make clear. i am not talking about new build wharram projects or old once who need a total refit. ...

This is so sad to hear.I wonder if a lot of those abandoned wharrams are from tourist businesses gone bust?

i just bought a prout 37 hull and deck,that never got beyond the fwd bulkheads,then hassat in a boat yard for the last 20 years unfinished!

the guy bought it when he was in his 40's spent a lot of money on equipment,did a bit of work on it,then ended up caring for his mother,then his father,then his brother who all got sick and died......puff! 20 years of his life gone......sad for him,but i got a great deal.

as to why so many boats sit,in our case after 20 years cruising and 2 circumnavigations,it was time for our 2 children to have a proper education.

so here we sit in the mud,with 4 boats now,2 creeks down from james and hanneka!

For sure it is not just Wharrams. The industry average was quoted here recently as 100 hours use for the first year 50 in the second and 20 hours per year after. That last figure would equate to three daysails a year. One thing I always admired about Wharram sailors was that they seemed much more likely to make a voyage than most other sailors and I think this is still true - although those averages are not hard to beat !!

Many people seem to think you [or at least they] can buy a dream. A boat is just a posession. If you are a vibrant and interesting person you will lead a vibrant and interesting life whereever you are. If you are a boring old fart and buy / build a boat you will just be a boring old fart who owns a boat. Ooops there goes the last friend I had in the world...

My wife and I will be spending 2 months in Thailand and Cambodia from mid October to mid December of this year.  We would love to see some of the Wharrams on the hard.  If you have a list of boats and locations you could send my way, we would really appreciate it!  Thanks!

go to phuket (chalong), and satun PSS boatyard. thailand nad langkawie (telaga). you will find then everywhere.........

if you pas by in new zealand, there is a bay just before the Auckland bridge, on the right hand side when you drive into town. it is full of "rotten" wharrams....

Thanks for the info!  Will you be around that part of the world in October?

Indeed, to find a dream that has lost its way and resurrect it to its full potential is, at least to me, a very worth while horizon to chase.

We found our little Hinemoa, Mystery, forlorn and lost, I spent 6 to 9 months perhaps in the hands on rebuild and probably more than practicable in dollars, but the real value was in the fact that a dream was brought back from the brink of a dismal ending, back to life and her soul is now full and beautiful.

In fact, admitting be selfish, I am looking for another to bring back from the brink because the satisfaction was so profound and intense I really want to be there again!

Keep a weather eye out for the lost and sorrowed, they are not ugly, they are not forgotten, they are merely waiting for a second season of life!

Mmmm...a poet you are, young Jedi...Where are you now with your pretty Hinemoa?

I was here myself a few years ago with my own boat. Life had left me with no time to sail it and I had to leave the boat half-way through "improvements". Only the cutting off and throwing away phase had been completed ! It was in a very sad state for a while. Probably the high cost of skips was a factor in saving it at one stage ! However everything comes to he who waits and I do feel great satisfaction from the restoration / improvements.

I am a new dude to this forum, but this is my third in the yachting world of forums.  I am always finding very interesting topics that engage my interest.  The question of all these boats lying around in various states of dilapidation has always been a matter of concern and interest to me.  On a local river, we have a really nice 52' galvanised steel ketch on a tidal mooring, covered in algae and 'sky-rat' guano, which is totally lacking in TLC...  Why?  Give it to ME!!!  I'll fix her up, why do they [?] always leave these boats to entropy?

There are many factors that we need to take into consideration since the so called 'hey day' of cruising:  

1.  More and more countries are in flux and if not are installing complicated bureaucratic measures to make sailing to foreign ports difficult or expensive [...or dangerous!].

2.  The lack of 'young blood' due to many demographic factors [mostly the need to acquire what society dictates they should be aspiring to acquire...], lack of funds, lack of free spirit etc...

A friend of mine owns a 36' steel sloop.  He bought her around a year ago for quite a bargain, she was in a 'tired' state when he discovered her, belonging to a widow who was, along with her late husband planning a circumnavigation in her.  A very sad story, which I am sure is more commonplace than we may think...  My friend lived aboard her when he was not doing sea-duty with a major NGO, this was on Exeter canal.  He paid his mooring dues regularly, was helpful and considerate to everyone, but last weekend he decided to take her for a shakedown sail to Fowey to meet up with MV 'Arctic Sunrise' [his ship].  What he hoped was just going to be a few days away from his home, turned out to be a very anxious time.  Because the Exeter City Council decided to evict him from the canal [because he moved...].  

This society is to blame.  The government [UK and regional] does not want people to live aboard boats, COZ ITS NOT NORMAL!!!

We really do need to start lobbying our govts, to re-address our right to live on our boats and to sail whenever we like and return to our 'spot'.

This whole affair has really made me angry, my friends life has now taken a surreal turn negative, all because of some petty [non sailing] bureaucrat, in some boring Exeter office, wielding that 'bit of power' that they like to flex every now and then.... Tarts...

Just points to ponder... 

...Actually I havn't finished yet...  

So that leaves as matey said elsewhere here, the retirees...  Well I just gave a story about one scenario [the sea widow...], many of these forgotten beauties are just too much for some people to cope with in the end.

The widow was offered considerable sums for her yacht, but in the end she chose to sell it to my friend, because she knew he would put the love back into the vessel... Bless her.

Perhaps with people being a little less selfish and understanding that their boats are going to disintegrate, should consider selling them on down - cheap - to a new generation.  

I am 54, I don't own my home.  I don't want to buy into that model.  I just want a yacht [pref a Wharram...] on which I can finish of my life doing research and sailing the world...  Got no kids, dogs, horses or cats, just me and maybe some similar thinking female crew member...  sigh... 

i found a list of wharram's that surely needs to be updated but could be a good starting point for someone looking to buy a wharram (and willing to make a research to find a bargain maybe)  that is not listed on any website for sell:

http://www.wharram.com/NZ_Nletter_Sept2000.pdf 

Robert, did you make it to see any of these Thai derelict Wharrams?  I'm planning a trip in January and I may go hunt some down myself!

Melissa,  Not yet!  Our plans WERE to go to Thailand from Oct. 15th to Dec. 15th, but that would set us back from actually picking up a Wharram.  Take lots of pictures, and send us any info on any Narai Mk IVs that you see! 

I would love to take from someone's hand unfinished (or finished need restoration) project of 26'-32' wharram. I'm in Philadelphia, PA.

I would give my eye teeth to own a Wharram cat, it is my dream to one day own such a vessel, either self-built or bought, or 'purloined'...  Anyone who knows of a reasonably-sized cat that is languishing in some algae infested backwater and needs some TLC and a new skipper - just let me know!  I'll be its new huckleberry!

I think it is a crime to leave any vessel uncared for or abandoned, there are too many boats and yachts decaying in our backwaters and harbours...  And even when people like me go to the trouble of locating the owners, they greedily decide that they need to keep their rotting possession as it is rather than pass it on to someone who would put it to real use.    Sacrilegious in the extreme.. 

finished hulls. no cross beams. rig and sails a complete... 

boat is lying here in the ACHM sailing cub on the hard...

if somebody is REALLY interested, i can make the contact... i guess it is quiet cheap...

 hans

south Africa / Durban / bluff yacht club...

Just finished rebuilding my parents old tiki 26. 25 years old and been sitting out the water rotting for the last 10 years. Will be afloat in 3 weeks or so. almost exactly 25 years from the day she set sail for the first time.

Would love to save enough money to go traveling and buy an old wharram somwhere, fix it up, then sail back to the UK with her :)

you got a tiki26...???? stop dreaming and go....

agreed Nigel, on all points

I have known three people socially, who set out to build a big Wharram, with great intentions, but somehow, when they had built the hulls to deck level (the easy part), they just sort of petered out and never finished the boat.

Only one of them successfully sold the hulls. The others just left them to rot. One was burnt and the other two were eventually just chopped up and ended in the tip.  Very sad that the reality of the enterprise never matched the vision of the so optimistic builder.

Sometimes there are reasons to change life plan (family, business, health, finances etc.) To sell a boat is always a huge loss, so they "rest" sometimes for loger times. My Tiki 33 was for 2 years, each year 9 months, on the hard until it was clear I would not sail her to the Philippines, where I stay now for longer. But I just bought the Amatasi plans and will def. build again a boat and use it for island raids, fishing and cruising the Visayas. 

I wonder if it is because wood rots most people wear I live will not even look at a wooden boat much less a boat that needs to be dismanteled and have wood replaced and  be re fiberglassed  I  think many people are afraid of taking on such such a task .I also think it is the same reason people are not entering the trades my son has 2 univercity degrees he could not find a decent job for many years after university many of his friends working in Coffee shops  finally he found a trade in water science he has never looked back . Personaly  I am a fan of aluminum it is a great material easey to cut shape weld form or whatever you need, it is nearly maintenance free fast and easey to repair . check out the video (Fastwater marine video MPH) a 40 ft hull welded up in 3days including the  deck. The only think I do not like about aluminum it does not stand up to missile attack  Falklands warships. Aluminum  is cheaper to buy than marine grade plywood where I live 

Opps my mistake that is  (Fastwater video MPH) You Tube 

A plywood boat needs continuous attention and maintenance. I made the experience, if you do this on a regular base, the boat stays almost as new and costs are low. Wharrams want to live and sail. :-)