Chuck Holton

Male

United States

Profile Information:

I am:: A home builder, Just Looking
What boat (s) are you building or do you own?: I starting the research portion of my dream. I like the looks of the Wharram designs and trying to learn a bit more about them. The designs so far are the Tiki 46 or one of the Pahi. I would like to see the Islanders as home building projects too.
Country, City, and State?: USA
About me or us?: I am retired law enforcement who is about to relocate to a property away from town and closer to the sound. I have sailed mostly in the Pacific NW, monohulls.
Looking to?: Looking for suggestions and guidance on a dream of sailing a portion of the rest of my life.

Comment Wall:

Ann and Neville Clement

Hi Chuck,
Nev and I built our Tiki 46 in Britain and launched in 2002. We sailed across the Atlantic immediately and have been living aboard these last 7 years. We travel the US east coast from New England to Bahamas with the seasoons and it is a good life.
Now you are retired, would you be interested in seeing a finished Tiki 46? We are in Rhode Island. Our summer plans are to sail to Maine in late June and haul for painting and some mast work and rigging work before returning to RI in late July. We will head south again around Oct 1.
We are associated with Wharram Designs and sell plans for them.
Ann and Nev

May 31, 2009
Ann and Neville Clement

Hi Chuck,
How old are the kids? Will they be sailing with you? Building with you?
Did you know there is a large Wharram meet in the Keys each spring? You just missed it this year, but it will happen again next year. We cannot usually attend that meet, but...
We almost always go to the meet near Stuart in Florida early in December. We missed it in 2008 due to family member being ill and needing me, but that was a rare miss for us.
Keep in touch. We likely will have a meet in New England this summer also.
Ann and Nev

May 31, 2009
Ann and Neville Clement

Sounds doable for sure. You are a good age for this and being retired means you can build full time. For the bigger boats, a helper is a good idea - just somebody who can hold the other end of the ply sheets, mix glue for you, cut fiberglass, etc. A lot of our builders save time and money by using inexpensive and fast to assemble agricultural poly tunnels, but your barn idea sounds nice too.
If you do not actually NEED the 46 feet, you could be finished with the build in half the time if you decided on the 38. There is a nice one nearly finished and built to plan in New Jersey near Sandy Hook at the bottom of NY harbor. Jacques is on this web and has been kind about letting folks see his build. He is a really nice guy, building alone, and he has done a great job.
Well, you have a lot of thinking to do. Dreams are what make life worth living and if a dream has been pestering you for a long time, perhaps it is a good idea to allow it to get into the planning stage. Good luck to you. Write us at any time for any help we can give.
All the best, Ann and Nev

May 31, 2009