Hi and welcome.
Ok, you have my curiosity tweaked. What unconventional stuff are you doing? Sailing backwards, or upside down? If you want unconventional, check out Bertran Fercot's site. He is a friend of ours and has biplane junk rig on his Tiki 30 and soon on his Tiki 46.
What boat might you build?
Ann and Nev

Hi,
It is nice to know another Neville. My husband rarely finds someone with the same name as his!
When we were building Peace IV, a man came to visit our boat shed with the idea of building Tiki 46s in foam core. He had the Wharram's approval to do this, so the idea is approved by the designer if that helps you any. I think wood or foam core, the boat will be good either way. But perhaps wood is more direct and easier to build and if it is glassed properly from new, it should last fine.
But boats always contain our dreams so if your dream goes better with foam core, and you have that in mind, that is the way you must go.
We visit the boat yard of Walter Greene in Maine. He is a designer, builder, and racer of fast trimarans and he hauls Peace for us every few years for bottom paint, etc. We see foam construction there using vacuume infusion. There are many ways to do foam and folks can learn a lot and good boats are built that way.
The fellow who visited us was Darrin Newton who builds the Dazcats in Britain. We have seen his work which is lovely. The boats built that way are light and fast. There are builders here on this web who use the foam core method, so lots is known about it and available to you if you ask around. We are friends with Dave who is on this web as boatsmith.
I guess I just prefer to build the boat directly rather than build a mold and then make the hull and toss out the mold. If you were building several boats from the mold, that would make more sense to me. And, of course, building the dream the way you see it is always the best plan...
We have been living on our Tiki 46 for 7+ years now and traveled over 30,000 miles in her including a trans Atlantic. These days we go north and south with the seasons from New England to Bahamas each year and return. Nice boat and nice, affordable life style. Our dream was wood, the boat is wood, and we like it that way. Everybody is different, thank goodness!
We are plan associates of James Wharram Designs and can help you select and buy plans plus provide technical help. Buying through us is the same cost to you as it is if you buy direct on line, but we get a commission. We would be endlessly grateful and helpful if you buy through us.
Ann and Nev