Thx! you're right, a lot of fun :P

sometimes I think the building process (with mistakes and satisfactions) will be better than sailing!

Ciao!

Thank you, Paul,

And your 26' ? Post some photos...

Hi Paul,

A mix of the practical and aesthetic. Increasing the volume of the cabin allows the bunks to be raised giving some extra stowage as well as more room in the sail locker. I also prefer the way it looks aesthetically, I always liked the look of the Tiki 28 and of course "Cooking Fat". The blended deckline is common on other Wharram designs, so I am not reinventing the wheel but I may borrow design details from others of the Tiki range just as I would from other builders (with acknowledgement and gratitude of course). As far as I know nobody has done this mod on a Tiki 26, I think it would be worth the effort, research and additional build time.

Cheers

Al

thanks paul,

i'd still like to pitch in and help someone else before i begin, if only to fill my favour bank for when i get started myself. and although i've done a fair bit of sailing (racing monohulls) i've never actually been on a Wharram or seen one in the flesh, so I'm really starting behind the eightball.

Thanks Paul - who cannot enjoy spending hous and hours and hours soaked in epoxy etc ... !

Gday Paul,Hows it goin m8?Yeah the i was fortunate enough to be in Indonesia for a good selection of timbers.A lot of mine was selected from well seasoned recycled timber and in the case of the decks came from old warehouse beams.Teak,old teak.When you cut it the the dust can be squeezed into oily balls.perfect for your decks.best Dave

Hi Paul!  I've uploaded a few pics of Zest, my T26.  Hope you like them!

Paul, have you considered a steel pipe as rear beam to hold your netting? Could be stainles or galvanized and painted and the ends plugged with epoxy. As it is much stronger than aluminum you will get away with a smaller diameter and wall thickness, in the end the difference in weight might be less than one thinks first.

I mention this because galv. steel would much cheaper and in my part of the world marine grade alu pipe is near impossible to find while steel pipes are no problem to get.

When I built my  rear beam I found that wood is quite heavy and a steel pipe would have been lighter for the same strength but I need to attach a bracket for my wind vane, so steel was not an option for me. If it were just for lashing a net to it, I would have used steel pipe.

Happy building

Ralf

Paul, my netting beam is an aluminum pipe: wall thickness is 6mm, diameter is 57mm. I can sit on the middle of it with no deflection: very strong. You can see it in my photos on site.

Paul, my hollow, semi-triangular section Doug fir net beam is plenty stiff, yet lightweight.  I can sit or stand on it at midpoint with no flex.  The details of the design are on my blog.  I think the teak rail for trampoline lashings contributes a lot to the stiffness, as does the glass sheathing all the way around it.  The reason I went this way instead of round aluminum is because i didn't want the tramp lashings to go all the way around the beam, and I wanted to be able to mount things on it with screws.  

Thank you fellas,unlike the U.S. here in AUST anything with'' marine '' comes at a premium price a mate of mine had a look at the beam i had made and reckons it ain't too heavy and i am just being a girl;)

We wanted a wooden net beam for the aft beam of our Tiki 46, Peace.  So Wharrams suggested we modify the  plans for the forward net beam on the Pahi 42 (Captain Cook) which we did.  We used Doug Fir and when we made the little blocks, we drilled several 1 inch vertical holes in each one to make it lighter weight.  When we were done, I was able to carry that beam easily by myself and I have arthritis and am not very strong.  I was then in my late 50s.  Because it is wood, we can more easily put things on it like the windvane self steering, the spare antenna whip, once we had a wind generator and a radar too. 

     All the best,  Ann and Nev

Hi Paul

Where about in Oz are you building? As for building costs in SA, I am unable to compare it to building prices in Oz. A couple of things I have noticed though:

Fittings and equipment are generally overpriced here. It is usually cheaper (by as much as 50% even after paying import duty and postage) to order hatches, electronics, etc. from the UK or States and ship them over. This is due to our smallish boating market I guess.

Casual labour is still pretty cheap. You can get unskilled guys to sand and paint all day for a fraction of what you'd pay elsewhere and when you find a guy who is keen, it is well worth your while to teach him some of the more complicated techniques as having 2 of you working together can save you huge amounts of time. If you are paying for boatyard space this can pay big dividends in the long run.

I cannot comment on relative prices for hardwood or marine ply, but I am not finding the costs crippling.

Poking around (both locally and internationally via the net) allows you to make great savings on a hole bunch of stuff. People are often breaking up yachts and this is a cheap source of all sorts of stuff.

I'm not really sure if I've helped answer your question.

I'm already in the water and I've done it on a teacher's salary (and we are notoriously badly paid).

Tell me about your boat. I'm interested.

Dave

Since the workspace isn't officially mine, I do a lot of cleaning. I work for, and with, some good friends. The other half of the business is a design office. Tiki dust makes it all the way up through the offices and conference rooms, if I don't keep it at bay. My cleanliness is really just an acknowledgement and an appreciation for my fortunate situation.

Hi Paul - it is a Tiki 30 build from Seascape Ltd. Phuket for Eric the Singlehander. But due to change of his lifeplans he sold it last year to an american guy. You can check on youtube under WDsailing. I made a short Videoclip of her. Cheers Wave

Paul, let me measure it and I'll get back to you...

Oh, that's how it works... ;~)

Here's a link to the Wichard shackle info:

http://www.wichard.com/fiche-A|WICHARD|1264-0202060105000000-ME.html

D-Shackles

Paul, don't know what was wrong, but try this URL: it should work...

thanks Paul my searunner 31 had a tilt open rear window and was wonderful almost allways open .

Those Wichard "soft blocks" look very nice! No moving parts to break, no ball-bearings to spill at the wrong time. . .No doubt they are spendy: Wichard. Here's a video I found on them at youtube: soft blocks

MAU is presently on the hard in Rockhampton..I'm in mackay ..the maiden voyage (for me) will be a 200 mile trip back to mackay where I am based..

Hi Paul,
Thanks for your words of encouragement,sometimes I think I have bit of more than I can chew. Wish of was at your stage of completion, by the look of things you will soon be in the drink.Your boat that is, looks good too.
Cheers Trevor

Sorry I comment about anchor in my comments page, look there

How's it going Paul? Ive been following your (stalking?) build since you started.. You've gotta be just about ready to float now or not? Looking forward to seeing some pics of you out on the pond! 

Josh, the boat could be launched tomoz, I just need to fix the wiring. Do some rigging work, a slap of paint and she'll be in the drink for sure.Have had a bit going on recently, but one final push and it will be happy days.

Thanks for your interest mate.

Bit of a Karma patch at the moment it seems, I went down to the paint shop to get some more water based L.P. paint for the interiors, the low fume stuff. Anyway the proprietor did not have the particular paint I had been using before but he gave me this really good spec stuff for buckshee. Really stoked.

Paul, can I ask the horrible questions of how many hours and how much money you have put into your build? And would you do it again or build a bigger one, now that you know what its like? Cheers.

Josh, I'll do me best,here goes.

Ordered the plans 10/10.

Probably started in november, building under my verandah, using cheap plastic tables as work benches.

Cheap woodworking tools. I had to train myself to use a planer,jigsaw and skill saw on the job.

I do farmers markets on weekends so have averaged about 3.5 days of work a week, sometimes a bit more.Torrential flooding rain over two summers did slow things down a bit.

I have made two masts, two sets of tillers.Custom beam for solar panel.Bamboo boarding ladder. Storm hatches, windvane.made up all the synthetic rigging etc. These projects are all extra time consuming.

I did not start with a lump sum of $$$ so built as I had the dosh.

Stuff like sandpaper,cleaning agents and other disposals do add up to a small fortune.

I am not a person who keeps track of all the $$$ spent but here are a set of very rubbery figures.

Plywood $ 15000

timber$ 900

sails $ 3200

6hp motor $ 1600

Coppins para anchor $1700

epoxy $1500

Anchor, rope,shackles stainless bolts screws, paint synthetic rigging $2500.

So these figures are not set in stone and i am sure you can build it cheaper than i have done. I reckon about $25 000 could get you one of these boats as per plan.The plans will give you a basic boat, but solar, batteries wiring,coms lighting, autopilot add more $$$.

My build time will be nudging on three years by the time she sits in the water.

You asked would i build another? Yes for sure but not solo, I would like an offsider. Building a boat on yer own is a challenge, but can be done for sure. Discipline,time and money is all it takes. If i was to build another boat it would be along the lines of something like Hans Klaars boat but maybe with ply hulls, but raw timber decks and some kinda crab claw rig, I'd love that. Also i would build it somewhere in the world that is cheaper than Oz for sure.

So as a rough estimate my build and the gear i have bought for the boat will probably come in just under 30k and 3 years. Was the money well spent, you betcha!

Thanks for the insights Paul!

It's nice to get your perspective on the whole thing.. I just picked up some cheap T21 plans and am thinking of building one to see if i really want to have a crack at the 38 or 46 in the next year or so.

I've committed to about 5 years where we (wife and 2 kids age 4 and 1 month) are now and thought it would be a good test to see if im up to it, and also to have something to play in/increase the sailing skills/keep up the inspiration in the meantime..

Although part of me thinks it'd be better to jump straight into the bigger build, I cant help thinking it'd be better to start small first. Then in 5-6 years time, the bigger boat, kids and missus would be ready to sail off too.. 

Guess it's better to stop thinking and just start building! Thanks for letting me think out loud!

Keep up the great work! 

Build the 38 mate, forget 21. Learn as you go.

You're not the first person to say that! Thanks for the advice.. Face the fear and do it anyway, huh? Cheers mate.. :)