The Tiki designs do not have the internal framing bulkiness of the Classics, so I would recommend going in that direction if you are looking for a different visual aesthetic interior.

The 36' Tangaroa and the 40' Narai are both built with 9mm plywood as is the majority of the Tiki 38. So scaling up only makes a marginal difference. I think you would be hard pressed to get a lighter boat using strip plank over the ply/frame method.

I think that the visual internal framing of the classics takes most people off guard the first time they see it. We have grown accustomed to the plastic boats smooth interior looks, or the framing being covered by ceiling in the older wooden boats (which you could do to the interior of any Wharram if you were so inclined.) So I will leave you with the famous phrase from Chuck: "You can learn to live with anything," and in my own personal cases: "come to love it."

Penn D said:

Hi Galway Bay and Omar, thanks for you replies. I have only ever been inside one "classic", it was an Ariki,  and have never had a good look at any plans... from memory (it was quite a few years ago) The timber structure was quite bulky/heavy. It's not built out of stitch and glue as you know so I was thinking strip plank with a couple of layers of Dynel could overcome a lot of this "internal framing" and also make the overall boat lighter. Also without the more complicated process of building a mold for a plastic option? I am really just guessing here :-) I don't think you can stitch and glue a classic? I probably need to have a good look at some plans as I feel a little in the dark on all this.

The Hatia only has 4mm ply if i'm right? I think as you scale the boat size up you would have diff results?

This is my "Ann and Nev boat" I'm talking of here, I still got a few years to plan it and a few on top of that to build it.  ready once the kids have flown the coop. ;-)

Open to learn, Penn

I cant' tel about any personal experience in building a hull with strip planking. But I remember a few years ago when Glenn Tiemann was building his Tama Moana he posted his succeedings in the wharram forum. It went very slowly although Glenn should be definitely considered as an experienced boat builder. I think, the stitch and glue method is way faster than the strip planking method and as said before very likely lighter.

Regards and always fair winds

Armin