James Wharram Designs

We at James Wharram Designs are designers of unique double-canoe style sailing catamarans inspired by the canoe craft of the Pacific

Wharram designs are based on more than 60 years of practical, hands-on experience of building and ocean sailing catamarans. The boats are renowned for their seaworthiness, stability and safe simplicity. If you want to build your own catamaran and experience the freedom of sailing, your dream begins here.

The quality of the Wharram self-build catamarans is reflected in their popularity, with over 10,000 sets of plans sold and thousands turned into proud vessels – Wharram ‘Cats’ can be seen in harbours across the world, maintaining the highest reputation for surviving wind and wave.

Wharram building plans are drawn for the beginner builder and have been referred to as ‘a course in boat building’ using a 3-d illustrative style, which has made the boatbuilding process much easier for beginner builders, who have no experience in reading technical drawings.

WHARRAM SELF BUILDS DESIGNS INCLUDE:

Tiki / Coastal Trek Designs
From the car trailable TIKI 21 – Winner of the 1982 Cruising World Design Competition, to the TIKI 46, a spacious ocean cruiser or charter boat. The TIKI range offers car trailable Coastal Trekkers, built in simple stitch & glue technique, to larger long term liveaboards. All Tiki designs are constructed in ply/epoxy/glass giving a very durable finish requiring little maintenance. On the larger TIKIs the ‘Deckpod’ offers sheltered steering and the ‘Stern Ramp’ provides easy access to and from the water. The TIKIs are elegant seaworthy boats you can work and live on.

Mana 24 kit
The most economical way to enjoy sailing is to build your own small lightweight boat, to keep it at home and trail it to the waters you want to sail in. This gives the opportunity to explore many more sailing areas than if based on a permanent mooring and at much lower cost. The trailable Mana 24, built in ply/epoxy stitch & glue method, is available as a CNC cut kit.

Pahi Designs
From the Coastal Trekking Pahi 26 to the impressive Pahi 63 flagship of the Wharram fleet ‘Spirit of Gaia’ – the PAHI shape is more evocatively ‘Female’ than the earlier Classic Wharram designs. Constructively, they are simpler to build, using epoxy fillets instead of more difficult wood joints. They are designed to use quick growing softwood plywood, coated and glassed with epoxy to achieve a durable finish. The PAHI designs were the first to use rope lashings to attach the crossbeams, giving a shock absorbing effect, without the need for metal fittings.

Ethnic Designs
The Ethnic designs have been a new development at James Wharram Designs since James and Hanneke sailed extensively in the Pacific. With everything self-made these boats are lower cost to build. The 27ft ethnic Amatasi was winner of Classic Boat Design Competition 2010. The design is modelled on the hull shape of fishing canoes of Samoa, but built in ply/epoxy/glass stitch & glue construction.

Classic Designs
The early ‘Wharrams’, now known as the Classic Designs, are recognised as sturdy, beautiful, safe boats – easy to build, and easy to sail, the ‘Landrovers’ of the ocean. Many anchorages around the world are graced by these Classic Designs, and of the seventeen drawn between 1957 and 1976, nine are still available, from the 16ft Maui to the 51ft Tehini.


DREAM – BUILD – SAIL


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