Element: A Wharram Tiki 21 Catamaran

Element is for Sale in Florida:

2010-07-08T07:07:00.000-07:00

This is a great deal on Tiki 21 in this condition. Read the rest of this blog for all the details on the work I did to her.

From the classified listing on the James Wharram Designs website:

Element I, completely rebuilt in 2006, including new Jekels sails and forward tramp, new rigging. Currently in the water in Pensacola, ready to sail. Trailer with modification to transport either disassembled or fully assembled. 2009 Tohatsu 6hp 4-stroke.

First in class winner at 2009 and 2010 Pirates Cove Wooden Boat Festival. See website below for more details.

SOLD!

Update: Element is For Sale Again, May 2008

2008-05-17T04:28:00.000-07:00

Bill Cotton, who purchased Element from me last year and took it to Colorado, has recently asked me to post a notice here that he will be selling the boat. The sailing season is short on the mountain lakes of Colorado, so the boat has not seen a lot of use since he moved it there last summer. I'm sure it is still in the same excellent condition it was in when I sold it. If you're looking for a Wharram Tiki 21 in the U.S. that is ready to go and needs little, if anything, this could be your boat. This blog documents all the work that put into it, as well as the equipment upgrades such as the new engine, rigging, and Jeckells sails.
Below is photo of Bill with the boat, and under the photo the description and contact info he asked me to include:

This boat was beautifully restored by Scott Williams. It comes with main, jib, and spinnaker, a 5HP Nissan 4-cycle OB, a deck tent, trailer, ground handling equipment including two hull dollies and tow bar. It is a great sailing boat; goes well to weather, ideal for shallow water sailing as no center board or dagger board, no deep extending rudder. I have had it up to 15kts. It is very stable. It handled well with no hull raising in 50kt+ downburst. SOLD!

Element Moves to Colorado

2007-06-19T16:21:00.000-07:00

I've been slow to post an update on the latest happenings with Element, but I assume most of you who read this also read my other blog http:tiki26element2.blogspot.com about the building of my new Tiki 26, which will become Element II when completed. If so, you know that I sold Element, a couple of weeks ago, and she is now sailing on a lake in Colorado.

Even though I decided to build a Tiki 26 while I was still refitting the Tiki 21, I had envisioned keeping the 21 until the new boat was almost complete. But the reality is that paying docking fees, worrying about hurricane season, and keeping up with the maintenance on the 21 was taking time and money away from the current project. I was beginning to think about advertising the boat for sale anyway when I received an email from someone interested in buying my Hita 17. Since I sold it just last November to Bill Barker, of Colorado, it was no longer available, but I said I would sell the Tiki 21 if I could get my full asking price. As it turned out, the interested party (ironically also from Colorado) was serious and quickly arranged a trip to Biloxi to see the boat and go for a demo sail. Element, of course, met all his expectations, and after an afternoon of fine sailing we closed the deal. I went back to the coast the next day with my trailer, and with the help of my sailing buddy Artie Vaughn, disassembled the catamaran and brought it home.

Last day of sailing in the Mississippi Sound. That's me with Element on the beach at Deer Island during a break in the demo sail. We had strong SE winds that day, and averaged 10 knots and higher reaching back and forth between Deer Island and Point Cadet.

Element on the trailer and ready for the long road trip to Ft. Collins, Colorado

Part of the deal I made with the new owner was that I would meet him near Okalahoma City, the approximate halfway point between Biloxi and Ft. Collins, Colorado. I drove all night to avoid heavy traffic and at dawn I was in the open country west of Oklahoma City. The boat trailered well and I had no problems pulling it this distance with my Mazda pickup.

Here is Bill Cotton, the proud new owner of Element with his new boat. This photo was taken in Calumet, Okalahoma, the tiny rural town we chose to meet at so we could swap the trailer from my truck to his. Bill is an experienced multihull sailor who has owned several trimarans, including a Farrier Tramp and an F-27. The Tiki 21 is his first catamaran, and he chose this design for its stability and seaworthiness. In addition to sailing on his local lake in Colorado, he hopes to trailer the boat to bigger waters such as the Sea of Cortez and possibly Florida.

Bill Cotton didn't waste any time getting Element back in the water. This photo was taken the very next day by Bill Barker, who bought my Hitia 17. Bill Barker and his son Houston drove the hour and a half from their home to Ft. Collins to help Bill Cotton put the boat together for the first time. Since they helped me launch it back in November off the beach at Biloxi, they knew a lot about it and everything went together as designed. They went sailing that afternoon and Bill Cotton has reported that he's been sailing several times since then. I'm glad he's happy with Element and glad to know he will sail her.

I will be without a boat for awhile until I can get Element II completed and in the water, but I'm okay with that, because at last I will have the boat I've wanted for years. Losing my 26 foot monohull Intensity to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 put me back on the path to a simpler kind of sailing, and restoring and sailing Element solidified my choice of designers, bringing me back full circle to Wharram catamarans, where I started when I built the Hitia 17 in 1998...

Changing Halyard Blocks on the Beach

2007-05-25T03:57:00.001-07:00

I've had difficulty raising the mainsail ever since I re-launched Element after the refit. The problem is that there are two halyards for the main, one for the peak of the gaff and one for the throat. In the Wharram plans for the Tiki 21, Tiki 26 and Tiki 30, maybe other sizes as well, a side-by-side double block is shown hanging on a penant from the masthead for the purpose of handling these two halyards. The problem is, the double block wants to twist and bind, even if you try to keep equal pressure on both halyards when hoisting the sail. This is especially true in stronger winds when singlehanding and it's difficult to keep the boat headed upwind when raising and lowering sail.

From reading of other Tiki owner's experiences on the forums, I determined that it would be best to do away with the double halyard block arrangement and replace it with two separate single blocks, one for each halyard. I put this off long enough, so during my 4-day sailing trip last weekend, I decided it was time to remedy the problem. I didn't have any extra single blocks on board, so I decided to "borrow" two from the mainsheet traveler arrangement. The winds were near calm this past Sunday morning when I woke up at anchor off Horn Island, so I moved the boat as close to the beach as possible, set my main anchor off the bow and pulled the stern to the beach until the rudders were stuck in the sand. I set another anchor off the aft beam, carried ashore onto the beach to hold this position, and lowered the mast so the masthead was hanging over the beach to make changing the blocks easy.

Element backed up the beach with stern anchor set and mast lowered.

The new separate single halyard blocks. These are hung from the masthead on Dacron lanyards. The throat halyard block is positioned slightly lower than the peak halyard block, to prevent them from binding each other. This job only took a few minutes and the soon the mast was back up and I found the mainsail was easy to raise and lower, without any binding or hanging up whatsoever.

Here's a shot of the masthead showing the new halyard block arrangement, (Click on the photo to view full sized). This completely corrected the problem, and made me glad I had a boat small and simple enough to lower and re-raise the mast on my own, on a remote beach.

You will also notice the halyards are outside the mainsail luff pocket. I will put them back inside next time I remove the sail from the mast. I had pulled them outside the pocket due to the sail raising difficulties, but now know that this didn't have anything to do with the problem.

Gulf Islands National Seashore

2007-05-24T04:43:00.000-07:00

Here are a few images from my sailing trip on Element last weekend. I left Biloxi and first sailed to East Ship Island, where I anchored for the first night. The next day I sailed over to West Ship Island and went ashore to visit a friend who is one of the captains of the Ship Island Excursion boats. West Ship is the only island in the Gulf Islands National Seashore with regular excursion boat service, and as a consequence it is usually crowded with sunbathers and beachgoers this time of year. I didn't stay long before pulling up the anchor and sailing to Horn Island, where I spent the next two nights sleeping aboard at anchor. Horn Island is the centerpiece of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. It is a designated wilderness area, over 12 miles long and approximately 1 mile wide in most parts. It is superb wildlife habitat with forests, marshes, interior lagoons, dunes and beaches, and is home to such creatures as alligators, raccoons, otters, rabbits, ospreys and many species of wading birds. The photo below is from the north shore of the island, about half way between the east and west ends.

Horn Island offers miles of usually deserted white sand beaches and pine forests

Marshes like this are found throughout the interior of the island, making it difficult to hike across the island except in a few places.

Here's a shot of the "galley" on Element, a two-burner propane stove on deck. This worked great even in the 15-20 knot winds I experienced the first night anchored out, due to the windscreen formed by the stove's lid. Dishes were easily done in a bucket of seawater, followed by a fresh water rinse. Stainless steel cookware is the way to go.

Every night of the trip I had perfect sunsets like this. I anchored far enough out to avoid the mosquitoes that are thick at night on the beaches, so at night I burned a white L.E.D. anchor light just in case any powerboaters cruised through the area. This portable L.E.D. light was great. I burned it all night for three nights without having to replace the AA batteries. When I get to the point of outfitting Element II for cruising, all navigation and interior lighting will be L.E.D.

The water can be quite clear around the barrier islands, such a contrast to the murky waters off the mainland coast in Mississippi. This photo was taken just off the beach at East Ship Island. The next day while sailing across the same area of shallows on the way to Horn Island, I saw a large shark, approximately 10 feet long cross my path just ahead of my bows.

Element anchored off Horn Island.

Approaching Horn Island

2007-05-23T04:54:00.000-07:00

Here I'm returning to the north shore of Horn Island to find a place to anchor for the night after a full afternoon of great sailing. I spent the last two nights of the trip anchored off these beaches, and Sunday night after the weekend crowd left there was not another boat in sight and I had the island to myself.

Reaching in a Good Breeze

2007-05-23T04:47:00.000-07:00

Here's a clip from a fine afternoon of sailing in the Mississippi Sound just north of the coast of Horn Island. In this southeast breeze, I was maintaining a steady 9 knots. It starts getting fun at this point. The spray was just beginning to fly a bit, and I could tell the boat would really pick up and go if the wind would just increase another 5 knots or so.

Broad Reaching along Horn Island

2007-05-23T04:28:00.000-07:00

What's great about multihulls is the ability to sail in shallow water. This is particularly true of Wharram catamarans, which have no underwater appendages like daggerboards or centerboards to worry about. On this trip I enjoyed a lot of sailing like this, cruising along the beach in 2-3 feet of water just as I would normally do in my sea kayak. The shallows extend so far out from these barrier islands that I could never get anywhere near this close in my deep draft monohull.

Four Days of Beachcruising

2007-05-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

I just got back yesterday from a four day trip on Element. I went to the barrier islands off the Mississippi coast, in the Gulf Islands National Seashore. It was a great trip with near-perfect weather and good wind for sailing. I slept and cooked aboard the boat, and only made brief visits ashore at East and West Ship Islands, and Horn Island. I have lots of photos and some videos from the trip that I will post in the next day or two, so check back here soon.

You Tube Videos from Sailing to Ship Island

2007-03-19T05:27:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t20P4yGBGqo Approaching West Ship Island

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-KLs3jlRAo Anchored off the beach at West Ship Island

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AODHmlgs06w Returning across the Mississippi Sound to Biloxi

More Photos from West Ship Island

2007-03-14T05:07:00.000-07:00

I intended to include these other photos in my previous post about my day trip to West Ship Island, but I was having trouble with my connection and could not do it last night. I also have some videos I shot with a small digital camera while sailing out there, and when I get back to my high-speed connection in a few days I will upload some of those to You Tube and put the links on here.

Unlike around the mainland Mississippi coast, the waters around the barrier islands are somewhat clear, at least enough so that you can see the bottom in the shallows where the sand bottom is just a few feet down. I anchored in water about waist deep after first beaching the boat when I arrived. The wind was too strong to leave it like that, so I pushed the bows off and carried an anchor out to windward and set it by hand. Shallow draft is wonderful! The simplest way to anchor one of these catamarans is to bring the rode through a fairlead or chock on one side of the forward beam, then secure this rode to that same side on a cleat on the mast beam. Since wide-beam catamarans behave best on a bridle type arrangement, it is then a simple matter to take another line, attach it to the main rode with a rolling hitch, lead this second line through a chock on the other side of the front beam and then to the cleat on that side of the mast beam. The main rode can then be let out some so that the pull from both sides is equal, effectively creating a bridle in the middle and just forward of the bows. I should have taken a photo of this arrangement, but did not. Next time I'll try to remember.

This is Fort Massachusetts, which has been standing on West Ship Island since 1859. It appears to be relatively intact despite Hurricane Katrina's fury. The 5-foot thick walls of brick fared much better than the U.S. Park Service's modern buildings on the island, which were all swept away.

With the boat anchored in waist deep water, I was able to completely clean the bottoms of the hulls with a scrub brush. The anti-fouling paint is working well; there was only a bit of slime on the hulls and no sign of barnacles. It will be easy to keep the hulls maintained when a good scrubbing like this only takes a few minutes and doesn't require diving under a keel, as I had to do on my monohull. After finishing this simple task, I hung out for awhile, ate lunch while relaxing on the forward tramp, and then sailed back to the mainland on the same steady breeze that brought me out there. I'm planning to take a multi-day trip out around these islands sometime in the next few weeks while the weather conditions are ideal for it. And in the meantime I will be working away on Element II at every opportunity.

Quick Trip to Ship Island

2007-03-13T19:30:00.000-07:00

I sailed Element out to West Ship Island yesterday. The weather was perfect, with temperatures in the 70s F, partly cloudy skies, and a steady east wind at about 10 knots. This wind was just right for a beam reach, both going out and returning on the 27 nm round trip. This was the first time I've gotten to sail Element in really nice, warm conditions, wearing shorts and going barefoot. It sure beats some of the cold daysails I had earlier this year. The boat handled great, averaging around six knots for the most part but at times running 7.5 to 8 knots. I sailed right up to the beach just east of the old fort and range tower, then anchored in waist deep, clear green water and spent a couple hours hiking. I had the place to myself, which is unusual on West Ship Island. There was not a boat in sight, and with the ranger station obliterated by Hurricane Katrina, there was no one working or livng on the island.

Element II

2007-01-31T06:13:00.000-08:00

I've finally begun building the boat I've wanted to build for years, and the final decision was based on how well Element sails and my enjoyment of the restoration process. I love the elegant simplicity of these Wharram Tiki designs, enough to commit myself to building a Tiki 26 over the course of the next year or two in my spare time. For my needs, the Tiki 26 is the ideal size, still small enough to easily manage for maintenance and moving to different locations on a trailer, yet big enough to have good sitting headroom in the cabins, enough load capacity for long voyages, and the same shallow draft and light weight advantages of the Tiki 21. I still intend to sail Element at every opportunity, and I'm planning some multiday cruises on her a little later this year, but as time permits I will be steadily working away at building Element II. I'll be documenting the process here on a new blog:

http://tiki26element2.blogspot.com

Hope to see you there....

Sunny Winter Day

2007-01-28T18:12:00.000-08:00

I went sailing Friday. This was the first time I've sailed the boat in sunny weather since the launching. Friday's forecast was for stronger wind when I was planning the trip, but as it turned out the cold front that had kept the north winds at 15-20 knots the two previous days had started to blow itself out, and by the time I got to the coast, the wind was east-southeast at maybe 10 knots. The sailing was nice, and Element handled well in the diminishing chop out in the sound, but I still couldn't get more than about 6 knots out of her in those conditions. We'll see when I finally manage to get out on a windy day. I had a fine close reach back into the harbor at Biloxi, and was able to point higher than I ever imagined possible in the combination of light winds and smooth waters.

Nice Daysail

2007-01-20T06:54:00.000-08:00

Although the wind was really light, maybe 5-7 knots and even less at times, I enjoyed some fine sailing on my most recent day aboard Element. It's amazing how well these boats sail in light air. This is because of the light weight and the slim, easily driven hull forms. In these conditions the Tiki 21 cruises effortlessly along at 5-6 knots, making very little fuss and hardly rippling the water in her wake.

Foggy, Windless Day on the Gulf

2006-12-15T06:35:00.000-08:00

Deer Island barely visible in the fog

Out in the sound near West Ship Island

Yesterday was not a good day for sailing, but I couldn't stand it any longer and had to get out on Element after being sick for nearly a week with cold and flu-like symptoms. The forecast was for a light north wind, up to 10 knots, but the wind wasn't there, and instead when I got to the marina what I found was dead calm.

Well, the new outboard needed breaking in anyway, so I took this as an opportunity to do so and to check fuel consumption and cruising speed under power. I kept it at half throttle or slightly under half while heading out the West Biloxi Channel into the sound, averaging 5-5.5 knots. There was some fog and haziness in the air, but with the sun trying to burn through, I thought it would all be gone by late morning. As it turned out, when I got out to the ICW crossing in the sound, almost to West Ship Island, the fog was still hanging around. Well clear of the channel, I shut down the engine and drifted while I ate lunch and made coffee. With the fog starting to increase, I decided not to go on to the barrier islands, as I had not planned on staying overnight on this trip and didn't want to get socked in until sometime the next day.

The engine ran perfectly, and on the way back in I ran it part of the time at more than half throttle, and tried it wide open. 6 knots was easy to maintain, and 7 was attained at full throttle. Even though a 4hp, 4-stroke is more than enough power for a Tiki 21, it's hard to get much more speed under power, as a lot of the extra thrust is wasted. Running at half throttle or less though is incredibly efficient, with more than enough reserve for headwinds and strong currents. The total distance motored was 20.7 nautical miles, averaging 5.5 knots, and burning a whole gallon of gas from my 3-gallon tank! I can't complain about that. I am looking forward to some decent wind, however, as I know this boat will be much faster under sail than under power, just like my Hitia 17 was.

On the way back in I was approached by a U.S. Coast Guard patrol in a stealthy, small boat that was right up on me before I realized it. They were nice though, just commenting on the danger of the fog as they came alongside, and looking at my unusual craft.

I stopped on Deer Island, running the bows up to the beach so I could try to sort out the main halyard problem that made raising the mainsail difficult the day we launched the boat and first sailed. It seemed to be the throat halyard that was the problem, and thinking it was somehow twisted or jammed. I decided to drop the mast to check it, even though I was alone. I had done this many times when the boat was in the yard, so I was confident I could get it back up without help. Other than the fact that the deck was wet and slippery, it proved to be no problem. I couldn't find a reason for the jamming, but after re-stepping the mast and finding the gaff would still not go up very well, I decided to pull the halyards outside of the sail sleeve pocket. This did the trick, and the sail is now easy to raise. Although the halyards are supposed to be inside the pocket to clean up the airflow around the sail, I think this is hardly beneficial enough to be worth the hassel of a sail that's hard to raise.

By the time all this was done, the fog had gotten worse to the point of being dangerous. I could no longer see the Biloxi channel and could barely see 100 yards from Deer Island. With many large commercial fishing vessels going to and fro in this channel, getting back to Point Cadet could be dangerous. But the shallow draft advantage of a catamaran decreased this somewhat, allowing me to closely follow the shore of Deer Island to the east through an area of 2-3 depths until I was adjacent to the marina. This way I only had to cross the channel briefly at a 90 degree angle, minimizing the time in water deep enough for large vessels.

Years of Fascination with Wharram Catamarans

2006-12-07T04:28:00.000-08:00

Segundo Vez: Hitia 17

As I've noted here before, Element is not the first Wharram catamaran I've owned, nor will it be the last. I've been fascinated with these designs since I first came across them back in 1997.

Just last week, I sold the first Wharram cat that I built and owned, the Hitia 17, Segundo Vez.

On my other blog, Island Time Online, I've posted a brief summary of how I came to build my first Wharram, why I got into monohull sailing for awhile, the purchasing and rebuilding of this Tiki 21 that has been rechristened, Element, and my future plans for building my next Wharram. Read it more here: http://islandtimeonline.blogspot.com/2006/12/time-to-move-on.html

Ready at the Dock

2006-12-06T10:31:00.000-08:00

Element's new home on the Gulf Coast

I haven't sailed Element since the launching last week. When we docked on Thursday morning in the new slip the tide was up, so I drove back down on Saturday morning to make sure there was enough slack in the lines at low tide, which was at 6:25 am. One can never be too carefull tying a 12-foot wide boat up in a slip that is just barely over 13-feet wide, especially when the docks are concrete.

It was barely above freezing when I was there Saturday morning, with a north wind over 20 knots, so I decided to hold off on sailing until I could get better conditions for a good shake-down cruise. There are some minor details with the running rigging to work out, such as getting the main halyards to run free. I also need a better system for cleating the mainsheet and I need to replace the horn cleat I used on the front of the mast to hold down the tack of the main with a smooth fairlead that can't snag the jib sheets when coming about. I've also got to make stronger cockpit seats for to fit over the hatch coamings, as the originals were too lightly built. These are all simple details that can probably be worked out in short order.

The forecast is looking good for the upcoming weekend, with the northerly winds shifting back to east on Saturday and then southeast on Sunday, with warmer daytime temps. I plan to take an overnight cruise out to the barrier islands, which one doesn't matter, I'll just head for the one that is on the most favorable beam reach.

More Launching Photos

2006-12-02T15:41:00.000-08:00

Loading all the parts on the trailer

Ready for the road

On the beach at Biloxi

Afloat at last, Bill and Houston Barker in the

background (photo by Artie Vaughn)

At anchor off Deer Island the next morning

Element is Afloat!

2006-12-01T17:31:00.000-08:00

Element at anchor off Deer Island, Biloxi, Mississippi

The launching of Element finally happened Wednesday, after a much longer than anticipated refit. The whole thing, from trailering to the Gulf coast to offloading the hulls, assembly, rigging and sea trials went smoother than I ever expected. To this I owe thanks to all the great help I had from my good friend Artie Vaughn, of the sailing vessel Halcyon, and to Bill Barker and his son Houston, who traveled all the way from Colorado to participate in this launching and to buy my Hitia 17, Segundo Vez.

We arrived at the beach in Biloxi shortly before 9:00am and took our time to carefully move the hulls to the water's edge and assemble the boat and stow all the gear. Since I don't intend trailering this Tiki 21 except to bring it home for maintenance, I was more concerned with taking great care to get everything right than to try and see how fast I could get the boat from the trailer to sailing. We enjoyed conversation as we worked and took a break for lunch, but by 2:58pm, all gear was on board for an overnight excursion and vehicles and trailer were shuttled to the parking lot of the marina where the boat will be docked. We then shoved off and motored upwind to get away from the broken pilings of the many hurricane damaged piers along the beach before raising the main and jib and bearing away on a beam reach. Other than some issues with the main and jib halyards not working smoothly inside the mainsail sleeve, the boat performed as expected and felt much like sailing the smaller Segundo Vez.

Tomorrow is Launching Day!

2006-11-28T03:42:00.000-08:00

Element will finally be afloat again sometime tomorrow. I completed the disassembly and washed the hulls and all parts yesterday, and today will load everything on the trailer for the trip to the beach in Biloxi. I will have help with this from a new Wharram enthusiast who has driven here to Mississippi from Colorado with his son to purchase my other Wharram catamaran, the Hitia 17, Segundo Vez.

Today we will prepare Segundo Vez for the trip to her new home in the Rocky Mountains and finish organizing all the gear needed to sail Element. After launching tomorrow, we will day sail around Biloxi and hopefully sail overnight to the barrier islands that lie approximately 10 miles to the south across the Mississippi Sound.

Hitia 17 and Tiki 21

2006-11-16T18:05:00.000-08:00

This photo shows the size difference between my Tiki 21 Element, and my Hitia 17 Segundo Vez. The perspective with Segundo Vez farther away makes it look even smaller, but there is a significant difference in four feet of length. The Tiki range from the Hitia 17 to the Tiki 30 increases in four-foot increments. Each size, however, is almost twice the volume of the next size smaller, hence a Tiki 21 cost about twice as much and requires about twice the time to build as the Hitia 17. This ratio is roughly the same going from a Tiki 21 to a Tiki 26, and from a Tiki 26 to a Tiki 30. In boats volume definately increases at a ratio exponential to overall length.

Each of these four sizes of the Tiki range has its own advantages and disadvantages, making each more suitable for some purposes than others. The Hitia 17 is for sure easier to deal with, with each hull weighing in at only about 90lbs. It can be easily trailered and set up quickly for sailing. What it lacks is any accomodation in the hulls when the weather turns nasty. The Tiki 21 is barely better, but does at least offer much more storage and a dry bunk in each hull, if not room to actually sit up inside with the hatches closed. The Tiki 21 is sort of an in-between size in my view, a little too big and difficult to set-up for easy trailering, at least the kind of trailering where you keep the boat at home and drive to the ramp for a few hours of day sailing. I'll be keeping mine in the water, which means paying for a dock space, which will make sailing much more convenient, but the boat is still too small for living aboard or comfortably hanging around on in a marina setting. It is a boat that will truly be in it's element out there sailing, and should be great for camp cruising and gunkholing around barrier islands and estuaries, while offering the ability to go offshore safely.

Moving up to the Tiki 26 and Tiki 30, one gets into a class of catamarans that are easily capable of long distance bluewater sailing, and both have been well-proven in this regard. The Tiki 26 offers sitting headroom in each hull, as well as two bunks in each and room for a basic galley, a portable toilet and storage for everything needed for one or two people to make an ocean crossing. At just 1500 pounds of boat weight, it still can be trailered, but will be more of a job than the Tiki 21 to assemble/disassemble. The Tiki 30, with it's deeper hulls and more volume inside offers room for a double bunk in each hull, more of a dedicated galley, toilet area, and even more storage. It's a lot more to build in many ways than the Tiki 26, based on my careful study of the plans for each, simply because of the increased size of the scantlings for stringers and other solid parts, the addition of mini-keels in the V-hulls and the complexity of the cockpit, mast, and other details. But it undoubtedly offers more comfort than any of the other small Tikis and the longer waterline length would make for more comfort and speed offshore in rough conditions.

The bottom line is that all boats are compromises, and you must give up one quality to gain another. Having built and sailed the Hitia 17, I'm looking forward to experiencing the capabilities of the Tiki 21. I'll also have one each of the Tiki 26 and Tiki 30, in a perfect world. But seriously, I am going to build another, not only in a quest to get the boat most appropriately sized for my needs, but to control the process from beginning to end so that every part of the boat will be of the best materials and best workmanship I can put into it. More will follow on this, but first there will be more details about the refit of Element, and soon, the sailing and cruising that will follow her launching.

Nissan 5HP 4-Stroke Auxillary

2006-11-15T17:55:00.000-08:00

Today my new Nissan 4-stroke outboard arrived and to my relief I found that it fit perfectly into the motor mount built into the Tiki 21 bridgedeck by the original builder. This mount is lower than deck level, so the 20" shaft gets the prop well below the waterline and as you can see in the photographs, it does not protrude high above the deck level.

The Nissan/Tohatsu line of outboards come in a 4, 5 and 6 horsepower size, all three of which are the same weight: 55lb.s. I chose the 5 because this size comes with an external fuel tank and line. As I found out long ago on my Hitia 17 with it's 3.3 hp Evinrude, there is nothing more inconvenient than trying to fill a small internal fuel tank when it runs dry in choppy conditions and you end up spilling gasoline all over the engine and the decks. I also wanted forward, neutral and reverse gears, which this engine has, and the quiet, reliability, and fuel economy of a four-stroke.

I found the best price for this engine at www.onlineoutboards.com. I ordered it on Monday and it arrived today, shipped for free via FedEx.

About to be Sailing

2006-11-07T20:13:00.000-08:00

The new Jeckells mainsail looks great!

It won't be long now. After all this time I've finally located a place to keep Element in the water on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It is a great location in the Biloxi area, not at a marina, but secure at a residential dock with easy access to the open waters of the sound and beyond.

Now I'm just finishing up little details like getting the trailer ready to move the boat and putting on a final coat of bottom paint. I'll also order a new outboard and some other gear this week. I'm planning to have a christening on dry land here where I've done the refit this Sunday, then move the boat to the coast to launch as soon as possible after that, depending on my work load and the availability of a couple of friends to help. We'll probably launch off the beach in Biloxi, using the 2-wheeled carts I built to roll the hulls into position across the sand for assembly at the water's edge.

Tiki 21 Interior

2006-11-07T19:56:00.000-08:00

I've been asked by readers interested in the Tiki 21 to post some interior shots. There's not much to photograph inside a Tiki 21, but here are a couple of shots I took a few weeks ago after making the canvas storage pockets shown inside the hatches. I'll take some more soon with gear inside, such as sleeping bags, etc. There's lots of storage space under the bunk level in the hulls, as well as extra space forward and aft of the berth area. Each cabin has an open area of 12 linear feet at bunk level between watertight bulkheads.

Port Hull at hatch entrance, showing canvas storage pockets for items like binoculars and handheld VHF radio that need to be accessible yet safe from going overboard.

Looking forward into the port hull berth. The bunk is just wide enough for a standard 22" Thermarest self-inflating air mattress of the type used by backpackers. Loose hatch boards shown in the photo cover storage areas forward and aft. The bunks feel adequate even though narrow, because of the flaring hull sides that slope away from the sleeping position.