Description:
Hanneke Boon started building and sailing Polynesian catamarans at the age of 14. Along the way she’s sailed tens of thousands of ocean miles and has drawn the majority of the Wharram Boatbuilding Plans since the ’70s, known as some of the clearest boatbuilding instruction plans ever produce. Now the head of James Wharram Designs and still sailing across oceans, she’ll discuss stories from her fascinating life and the widespread culture their catamarans have inspired.
Speaker:
Hanneke Boon | Boat Designer, Head of Wharram Designs
Hanneke Boon is head of James Wharram Designs, a role she has carried out for more than ten years, whilst supporting James Wharram in his advancing years. She has built, or taken part in building more than sixteen Wharram designs, including developing many prototypes and the 63ft Spirit of Gaia. She now sails when she can escape the drawing board or the computer. Hanneke loves experimenting with sail-rigs and shared James’ deep interest in Marine Archaeology and the origins of Canoeform watercraft.
What an incredible life journey so far, truly inspirational!
Hanneke I loved that Nate asked the question “what’s ahead for you?” Wow you had quite a list! Hooray for you! Thank you for your stories and experiences! A wonderful presentation!
Please ask her about wood rot and how to prevent it.
Hi Cristhian. See the responses to your questions from Chris Bidler and Jerry McIntire below.
Hanneke you were an excellent storyteller and I enjoyed the flow and pictures and stories. It was fascinating to see the details of the inside of your boats! Just amazing and how exciting! It ended sooner than I was ready for… not too long at all! Thank you for sharing your life with us. I especially enjoyed the background of you and your dad! Magnificent!
What a treat! a real education. Thank you.
I would like to clarify something regarding my previous comment.
My original idea of building a smaller Tiki 21 first was mainly to gain practical boatbuilding experience and avoid making serious mistakes when building a larger boat later. As I have no previous experience with wood, fiberglass, or epoxy work, I thought this step-by-step approach would be safer.
However, after thinking more carefully about my financial reality, I realize that building two boats may not be viable for me. I am not a wealthy person and have been saving for many years with great sacrifice. Constructing a smaller boat first could significantly delay my ultimate goal.
I am now reconsidering whether it might be wiser to prepare myself thoroughly through study and practice, and then commit directly to building the boat that I truly intend to live aboard with my wife.
In your experience, is it realistic for a first-time builder — with careful preparation and patience — to responsibly take on a larger Tiki design?
Thank you again for your guidance and inspiration.
“In your experience, is it realistic for a first-time builder — with careful preparation and patience — to responsibly take on a larger Tiki design?”
Yes, and has been done often, including when Wharram was starting out. Though he does seem to have been able to get a lot of help.
Some might say ignorance is an advantage. Because if you don’t know what you are doing, of course you would follow the path to success laid out in the plans. But in my experience, people spend a ton of time making changes, perusing internet sites, and other distractions. This is easy woodworking, though, with a lot of different challenges. It is a lot of labor. It will take thousands of hours, even if you can build where you live. The tools are simple, but you will have to dive in and develop skills with them. The joints are simple. It is really about how to stick it out when there are weeks of tiring, unpleasant work to complete, not about a very high level of skill.
Every now and then one pops out some plywood into a boat shape, or turns a hull over, and there is a moment of rapture. But it requires the willingness to work two jobs for years.
If you want to do a trial project, I would suggest a dingy. You will need one, and they are fun while you are building as you will be able to get to the water. Or you can probably sell it. I would build an Elegant Punt, the design was in one of Payson’s books, and those are online. Instant Boats I think. You can also send away for the plans. Bolger was OK with it either way. You can build one of these in a weekend (The Hull), depending on drying conditions, and I am talking about getting the boat made, not all the sanding and fussing on the finish you may want to do.
If you want to experiment with your yacht designer ideas, this is an excellent way to start. Small boats do require sizing. A couple that weighs 200 pounds needs a different approach than one that weighs 400 pound. You can start here to deal with issues like displacement, and rocker for those different load conditions. But when you get to a 38, big changes are a lot more work and risk, and the couples that vary in weight by 200 pounds can trust that either may be ok in the same 38 foot boat.
Bolger had a ye olde way of building. Suffice it to say, I have never built one of those boats with the framing outside. That just doesn’t make sense with modern materials.
As to your initial concern expressed earlier about durability of well-made marine plywood, I would suggest looking into Kiana Weltzen’s experience with Mara Noka, a Wharram that I believe was about forty years old when she sailed from the Canaries to the US, then after a refit back across the Atlantic, and then back *again* to Brazil for a long tenure on the coast. The WEST system of saturating the first 1-2mm of surface with epoxy creates a structure that, if properly coated to protect from UV damage and carefully inspected/maintained, seems every bit as durable as FRP even in tropical climates. The danger of course is that “carefully inspected/maintained” part – even a small puncture or hole in the thin but vital epoxy/paint layer will let seawater and heat/humidity do a number on the wood underneath.
My thought about your newer issue is that you might take some of the funds and time you had considered using on self-building a smaller boat and put it toward traveling to and taking classes at one of the schools for boat building to gain skills and confidence to apply toward your goal. IIRC there’s even a group in England that specializes in teaching the building of Wharram designs, though I’m not turning up the details in a quick Web search right now.
I wish you great success in your endeavor and hope you will share your progress with us on youtube or elsewhere.
Not to niggle, but epoxy does not sink it. I guess the molecules are large enough that they stay on the surface. If one saturates a surface, and then grinds it, it is just a film on the surface. This is part of the reason that surfaces are glassed, because the glass created a screed that holds a thicker layer of epoxy in place. Along with other benefits.
There is a product called Rot Doctor that was supposed to sink in, at least on rotted surfaces. I tried a lot of formulas and had no success getting them lower into the wood. One would end up with a familiar fluid like nasal secretions where there is a thicker material suspended in a thinner one. Initially it seem that wetting is improved, but the thicker material does not sink in.
But the way it does work, works. 🙂
Of course, epoxy does sink into your clothes…
I would also like to add something important.
If I am able to begin this project, I intend to document the entire construction process in great detail and create a YouTube channel to share everything.
My goal would be to inspire other ordinary people like me — people who are not wealthy but are willing to work hard and sacrifice — to believe that building their own boat is possible.
I know many people are interested in Wharram construction, and I believe this channel could help and encourage others who dream of doing the same.
It would certainly involve thousands of hours of filming, showing every stage of the build, including the mistakes, the learning process, and the solutions.
Since YouTube now automatically translates content into other languages, I believe the project could reach and help people all over the world.
I would be honored to share this journey and contribute, in my own humble way, to keeping the spirit of Wharram alive for future builders.
That sounds great, I will your first subscriber-:)
Greetings from Brazil. My name is Cristhian.
I am 54 years old, a firefighter, nurse, and Uber driver, and a great admirer of Wharram designs.
I am not a wealthy person, and I have been saving money for many years and continue to save, giving up all non-essential expenses in order to build my boat.
My main concern is wood rot in tropical climates. In Brazil, humidity is very high, and long-term durability worries me.
Is it possible to replace part or most of the plywood structure with another material that does not suffer from rot, while keeping the boat strong and safe for ocean passages?
If replacement is not recommended, what would be the most reliable and affordable method to completely protect the wood against rot for many decades?
I plan to build a Tiki 21 or Tiki 26 first to gain experience, and later a Tiki 30 or Tiki 38. I have no previous experience in boatbuilding, fiberglass, or epoxy work, but I am willing to study and learn carefully.
My goal is to build a very strong, storm-resistant, ocean-capable boat, to sail with my wife and eventually support our life through charter along the Brazilian coast and one day around the world.
Any guidance for someone building on a very limited budget would mean a great deal to me.
Many people who build, build in humid climates. After all, they want to sail in the tropics, the woods come from tropical or coastal areas. If your concern is that there will be humidity in the boat, the wood epoxy actually normalizes to the climate around it. Epoxy is water, not vapor proof. So if the boat was a little moist from the environmental humidity that can’t actually be sealed in. It will normalize.
If what you are concerned about is building out in the open air and rain cycling etc… That isn’t viable. You need to consider how you build indoors. Nothing slows things down as much as building out of doors. Unless you have an ideal climate. There are many projects that can be created around the hulls stationed outside once they are substantially completed. It is also possible to make a lot of sub assemblies in a small workshop. But at some point you will have to brave the elements.
I would suggest building as big as you can. basically look at the weight, and assume it reflects the cost, and time. The 21 is really small. It should not be mistaken for the coposite version that sailed around the world. Keep in mind that the boat you are actually building is the WLL with these things. The overhangs do not amount to what they would an vertical bow and transom. The 38 is sorta like a 30 in other lines,, and even then, less.
I would not waste time (obviously up to you) on video work. First these boats are as easy to build as anything, and people will face their own challenges. Many blogs have been written over the last 20 years. Most projects don’t hit the water (though Wharrams have and advantage there. To add hundreds or thousands of hours covering stuff that is already out there won’t help.
And with all due respect, there is the blind leading the blind issue. I probably spent thousands of hours doing online stuff, and it was high quality, I have built, and often designed, 300 feet of boats. I got a minor reputation, and some lovely comments, but it was a waste of time. For one thing, the platforms change every few years, probably by the time you will launch.
Avoid as much as possible throwing yourself into the project through a lot of changes. There are many reasons why this is a bad idea. These should be obvious, but one that may be less so is that if you do not know exactly what you are doing and change anything major, even if it is a huge improvement it can sap your confidence. As the years pass, all those changes weigh on you and can affect your launch.
Wood epoxy boats can easily be better than foam core, which is the main alternative. The Gougeon boats still can beat multi million dollar super yachts.
Thirty years on of outdoor storage and some use, my trimaran (not Wharram) is still fine, and it turned out that the plywood I used wasn’t even waterproof. I was in a bad accident and missed a few years, during which, because I had a few plugged holes untouched, water damage occurred that rotted out the whole aft deck and cockpit. It was really easy to repair. I used a process where the replacement product was laminated into the paint and final veneer skin. So it took maybe a week or so of an hour here or there to get it back into shape. It turned out to be easy. After years of worrying about could I draw water out with a vac pump, and how would I get flow, when it actually happened it was a nothing, I didn’t even have to replace the paint on the outside of the hull, which is a huge job.
I also once looked at my amas on a trailer and saw this spot, it was brown when it should have been white. It was an area where the glass had spread and a direct line opened to the (not waterproof glue) plies. How long had it been like that. It was hot weather, so it was dry. I just bogged it and refinished the spot.
The amas have been through several floods when they floated up in the water inside my basement, lakeside, and back down. Months later I returned. They were fine. You do have to be scrupulous about sealing everything up.
The Wharram plans are for rugged boats. They often vote for more workboat like options, rather than specifying super lightweight elements. Watch out for places that concentrate a lot of loads, and try to glass all exterior ply surfaces. Anywhere that you use,say, 4oz glass (light) rather than just epoxy and paint, will be 10X more durable.
Also, be careful of excess weight in materials, and be aware that there is a lot of plywood out there that is not up to the claimed standards. Consider a little testing of your own. Without a major brand as well as a certification claim, often the ply is not what it should be.
Bom dia, Cristhian. I will encourage you to build the larger boat straight away, without delay. I recommend finding someone locally with good skills working in epoxy to help you get started.
I do not know of a better, less expensive material that will not rot. Foam can be used as the core for a sandwich of plywood panels, but it cannot entirely replace plywood easily, as Hanneke explained in her presentation. If you coat every plywood piece thoroughly with epoxy, it will not rot. Many, many plywood composite boats built like this are doing well in the tropics.
Congratulations on saving your money to begin boat construction! If you will charter your boat and take guests, or simply want to take family and friends with you, I think the 38 is a better idea.