Weigh In
With the hard parts of the boat completed I wanted to weight the parts so that I would know how much weight I was putting on the trailer. I used a scale hanging from the rafters in the garage with some 2x4s for support when weighing the hulls. I checked for accuracy using my body weight and a bathroom scale.
| Part | Weight |
|---|---|
| Port Hull | 337 lbs |
| Starboard Hull | 336 lbs |
| Fore Beam | 52 lbs |
| Mid Beam | 51 lbs |
| Aft Beam | 54 lbs |
| Fore Platform | 30 lbs |
| Center Platform | 59 lbs |
| Port Platform | 24 lbs |
| Starboard Platform | 28 lbs |
| Mast | 56 lbs |
| Gaff | 4 lbs |
| Tillers and Tiller Bar | 14 lbs |
| Sails, Sail Bags and Covers | 22 lbs |
| Beam Lashings, Forestay, Shrouds | 7 lbs |
| Halyards, Sheets, Traveler, Jib Leads and Blocks | 12 lbs |
| Total | 1,086 lbs |
According to the Tiki 21 plans, the overall weight of the boat should be 600 lbs. So I am 445 lbs over (75%). The hulls are supposed to weigh 175 lbs each so mine are each 162 lbs over (93%). I definitely overbuilt the hulls with some thicker plywood in places, fiberglass on all the fillets, and hardwood for the keel and sheerstringers. But almost double the weight surprised me. I wonder if the Wharram hull weights are realistic?
The Wharram plans don’t have individual weights for the rest of the pieces and parts. Lumping everything else together results in 372 lbs compared to 250 lbs in the plans (48%). The beams use hardwood instead of softwood so I am not surprised that they are heavy. Same for the platforms since I used thicker plywood in places and fiberglassed the tops.
Of course there is more weight to add with sails and lines to get to a sailing weight. I’ll try to keep track as I go along. Let me know your results if you have weighed your Tiki 21.
I need to weigh my trailer next to see if the axles and wheels will support the total weight of the boat and trailer.
