A great man, who really brought the catamaran to the western world. Building his first in 1954, he sold his ideas to thousands of people who became devoted followers. The world moved on, but James Wharram did not, yet it is probably reasonably accurate to say that every modern catamaran from the Hobie and other beach cats to the huge Lagoon and FP, and other multi million dollar condo cats can trace it's lineage back to that catamaran James built in 1954. (below)
His designs left a lot to be desired for most of us....."If I'd wanted a cabin I'd have designed one". Flexible beam connections, not to my knowledge used by any other designer. Double ended hulls resulting in much less useable interior volume for length, V bottoms resulting in more drag, but acting as a leeway device, slatted decks.... it's not the cat most people want, yet his cats of various sizes have crossed many oceans. They had a capsize free record back when capsize was the great fear with multihulls: Hey Ho and Up She Rises (Sports Illustrated) They have survived virtually everything the ocean could throw at them including tropical cyclones.
Probably more of his designs have been built than those of any other multihull designer. Simple, light, seaworthy, and able to carry a payload surprising for their size.
The first, and still the most common junk rigged catamarans out there are Wharram designs, (and owner variants) yet he had nothing good to say about the junk rig on multihulls for many years, though his stance seems to have softened over the years as the cambered panel rig evolved. Here are two, a conventional junk rig, and a soft wing sail version.
You have to admire a man who marched successfully to the beat of his own drummer for nearly 60 years and accumulated so many devoted followers who built so many of his boats.
My interest is in catamarans, and the apple of my eye does not fall far from the "Wharram Tree", in the designs of Richard Wood, who originally worked under James Wharram, but moved his designs into modern times.
H.W.