As the boat neared completion, I began to realize that it wouldn't meet all my needs in a boat in more ways than one. Of course no single boat can - they all are compromises in one way or another and it's difficult to find one that has a set of compromises you can live with. This realization happened to coincide with the desires of another Tiki 26 owner who was refitting a tired example of the design to get on the water much faster than the rate at which he was making progress. Long story short, he made a good offer and I accepted it, knowing that if I decided I want to sell it later after launching, it might take a really long time to find a buyer willing to pay what it was worth to me. Readers of this blog will be well aware of the quality of construction and attention to detail that went into Element II.
Below are a few photos taken when the boat was loaded onto the new owner's trailer. It will be renamed, and has already been painted a different color, but still is not in the water. When I get photos of it sailing, I will post those here as well.
This is one of the last photos taken before we started disassembly. The cockpit had not yet been painted, and of course the next step for me would have been to begin the rigging so the mast could be stepped:
The new owner already had a custom-built, expandable trailer designed for a Tiki 26. Getting the hulls on the trailer without a crane was the hardest part of the operation. As it turned out, the open carport in the front of my house had just enough overhead clearance so that we could hoist the hulls to the ceiling one at a time and back the trailer under them for loading.
Getting the port hull on went smoothly. The trailer had to be moved out of the way to get the starboard hull in position and hoisted.
Loading the second hull was a lot more tricky, with not nearly as much room to work with. We managed to do it though, without anything even getting scratched.
Here is the whole rig, with hulls, beams, cockpit, mast and all assorted parts lashed down and ready for the road. It all fit on the trailer, with lots of small parts and left over supplies stashed down below in the hulls.
The proud new owners of Element II, a father and son team who have big plans for adventurous sailing. They moved the boat to the Texas Gulf Coast where the final fitting out and launching will be done.
So, after Element II was gone, I had lots of empty space in my backyard and boatbuilding shed. But when I made the decision to sell, I never really planned to start another build. It's been far too long since I've been on the water. Since I wanted a boat with more interior accommodations than the Tiki 26 could offer, that meant I was looking at monohulls again. It took a long time to find just the right one, but last month I purchased this Carl Alberg-designed Cape Dory 27 in Florida and sailed her home to Biloxi, which will be my base for cruising adventures.
You can read more about it on my Scott's Boat Pages blog, here. This Tiki 26 build blog will stay live for future reference to anyone building this design. Comments are still open, and I will also still try and answer questions any builders may have by email. Thanks for reading.
