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 Posted on August 29th, 2010It was a nice day, I had the whole morning, and, frankly, it was time. Today I put the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe together for the first time: wa’a, iakos, and ama – the whole shebang.
My assessment is that things fit pretty well, though I need to sand down the pegs at the end of the iakos. Frankly it is wild to see it come this far. I walked around it a bunch, reviewing it from all angles, but I confess it was more being stuck in awe than doing any true analysis.
You can see that the center section floorboards are now in (the darker one has oil on it) as is the center thwart. The aft floorboards started going in this morning and I finished the flotation.
Posted on August 24th, 2010
At one point I came across a picture of a dugout canoe from India with these amazing, carved stemheads, not unlike this one. I am not sure why, when I started playing around with how these might get used in other contexts that I thought to do a Maine lobsterboat with them (plus a rounder stern). I like it, though. Practical, schmacktical – it looks interesting.
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Unfortunately this one knocked around in my work bag too long before I remembered to retrieve it.
Posted on August 24th, 2010
I had this idea of taking the characteristic bow of an Indonesian jukung, which I LOVE, and marrying it to a very different hull form. In this case, what came out was a jukung bow on a pinky schooler stern with a junk rig. And I do think it has some potential.
Posted on August 24th, 2010
I doodle in meetings. A lot. Occasionally, I’ll get inspired and an interesting boat idea emerges. As is my way, I am typically trying to blend traditional design characteristics in some sort of fusion. I have a few saved on scraps of paper, and its high time I started sharing them. Comments are, of course, welcome. Let’s keep ‘em constructive, people.
I had an all-day meeting yesterday so I had time to play with this one a bit. Scale is something like 1 1/2″ = ~30′, but I am not sold on the length. I was trying to capture the profile of a haida canoe and thinking about the construction of a curragh a la Tim Severin’s BRENDAN (updated to modern materials). The rig is more straight Western traditional, but I think it fits. I haven’t really played much with center cockpits, but I wanted have oars as the auxiliary. Maybe the boats is too big for that (that’s one reason I am vague on lengths!). No idea if it all would work, but that is why it is just an idea at this point.
Posted on August 6th, 2010
We got a good scare yesterday here in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, VA. A front was coming through and we were expecting our usual summer thunderstorms. Instead, we now have firsthand knowledge of what a microburst is (sudden series of very strong gusts downward from a storm and then, at ground level, outward). The local high school clocked a 70+ MPH gust. Trees and limbs are down everywhere and there is a great deal of damage. Here are some photos from immediately around our house.
Thankfully our family and house are fine.
The scare extended to the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe project, which readers will know to be going on outside, on the west side of the house. Of course the burst came from… the west. My wife called me at the office and said “I have to break it to you – your boat is all over the yard.” Ooooppphhhh. I walked home, imagining what I would find and ponder strategies to salvage various cases. What I found was this:
 “Oh,” I thought, “that doesn’t look too bad.” And it wasn’t. In fact, I have yet to see ANY signs of damage to the skin-on-frame boat (I have found an inconsequential nick on the ama). That this is so is truly amazing. The big, heavy Peace Canoe, PEACE OF THE PUZZLE, was right up against the fence on saw horses, upside down, bow to the back of the yard. I found it upright, 10 feet further into the yard, bow to the front. As best I can figure, I went end-over-end through the air (it only has minor damage). Patting myself on the back for its construction! In doing so, it missed the skin-on-frame boat, which was right next to it, and which somehow ended up farther towards the fence. They somehow crossed paths and didn’t hit, nor did the light skin-on-frame frame go flying into the house and shatter, as my wife led me to think (the tarp on it may have secured it just enough). Bullet = dodged.
Thank goodness I have made as much progress as I have on the boat. I fear of the ribs had still been clamped to the outwales or if the stems weren’t fully attached to the longitudinals I might have had a mess. Instead, my boat has weathered her first storm and done so proudly. I think this success comes down to the skin-on-frame medium itself. Heck, I am a novice with it, and I have constructed a partial frame that has the flexibility to withstand being tossed around who knows how much. That “give” in the structure is an amazing innovation from centuries ago. I am excited to be carrying it on in this age where we try to build things rigid enough to beat down the sea as opposed flexing with it. Now I am REALLY eager to get this boat out in a swell and see how it works in its true element.
Posted on July 5th, 2010
Once again vacation (kayaking, windsurfing, and sailing at Cuttyhunk Island), our building project, and, alas, life have overtaken blogging. Well, Chine bLog is back. The good news is that the design and building project – the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe – is progressing well.
As you can see, the stringers are mostly on and the ribs trimmed. The ribs are trimmed because they are all pegged to the outwale, keeping them in position. We are now some ways into lashing the inwale in, creating a nice, secure sandwich. The inwales are also tied and pegged into the forward breasthook. In short, she’s getting more and more solid.
It took a little while to figure out the lashing around the frame / inwale / outwale joint. I am pleased with how this first one turned out. The extra piece creates a better surface on which the iakos will bear. The lashing is easier at each rib, but cutting all the notches to recess the line (done with a round file) makes things somewhat time-consuming.
Speaking of the iakos, » Continue reading Update on the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe project – structure coming along nicely »
Posted on May 26th, 2010
 We took the deep plunge into the world of steam-bending and came out of it… with ribs! Ribs that look pretty good! Ribs that seem to be pretty fair! Woot!
We finally got a spell of great weather and I was able to grab two days of staycation to buckle down on this step. Some before and after is worth a look. Here is my set-up, minus the heat source (an electronic hot-plate / portable range, $20 from Target. My wife informs me that the kettle is Felix the Cat, though I am not fully convinced this isn’t further evidence of this being a Mickey Mouse operation.
 Here are the ribs. I went with the tried and true white oak. 
Here is the whole business running. It was tricky – definitely on the outside end of the heat tolerance for some parts.
And now… the results! 
I’m pretty happy with it, at this point. Now, on to final fairing and lashing…
Posted on April 18th, 2010
Great news out of our little boatyard here at Chine bLog headquarters: the main hull – wa’a – of the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe now has outwales and thus shows her shape. There is still a little to do in the stern with the port outwale needing a little more coaxing to get into shape. The bow breasthook also is awaiting installation. With that and some touch-up, though, we are ready for ribs!
I set her up on the lawn to mock-up the finished boat. Obviously the iakos are placeholders (though this was not obvious to my wife, who tried to gently express concern that 5/8″ square spruce sticks would not be effective cross-members). Here she is, with non-iakos and an ama that didn’t want to be upright.
The current boatyard is in the background. That is PEACE OF THE PUZZLE under the tarp.
Posted on April 8th, 2010
The skin-on-frame outrigger canoe has been coming together in the last week or so. The pieces I formed over the winter months were ready for the keel, which got all its rib mortises. With a first coat of linseed oil on, I began tying the major structural elements together. The arrival of spring is clearly another factor. As you can see, operations have moved outside for some glorious post-kid’s-bedtime building in the spring air.
At the time I took these, I was still relying on clamps more than I need to now. The frames, stems, and “bulkhead” pieces just inboard from the stems are fully on. As I write the outwales are now being coaxed into shape. I suspect this will be a tricky process. These images at least give a sense of what the main wa’a will look like.
Posted on March 16th, 2010
Thanks to the help of a friend in the neighborhood (he owns a nice table-saw), I was able to mill some much better stock for laminating the frames. You may recall I had taken a whack and not been happy with the results.  Well, better stock and a little practice brought great results the second time around. The lamination was pretty clean and the form dead-on. After a bunch of clean-up – spokeshave, block plane, rasp, and 100-grit sandpaper – the frames look great.
As orientation, in case it isn’t clear, the mortise in the bottom is for the keel and the ones at the top are for the inwales.
I have one of the waes done (the cross-pieces that form the attachment points for the iako – outrigger – itself) and another on the way. In the course of some badly-needed shop-reorg I turned up a couple nice pieces of cherry that were perfectly sized for the waes. Bingo – done and done. I think the contrast will be great and the cherry will be a good fit for the job.
Next up I’ll be finishing the second wae, oiling these parts, and starting to tie these pieces together. I am also 1/4 done with the rib mortises in the keel. With those done, I’ll be able to glue the keel scarf and tie the frames and stems on it. And then, my friends, we will have us some progress!
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