I have had some time to sift through the back catalog here at Chine bLog headquarters and noted that I never covered a few key books I read in the last couple years. In particular,after knocking off Tim Severin‘s The China Voyage and then his The Brendan Voyage,I moved on to his some of his other like books. Severin’s trip in BRENDAN,the authentic 9th century curragh,got his wheels spinning,it seems,and he hit on another mythical journey to test:the adventures of Sinbad.
It was commonly accepted at the time (~1980),that these writings were pure myth. Severin arranged to build a replica 9th century dhow in Oman,scouring the Arabian Sea shores for period materials,especially the coconut husk fiber builders of the day used to lash the boat together. Yes,these were plank–on-frame boats that were fully lashed. He and a crew then sailed the boat from Oman to China,identifying sources for the supposedly mythical elements and,thereby,suggesting the Sinbad stories may have been based on an amalgamation of true events.
The first quarter or so of the book is all about the boat and its materials,and that alone makes it worth reading. The actual voyage is not as gripping as that of the BRENDAN,but it is still an engaging story. If you haven’t read any Severin,I’d start with The Brendan Voyage and then grab this one immediately afterwards. Here is a summary piece if you need more convincing.
Even more interesting to note is that there is a movie coming out about the effort,“Our Blue Canoe.”The article above included the trailer,courtesy of YouTube:
Good stuff here. Look out for the film and check out the book.
As I have noted before,one of the biggest issues I have found with the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe AL DEMANY CHIMAN is that the ama isn’t working out. The shape is a bit off and it ships too much water. Having completed a number of smaller maintenance items since calling an end to the season,I have begin the winter’s major project:redesigning and rebuilding the ama.
My first step was last night. I unscrewed the “sheer clamps”and the pulled off the skin. What I found was a bit distressing,if not wholly unexpected:there has been water trapped beneath the skin and the frame doing what water will do. You can see that dark area where the oil I put on the bow piece didn’t help (or wasn’t enough). The part above that was quite wet,and that is from rain somehow getting in (or,forbid,leftover from a month ago –shudder). The line where the skin met the bow piece is distressingly evident,though this is more mildew. The bigger issue here is that the two planks that make up that piece have separated (note the slight hitch in the “sheerline”). The afte end is better off,but has a few issues of it’s own.
So this leaves me with the question of how to proceed from here,as I have to approach this project with an additional variable. Factors I am thinking about are:
I need to reconstruct the ama so that it does not ship water
I want to preserve the skin-on-frame look as much as possible
It is unlikely that,with the skin-on-frame medium,I can keep all water out
If I make the ama a good deal more watertight,but not 100% so,I’ll end up with more of the issues noted above
A new ama that is fully watertight and water-protected may not go as well with the rest of the boat
A bit of a quandary,eh? My current thinking is to unlash the frame,coat every inside surface with the same two-part polyurethane that coats the skin,partially relash,add foam to fill the inside,and reskin the ama. My guess is that this approach leaves some vulnerability to water damage,but hopefully holds it off a good bit. Any other ideas or approaches you all would recommend? Please comment below. Many thanks,
As I work away on refinements to the sailing rig for my skin-on-frame outrigger sailing canoe AL DEMANY CHIMAN,I wanted to show off a few more details of the rig as it is. I posted a variant of this view before,but I think this is a better picture. It gives a sense of the overall layout and the different rig elements.
Here is the steer oar and its chalk. This set-up worked reasonably well,though I might eventually want to put some weight on blade end.
This view shows the hiking plank and mainsheet leads.
Finally,some detail on the finished blocks,which I hand made from paduak.
Toward the end of the day Saturday,I happened to be on hand when John Harris,father of Chesapeake Light Craft,took a spin in one of the two cocktail class racers that were about. For those who don’t know,these boats are 8′plywood outboard boats that barely hold a single man. They go fast and have a devoted following. John was getting into the boat and setting of when one fo the other guys from CLC yelled out “John! Stop! You’re in the wrong boat! It has a MOTOR! [as John heads out] Uhhh…he’s gone to the dark side.”LOL. John came back after an out-and-back run looking somewhat exhilerated and more than mildly terrified. In the next three minutes I heard him say “the steering is really an art”no less than five times with his eyes the size of bulkhead ports. I wouldn’t be holding your breath for the CLC cocktail class kit.
[UPDATE] Captions are now on there. I encourage you to browse through. There were some AMAZING AMAZING boats there. I’d highlight the sailing canoe SEVEN STARS,the Melonseeds,the sailing canoe in pictures 4 and 31,and,of course,the Coquina.
Posted on January 15th,2012
It was commonly accepted at the time (~1980),that these writings were pure myth. Severin arranged to build a replica 9th century dhow in Oman,scouring the Arabian Sea shores for period materials,especially the coconut husk fiber builders of the day used to lash the boat together. Yes,these were plank–on-frame boats that were fully lashed. He and a crew then sailed the boat from Oman to China,identifying sources for the supposedly mythical elements and,thereby,suggesting the Sinbad stories may have been based on an amalgamation of true events.
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,by Ben R. Finney,a book detailing his close involvement with the early iterations of this movement. In short,a few groups of Polynesians connected with each otherseveral years ago and decided to build versions of their traditional voyaging canoes and sail together around Polynesia using traditional navigation (i.e.,by stars,birds,weather patterns,etc.) It is a pretty interesting read,especially since Finney sailed with esteemed Micronesian navigator 
You can see that dark area where the oil I put on the bow piece didn’t help (or wasn’t enough). The part above that was quite wet,and that is from rain somehow getting in (or,forbid,leftover from a month ago –shudder). The line where the skin met the bow piece is distressingly evident,though this is more mildew. The bigger issue here is that the two planks that make up that piece have separated (note the slight hitch in the “sheerline”). The afte end is better off,but has a few issues of it’s own. 
