|  Posted on November 24th,2011 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, Posted on October 29th,2011 
For some tie I have known of Douglas Brooks,a Vermont boatbuilder who became fascinated with traditional Japanese boats several years ago and has since traveled there a few times to study and document traditional boats and construction methods. There was a nice piece about him recently in the Japan Times Online that focused particularly on Brooks’s efforts on Okinawa to find a surviving traditional builder of native sabani,a local sailing canoe. The article links to a resource site with more about sabani,which look extremely interesting and capture,I believe,faint elements of the traditional craft to their south. The image abve comes from that site. Posted on October 25th,2011 
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. 
I can’t wait to get her going again next season. Posted on October 1st,2011 
She’s all ready for show… Posted on September 30th,2011 For the next 24-odd hours Chine bLog is reporting LIVE from the 2011 Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michael’s,MD. As I type on my smart phone,a lovely folk trio is playing in the background while folks eat and mingle. A whole fleet of amazing boats is already here,and I’ll be sharing some in the AM. The biggest news,from our perspective,is that the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe AL DEMANY CHIMAN finally got under sail today. That was the afternoon’s goal and we got it done. As you may recall,“DEMANY”means “sail”,so she has fully taken her name. Results? Well,winds were light,but we completed several tacks and had no catastrophic issues. That said,we have some work to do. The leeboard is not behaving well at all and was minimally useful. Design flaw there. The configuration of steering vs. sheet will also take some getting used to. All told,though,we’ll call it a success. Stay tuned… [UPDATE] The sailing rig did not fair so well during the blustery next day. While still on land showing off her rig,the yard snapped (building flaw) and the mast partner lashing failed (design flaw). Neither was catastrophic,but we’ll need to deal with these issues before we get back on the water under sail. A guy who was next to the rig when it broke looked at me like my brother just died and said a sincere “I’m sorry.”It was a bummer,yes,but I regard the whole boat as an experiment and a learning experience,particularly the sailing rig. I will learn from this and fix the issues and we will be back. This boat CAN sail –we proved that. Posted on September 22nd,2011 
I finished up the spars for the sailing rig on my skin-on-frame outrigger canoe,AL DEMANY CHIMAN today. That meant setting the sail for the first time. Some kinks to work out,but good progress. Posted on September 1st,2011 So much for being more active with Chine bLog this year…but again,my absence often means there is interesting content. I have,indeed,delved into the sailing rig for my skin-on-frame outrigger canoe,AL DEMANY CHIMAN,and have made good progress in recent weeks after stalling for a while. A tour of recent work,if I may:  I have finished sanding the leeboard (which I showed a few months ago) and am in a good place on the bracket (seen here together). The bracket is my own design,and I hope it works.   It clamps onto the gunwale with the board itself on a bolt so it can pivot. I will put leather around the inside faces and will pin the pieces together with some brass rod (under current plan). It is made from laminated offcuts of the white oak ribs. Lord,my Scottish New Englander ancestors must be proud.
  The same oak offcuts went into making the bracket for the steer oar,which will be lashed to a peg on the aft bulkhead. This is about good to go. I like how it came out,although,for its size,it is easily the heaviest thing on the boat. The oar itself is a bit farther out,though I did get assembled at a macro level. Deep Chine bLog fans may recognize the blades as leftovers from my kayak paddle.
Finally. there is the sail itself. I have the spars a good way along,and for kicks –and measurement –I laid everything out on the front lawn the other day. This shot from an upstairs window gives a sense of what it will look like ( if one was a fish 5 feet to port and 10 feet under water behind a screen window). All things considered,I am pretty happy with the recent work and feel optimistic again about getting a sail in before the season closes. Up next,building my own blocks… Posted on April 26th,2011 Spring is springing here in metro-Washington,DC and the waters will soon be calling the fleet to them. I have been focused on the sailing rig for AL DEMANY CHIMAN,the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe. I gave a hint of this in a prior post. Since then,the sail arrived (yeah!) and it looks great. Its arrival forced me to get going on the spars,which I have done. I have ensured my mast is nice and straight and rounded it off [editor's note:is there a better entry in the "boatbuilding phrases that sound dirty but aren't?" category? Didn't think so. Moving on...] and the boom is glued up and ready for similar treatment. I have built a chock for the steer-oar as well,which I will be fitting soon,I hope. Good progress,all told. Pictures soon. I spent some of Easter afternoon painting the Peace Canoe,PEACE OF THE PUZZLE. I’ll be putting her on the market in short order. If anyone wants a hand-built,18′canoe,please let me know. Posted on April 4th,2011  We are feelin’South Pacific here at Chine bLog. We have some sweet new tunes from Papua playing (Akave by George Telek ) and just had the pleasure of discovering an amazing boatbuilder and artist. We found Tevita Kunato via our friend Gary Dierking over at Outrigger Sailing Canoes. Tevita Kunato is the business name for the creations of David Kunert,a man of Papuan birth who now lives in Hawaii.
Gary was highlighting the incredible dugout outrigger canoes David has built. His site shows an amazing Hawaiian / Papuan canoe that he built with a variety of native woods and then carved with traditional designs. You have to just go to the post on this boat to see the rest of the pictures. This boat in unbelievably beautiful.  Here is another outrigger canoe with designs inspired by war shields. This is a pretty small boat,but it would stand out even at a gathering of traditional boats.
 David also makes canoe paddles,and I might like these more than the boats,and I like the boats a lot. The paddle here is of Hawaiian and West Papuan origin and couldn’t be more beautiful. $625 and its yours,and I’d say its well worth it.
There is more great stuff here,so you should definitely investigate yourself. Posted on March 1st,2011 For those of you that have been following the progress of my skin-on-frame outrigger canoe,AL DEMANY CHIMAN,I thought I’d provide an update. I have gotten a sail-plan more or less in place,working with Todd Bradshaw of “Canoe Rig”fame. 
I have added a boom from the original conception. It is now an Arabian lateen with a boom;please don’t call it a balanced lug. ;^) Unlike the drawing,the sail will not be laced to the boom. I hope it will be faux tanbark. I have also begun work on building pieces of the sailing rig. I have a roughed out take on the leeboard,which I a proud to say uses a bunch of scrap wood I’d been itching to use. I expect it will still look great once sanded. 
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