Hope these give an idea of my project, I screwed the leeward side down to a jig of 4 by 2 lumber. The leeward dimension was a rectangle 4300 by 500 mm.Cut from 7mm ply joined with simple overlap. Made the jig under size to leave a 50mm overlap along keel to to allow access for the wire stitching. Be careful with screw placements to jig as they have to be removed later!  

Worked all measurements from a 1/16 model made of light card.

The hardest part was keeping the bow pieces from exploding out. Had to build a stop on the end of the jig as copper wire stitching just gave way.The stems were going to be vertical but the pressures involved gave me a slightly curved stem by the time I'd finished fairing up.

On the next one will place a shaped stem piece glued and screwed to leeward side, before placing the windward sides. Had trouble inside in the very narrow ends getting resin and tape in place.With this in place would assist fixing down windward side.

The windward side pieces were shaped using the model. Have kept a full size pattern to be able save time on the next proa.

The windward two pieces of ply overlapped at midships and were glued together after the keel join was well wired up. Beam turned out less than on model.

Puzzled long and hard re built in buoyancy, went for 2 tanks in the end for safety and stiffness. Used construction glue to close up the tanks and ama. Squaredrive stainless screws where needed (best things since sliced bread).

Amazed by the bamboo a whole new skill in itself.

The sailing is another pleasure, never sailed so responsive a boat. The sail is in need of refinement, the leech is all wrong, but the luff is good and telltales lie flat. The halyard is an important control, ease off a foot and away she goes. Hardly using the paddle now, but avoiding down wind stuff as I need to get home!

Cheers Paul

 check out the 3 videos on

 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5619654719166830701

cut and paste the link, or search for Hokianga Proa on Google video

Shows steering with weight shifting and sheet control.

Launching

Oct 07 I changed the bamboo mast for a stonger section soon after this.

In November 07  Had a "wreck" when the open foot wells allowed water to back syphon into the buoyancy tanks.  25 knots gusting 30 plus, short choppy 3 foot waves in wind againsttide, 140kg of crew aboard. We were flying at times ...but...Couldn't bail the foot wells quickly enough, the Proa bow wassubmarining quite frequently for long spells, the water found it's way into the buoyancy compartments, so eventually the crew were sat on a

waterlogged raft.

A couple of shunts were done too quickly when hard on the wind, so found ourselves heading straight down wind almost immediately and with

the weight of water, had a struggle to get him round before we were aback. Eventually had to summon help by cell phone. Just couldn't bail

fast enough, perhaps we could have got overboard then bailed, but the rescuers were waiting for us and crew tiredness was a factor.

Hauling the waterlogged proa out of the water was done with too much enthusiasm by the rescuers so I have some damage to the shroud leads

to fix. The base of the bamboo mast broke during this struggle, but the rest of the spars are ok. The plywood aka supports on the ama got

wrecked as well.

Lessons, fibreglass tape all seams! Have also put sealed floors in the centre sections as well as a pair of dashboards and cockpit coaming/spray boards/wave breakers.

I had a good summer sailing, but want to have a bigger sail and carry a crewman

so:-

Cut in half May 08

 Sunday May 18th

Tides not convenient for the Optimist Kids to be out today so good progress on Te Wheke:-

 This photo shows him back on the jig, lee hull sheet in place.

  Now got the windward hull piece screwed and glued.

 This shows the midships paired bulkheads in place, temporary bolts in place.

This photo shows the packing piece between the bulkheads, to give space for the saw!

I won't separate the two halves until knees, cockpit floor and all internal glassing and taping is done.  The fiddly bits which take all the time. Will need decent sized bolts and two reasonably sized hatches for access.

Change of mind as I needed access to transom side of the bulkheads, also didn't want to have the hazzle of glassing seams which were above my head, so after glassing the easy seams.. have cut him in half again! Nervous moment or two, but had left adequate gap and no steel in the way. Now a total of 1400mm longer.

 Good old 7mm construction ply, pinus radiata. $40 NZ a sheet. Te Wheke at 19 feet will have taken 7 sheets, including ama. I am into my 4th litre polyester resin  $38 per litre, about 6 tubes "no more nails" 1 bottle gorilla glue (polurethane) . 200 screws (or more) stainless steel square drive.

The outside seams will need shaping and taping, then the floors and hatches are going in. I want reasonable sized hatches, so that coats, food and water  bottles can be easily retrieved.

Will go for rectangular shaped hatches with 40 mm lips, hatch cover to have a 20 mm lip, plan is to have some shock cord strategically placed to hold down the covers.

The inwales and gunwales will need to be cunningly shaped for maximum strength.

The leeward flat side of the waka will be a bit wavy I suspect, but so too is a dolphin, won't notice in a 3 foot chop. Slap on some acrylic paint instead of varnish this time.  May 25th.

At this point I realised  the error with the height on leeward side. However a fix is always "fun". If you can get the old "spoke shave" planes, do so as pulling towards you seems more efficient. You can brace against the work piece.

The small surform rasp has been brilliant on the rounding and shaping.

Hatches and knees, plus leeward brace completed. After Kevin's report on the Texas 2000 I will think hard about the hatch covers,  though I doubt if the volume of the compartments is more than 30 litres each. Some wet suit cloth as sealant, then maybe a spanish windlass arrangement to tighten up a cord across the top of the hatch.

June 14th

Two halves bolted up for first time,

No less straight than the original, all feels very rigid and solid... time will tell.

Keel, shows the narrowness of the submerged hull.

 Windward, shows drains from cockpits. If too small, can be enlarged. Too big and valuable goodies might escape.

Must remember some drink bottle holders!

You can just see the cockpit drain slots, as a shorter waka these were generally above the waterline, he will float higher with the increased volume, but I hope to take a crewman quite often so will watch with interest what water line he has.

 Deck

 showing bolts

Still need to glass tape keel, will do this with dynel tape and some extra layers.

Very close to trying out atas (will be bamboo again).

As will use original ama will need to modify the atas. Mast step needed as well.

June  17th order for sail has gone to Gary.

 Create your own educational wiki!Support CommunityPublic, not yet premium Privacy Policy RSS