I was fortunate this week to have a chance to visit Mike Litter in San Francisco to talk story and see his magnificent, 24′ stretch Ulua outrigger canoe. His craftsmanship is outstanding as you can see from the photos (the first two from Gary Dierkings blog). He claims that like me, this was his first major woodworking project, but it is hard to credit that!
So beautiful!
Sea trials, Santa Cruz, earlier this year.
Beveled splashguard, I can’t remember the type of wood. Mike said this part took many, many hours.
Seats are fir. ‘wales and much of the interior wood is Honduran mahogany, much more expensive than African, but probably works better. Ring frames and bulkheads are built up from 3x marine ply, much beefier than in builder’s plans. Iakos and other spars are also fir.
Bulkhead. Wood cover conceals large plastic deck plate. Note lack of fillets throughout. There is no trim strip on the back edge of the cedar strip deck.
Weapons of choice. Cool Lie-Nielson jointing plane.
Sweet little mouse plane with convex cutting/shaping blade, similar to those used by violin makers.
0 Responses to “Michael Litter’s Ulua”