Never Sea Land

A fellow called zeitgeistsurfer in the Seattle area (?) has put some of his Ulua-related videos up on YouTube.

I’m trying to get some more info and pics of this canoe, more anon.

Progress on the Ulua has been pretty slow of late, with our attention given over to Temerity and lots of other family activities.  I’ve also been procrastinating badly with regard to fitting out the interior.    There has been some work done though on some of the auxilliary parts.

Inwales

I covered starting the inwales in my last real post.  They are now glued in.  The outwales are also fabricated and waiting.

Scarfing ‘wale planks together.

Crude but effective scarfing jig.

Detail showing scarf joint of inwale, dry fit to interior prior to gluing.

Dry fit of inwales in interior.

Detail showing notches cut in bow area to accomodate bending of inwale.

‘Iakos

I had a lumber mill cut the planks for the ‘iakos from very thick African mahogonay and ash stock.  They really grumbled about doing the hardwood work, they seemed to think it was bad for their saw.  The results were very good, though, and I don’t think I could have done it myself on my cheap table saw.

Fitting up the sanded planks.

Setting up the ‘iako laminating jig.  The 2×2 and 2×4 blocks will be screwed to the strongback table with machine screws along a faired curve.

Laminating an ‘iako.  I had thought to do more of traditioinal Hawai’ian double-bend, but wasn’t sure how much it would spring back after gluing, so I went with the simple bend called for in the plans.

Boom

While I was in laminating mode, I decided to do the main section of the boom as well.  I had a lovely 18′ length of 3/4″ fir, and I ripped two planks out of it and laminated on a jig (again built on the strongback).  The boom-jaws still need to be made up and fitted.

Dry fitting the planks in the jig.

Lots and lots of clamps are needed to get a nice uniform joint.

Ama

I had purchased two blocks (4′ x 8′ x 4″) of yellow (probably the ‘bad’ kind) of urethane foam, and these had been taking up a lot of space for over a year.  I was also worried that they would be damaged by light.  As it turned out, they were already warped somewhat from just sitting on their edges.  So I decided to make up the ama as a little side project.

Above:  lofting the profile shape of the ama on a scarfed-up piece of 3/16″ ply.  I scarfed two 2′ x 8′ sections with fiberglass reinforcing of the joint, which may have been overkill.  The bow profile is left square as it will be hand shaped in the end.

Char holds the ama sheerweb.  This floppy piece of ply is then glued between the  blocks of foam, and then the shape is cut out with a handsaw.

Ama shaping in progress.  I am using only a handsaw, my Japanese pull saw and straight and flexible long sanding boards to do the shaping.

Orchid Outriggers is a tour operator on Morro Bay on California’s central coast.  They also build the outriggers they use for the tours.

The Hawaiian term for a 2-seat canoe is koholu’a. The Orchid Outrigger is a modern fiberglass composite translation of a design developed and perfected perhaps a thousand years ago. It was not our intent to improve or modernize this classic design. Hawaiian canoe builders developed and refined the small outrigger canoe to a state of functional perfection long before Cook would “discover” their islands. It is hoped the Orchid Outriggers’ Koholu’a will be seen as a humble evolution of a small Pre-contact Hawaiian outrigger canoe with all the utility, seaworthiness, and graceful harmony of the original.

If I’d known about these, who knows, I might never started on the Ulua.  I’m not sure what they weigh, or cost, and they can’t be sailed.  I had considered a Huki OC-1, but they only carry one person and are quite expensive.   These look like a better choice for most tourers, and a very attractive alternative to the ubiquitous roof-top kayak.

http://www.orchidoutriggers.com

An Ulua built to 1/8 scale

Reader Gord Caruk responded to the Uluas of the World post with a tale of his own unique progress

Hello,

I figured that after seeing your page I would send along evidence of another Ulua. Earlier this year, I had bought a model kit of a traditional canoe. I was going to put this together over the summer while on vacation at a couple of cottages. However, I wasn’t happy with the scale, and figured I’d scale the model up a bit to be about 30″ long. The idea was to have a wooden model to ‘display’ in my office. I had bought Gary Direking’s book, so I figured if I’m going to scale the kit up and basically do a scratch built model, why not just build a model of Ulua. So that’s what I did. It is a 1/8 scale model of a 20′ Ulua. I’ve attached a couple pics. It is done in a wood called ‘makore’, with a few bits of fir, sapela, and bloodwood for accents.

I do intent to build a full size Ulua over the winter and have been agonizing over whether to use the cedar strip construction that most Ulua’s (including yours) have been built with, or to use the fabric covering over a stick from that I’ve built a couple of canoes with. The canoe in the 3rd attached photo is 13 lb. Building Ulua this way would be about 27 lb. for the hull, ama, and iakos. I’m not sure whether I’d be able to use a sailing rig on it though, because I wonder about the strength of the lightweight hull, and it being so light, maybe it would just be blown over. Regardless I intend to rig a trolling motor, but I do like the idea a sail. Assuming I do the lightweight version, I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.

So there you have it. One (little) Ulua now, and another full sized one in by the spring.

Gord

Fabric-on-stick canoe (not an Ulua) illustrating ultralightweight building.

Nice work!  We’re eagerly awaiting further reports.

Wet-down of interior after all patching, filling, and sanding to 120 grit.  This raises the grain, and final sanding at 120 will happen tomorrow.  The red material in the ends is fairing compound used to form big fillets around the internal stems, and will not be visible when complete, as the ends are enclosed by the decks and bulkheads.

Finally completed the 3 coats of epoxy on the outside of the hull, and sanded off the drips (and most of the epoxy).  The interior does not look as bad as it might.  The hull was amazingly light to pick up, maybe only 20 – 30 lbs without deck, gunwhales, and other fittings.  Upright, the impression of depth and freeboard is much greater, and it is clear that the fancy tapering of the planks will be invisible when she is in the water.