I'm building Gary Dierking's Wa'apa outrigger sailing canoe from the plans in his book. The best thing about this design is that it is made in sections that fit in my garage!
Bulkheads and sides cut out
Framing the bulkheads
Trial assembly of the pieces, and checking to see if our girls fit
Learning to use a plane
Two boat shaped pieces
Great information on building this sailing canoe, I too am just starting on the same design, have the book, plans wood - just intimidated from making that first cut of plywood!
ReplyDeleteHi David, I'm glad you liked it. There are several other wa'apa blogs already, so I haven't included a lot of detail, but I'll be happy to answer questions.
DeleteOne tip - the book says that attaching the thin ply sides to the inner stem is difficult (because it takes quite a lot of force to bend the sides together, and because of the angle, the clamps slide off) and other blogs suggested that it's easier to make the inner stem in two parts, and glue them to the ply before trying to put the whole lot together. I did this and would recommend it - but if I were to do it again I would make the inner stem about 50mm longer, so it sticks out at the bottom and is easier to clamp (or just tie together) like the top, and 5mm wider so it sticks out past the ply. Mine ended up with a shallow hollow when I added the outer stem, even after I'd planed it down to the nails.
Is your Wa'apa still functional? Any tips? I'm about 20 hours into building one.
ReplyDeleteHi Ben,
DeleteMy boat is all tucked up for the winter, but I hope to get back on the water in a month or two.
Have you joined the sides together yet? If not, I wrote a suggestion in the previous comment. Also I found Russel Brown's book 'Epoxy Basics' really useful. My other tip would be to build the ama in one piece, as it's a real pain to bolt together and still light enough to lift with one hand when complete. Gary has plans for 'Ama Nui' (which I think means 'big' rather than 'new') that looks much nicer.
Which size are you building? What rig do you plan to use?
Robin