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--- What would be the point? You would have a resulting 16-17 footer without the same ability to dampen pitch or lift the bow (or steer in following swells). Wouldn't a purpose-built boat be better?...

Here's inspiration -- it would just be adding two chapters -- all the rest, good! :-) -- Wade

Gary, any plans to do a second edition of your book, to include Tamanu and Va'a Motu? -- Wade

I wonder if a more radical design might be called for. I am reminded of some Pacific outrigger canoes that start on a log keel, then build up the sides with planks. This sometimes leaves a few feet...

Interesting question -- If the spars were bent through halyard/downhaul tension, then the sail would have an "enforced" flat shape, I should think. Then, why the unusual panel placement at the edges,...

--- What a remarkable tri! I love that nod to the Bismarck/Solomons area type of proa main-hull: the low dug-out log keel that extends out past the raised area of the hull. A practical solution to...

--- That might be a good guess. I did not notice this problem when both of my sails were standing lugs instead of marconis, and the leech of the mizzen lug was indeed a bit more aft than that of the...

--- I have a ketch that is really a yawl in sail proportion I guess (not sure sure where people draw that line, but my main is 75 and the mizzen is 20, which seems yawlish). The boat used to be more...

--- I too wonder what that means as the boat becomes larger, and the members's length introduce some flex. Madness is put together with bolts, so the attachments have hard points. It seems to be a...

Isn't the key to "Long-Island-Sound-worthiness" reefing down (and hopefully a half hour before you really need to)? It gets pretty choppy near-shore on LIS, does it not? And the sharpies evolved...

Now John has to bring Madness to the Wooden Boat Show at Mystic, Connecticut, right John, right? :-) -- Wade

Another review of the book from EXARC (an on-line journal of experimental archaeology): http://journal.exarc.net/issue-2013-2/mm/book-review-boyne-currach-beneath-shadows-newgrange-claidhbh-o-gibne...

I built my own "design" of a 14 foot (6.6 foot beam) shunting proa, the VictorT. I had had intentions of building a proa for years but had been satisfying my sailing urges with my Lowell 11-foot...

--- OK, as a native, make sure you keep me honest :-) I once took the tourist boat out to the Blasket's (one of those fiberglas workboats that doubled as lobstering boats and tourist ferries as they...

Wow, that's a lot of lanolin, so perhaps the medieval economy could produce it easily. Severin had his suppliers treat the bull hides with lanolin as the most likely method. Modern currachs shifted...

--- That's true, I had forgotten about those huge creatures. Ireland's answer to the walrus hide? :-) --Wade

OK, so I guess I just have to find the proper terminology on the Yakima site for the permanent mounts (because it was not imemdiately intuitive!), and then find the right build-up of accessories to...

Yes, when I say "dug-out" I include the built-up-dugouts (planks sewn on over the dug-out keel). The book "Taratai" was fascinating. Too bad his second effort didn't work out. The Viking Ship Museum...

--- I am looking for advice to install a roof rack on my Ford Focus hatchback, for which nobody seems to make a rack because this car has a short roof and also no rain gutter -- and the local Ford...

O'Gibne should answer this question, but I will make an attempt with the qualifier that I am not a participant of the project, though am greatly interested in it. So, yes, this boat is very close to...

--- Notice the ends of the vaka: they widen toward the top of the stems, and the stem has a "false stem" formed of shaped foam to fair out the lines. The hull seems designed to get a little more...

I don't recall whether this was Claidhbh or not. I do know he was once interested in a suitable RIB to use as a powered tender to get his leather boat out of trouble during tests. I suggested...

Claidhbh O'Gibne continues work on his archaeological experiment, a leather and wood (sapling) 36 foot sea-going currach proposed as the type of boat possibly current as far back as Ireland's...

--- This reminds me that I have plans for a Windmill that was never built (the fellow who bought them opted to build a simpler Bolger Windsprint; when he died, I inherted his Windsprint and a bunch...

--- That works, right? Not too fail-safe though if one happened to let go somehow (probably not likely). Can you get these in stainless steel? I imagine one could. Do you have any locating blocks...

--- I like Gary D's idea of lashing the akas on, which he devised for the Tamanu: exterior wooden 'flanges' (I guess you would call them) on the hull that butt against the akas and constrain the...

I think if I were going to leave the boat floating at a mooring or dock all season, I would use marine paint, but if it will live on a trailer udner a tarp, or in a garage, then exterior latex is OK....

I'll be interested in what you think of the iakos built like that. They might be OK without the side plywood pieces, but I'd rather trust Gary on this. I've considered it myself, but the thing...

I just uploaded two more steps at the Instructables website for the design and construction of my next outrigger canoe. ...

--- Makes me think of the development of the canoe in the late 19th century as Everyman's 'yacht'. Isn't this when the American middle-class starts rolling? Has there been a steady growth in small...

--- OK, if three of you agree, I guess I'm reasonably safe. On the luff tension: the wrinkles I have seen on the sail despite what I thought was good downhaul tension means that I have not paid...

Are we accounting for those sailing regimes that may be under the radar? Though folk here may not like it, the commercial plastic sailing trimarans (Hobie Adventure Islands, 16 and 18 versions,...

--- I mean no disrespect when I say, I do not see the problem here. The shunt stops progress on the course briefly, but the proa, usually trouble-free, gets on to the next shunt and off you go. ...

@Wedge: To some extent, a shunting proa negates the problem of momentum (though the native ocean-going-dugouts were heavy compared to our GRP's) because the proa is never in irons, there being no...

Ah, diamonds. I was trying to avoid it (partly to avoid putting more holes in the mast), but perhaps this is wrong -- I could solve most of these issues with less effort than I imagine? -- Wade

--- That seems right. I suppose there is some ideal length and beam that matches the "typical" wave patterns of "typical days" of at elast coastal sailing (sailing deep water swells must be a very...

Added details: the shrous go bacl about 2 feet behind the mast and out about four feet on each side. The shrouds are 1/8 inch Vectran, attached to the cross beams simply on a horncleat. The shrouds...

--- This must be true for larger outriggers. Go look at some of my youtubes when I'm beating in choppy water; pretty much sick-sickness-inducing even accoutning for the unsteadily held camera. The...

This question relates to trying out a jib that has to raise from the masthead, and having to use it as the forestay. On my outrigger canoe I have cat-ketch to which I can add a jib on a short...

--- What a sweet little odd boat! I just hope its crew does not regularly slide off that polished icy-looking wood :-) -- Wade

I would feel relaxed aboard a Madness merely because that leepod is such an effective safety feature. I imagine that just knowing the leepod is there would "give you permission" to watch the ama...

Gary, is that a photo of your 37? The designer of the searunners once said that, though he was still pretty happy with them, with new ideas available about bottom shapes, felt he would now change...

Did I miss mention of the new Brown/Marples small cruising tri that won the Wooden Boat design competition last year? -- Wade

--- Yes, good, I strongly agree: keep a small section of the hull full-depth! My outrigger does this (the rest of the hull is decked into to within 7 inches of the gunwales) and I cannot say enough...

I can tell you about sensations with a very small shunting proa (I am not including my small tacking single-outrigger here, still in use). I came from a small, traditional sailing dory-skiff...

Yeah, it is too bad we have some kinds of interaction (though possibly it is better, in the long run, than none at all). I have said before, and will say one more time, that I think the 'flying off...

Well, it's a wooden boat, so the cabin and sailing provisions can be retrofitted after we do a letter-writing campaign :-) Attractive lines. What is the interior finish? -- Wade

Sorry to hear it. --Wade

I keep forgetting about the tramp because I don't have one. But you are right. --Wade

--- Yes, we are thin in New England, though I heard there is an outrigger paddling club on the shore somewhere (glass OC's). I launch my outrigger (sadly too small to take more than one adult in...