Paddling outrigger canoe

[ghostdog]

After reading all of the above, I have decided to build Gary's wa'apa. It is not the fastest or best looking, but it is the most multifunction design. It will be fast and inexpensive to build, easy to carry and store and a nice learning and experimenting platform. I will use 4mm ply for the sides and 6mm for the bottom and bulkheads, to keep weight down. I will glass only the bottom and epoxy coat and paint the rest. I will build the "short" two parts version and if I decide later I will add the middle part to enlarge it. The ama will be foam since I already have some leftover DOW insulating boards in the basement. I think I could try to copy the curved shape they use in NZ waka ama for low drag.
I admit I am biased against flat bottom boats for use at sea but I will give it a try.

[Gary Dierking]

Here's mine with a smaller foam ama.

[TomF]

These are lovely. I understand almost nothing about this kind of craft - the canoes I know are North American derived. Though I'd seen modern versions of Haida canoes made for Pacific ocean work when I lived out there, the canoes I know best are derived from Eastern North American woodland peoples, with diverging models reflecting the underlying geology of where they originated.

But these - wow. My dad would have been really fascinated; too bad he's gone now.

[John Meachen]

yesterday's spectacle.jpg

Following the advice in the bilge from cathouse willy,I re-sized the image file I failed to upload a couple of weeks ago.I hope it might still be large enough to discern just how skinny the main hulls are.

[Lugalong]

yesterday's spectacle.jpg

Following the advice in the bilge from cathouse willy,I re-sized the image file I failed to upload a couple of weeks ago.I hope it might still be large enough to discern just how skinny the main hulls are.

These are all about single paddle control and steering, with the recent emphasis on a lightweight craft for a supposed speed advantage, however, no matter how light and expensive they are, they will never match the speed of a kayaker with a double blade in an equally light craft.
Double or two person outriggers provide a stability advantage over a double kayak that allows recreational paddlers the use or application of increased power that comes with the configuration. At the same time a slightly heavier craft( than a solo canoe) is manageable in portage and loading/launchingwith two persons on the job.

[ghostdog]

Double or two person outriggers provide a stability advantage over a double kayak that allows recreational paddlers the use or application of increased power that comes with the configuration. At the same time a slightly heavier craft( than a solo canoe) is manageable in portage and loading/launchingwith two persons on the job.

I was trying to decide between a tandem sea kayak or a two person outrigger in the beginning. The added stability of the outrigger was in my opinion a good reason to go that way. My hope is to be able to match the speed of a group of solo kayaks in cruising conditions. I am glad to see that you believe this is possible.

[Lugalong]

I was trying to decide between a tandem sea kayak or a two person outrigger in the beginning. The added stability of the outrigger was in my opinion a good reason to go that way. My hope is to be able to match the speed of a group of solo kayaks in cruising conditions. I am glad to see that you believe this is possible.

Talking about competitive paddling here in NZ - a pair of paddlers with a good working or worked out pairing system will without a doubt beat the solos and even keep up with a 6 team (6 man outrigger) in open water. Since canoeing is a class that is restricted to single blade use, kayak paddles are out of the question, but a double kayak could of course be fitted with an outrigger assembly. Then the positioning of the kiato/cross beams becomes something of a puzzle, because there are structural implications, unless they are far enough apart (lengthwise) and also in spacing away to accomodate both paddlers and their paddle span; here the ama length and beams are stretched to suit the requirements of paddlers.

I had a fine plywood double kayak about 45 years ago, that in retrospect could have been modified to accept an outrigger ama by raising the seats with deep coamings and at the same time increasing freeboard. This kayak had a slightly tortured ply bottom, starting from a shallow V keelson, with it's outer edges laminated to a stringer that the turtle-deck (also thin plywood) was bonded to. Adding deep coamings with solid wooden gunnels would have been the way to go IMO in making for a raised seating config to suit singe blades and providing raised lashing points for the kiato/cross beams. Staying seated in the bilge and using kayak paddles might have been an awkward option I think. Even though the double/kayak blade paddle makes for efficiency at an increased cadence, the ergonomics of a single blade/canoe paddle has much to offer in the way that body position is elevated. This elevated seating also suits the outrigger assembly attachment to the canoe,

[AlanX]

I built a simple canoe that I converted to an outrigger paddle canoe.
OutRiggerCanoe.jpg
It was a lot of fun, but if I was doing it again, I would not permanently fix the cross-beams to the ama, for easier transport.
Regards AlanX

[Lugalong]

Transport with the iako/ connecting booms unlashed and stowed inside the canoe is logical and a canoe paddle tucks in there too (way more handillly than that lollipop number. Rigging helps lighten the outrigger assembly as well, by allowing skinnier booms, but with some flex, that the rigging takes care of.