A Micronesian Style Proa

 

I'm hoping to develop Te Wa into a very useful and practical vessel for fishing, camping and sailing around the Hauraki Gulf of the North Island of New Zealand.  Having spent some thirteen years living, working and cruising around Micronesia, it became only too evident that their traditional outrigger sailing canoe ,or proa, was a very unique and special form of watercraft.  Te Wa is just over 30' (9.2 meter) in length and is 16' (4.8 meter) in overall beam.  It is constructed of compounded plywood and epoxy for economy and rapid prototyping.  The hull skin is 1/4" (6 mm) gaboon ply. Frames are mostly pressure treated ply and stringers and keel are treated Kahikatea (a New Zealand pine).  The three crossbeams are connected to the big hull with polyester rope lashings.  A steering oar is used while broad reaching and running.  Moving the crew's weight does the steering on all other courses remarkably well.  At this stage there are no underwater foils of any kind, resulting in approximately 100 degrees between tacks with about 8 degrees of leeway.  The ama is hollow and could double as a water ballast tank connected to a diaphragm pump in the hull.  The main hull is mostly decked over and has six watertight compartments; four in the bilge and two forward of the collision bulkheads.  A Honda 9.9 on a lifting bracket drives the canoe at 11 knots.