tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38822749381053643462011-10-07T09:26:01.788-07:00Photos and description of my current boat building project -- an outrigger sailing canoe, or proa. I intend to use my outrigger canoes for paddling, sailing and marine adventures in general.Doug Weirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102322961608985941noreply@blogger.comBlogger121100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882274938105364346.post-55446921808547081142011-06-08T10:22:00.001-07:002011-06-08T10:24:10.036-07:00

Doug Weirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102322961608985941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882274938105364346.post-44305851806680201352011-03-09T14:31:00.000-08:002011-03-09T15:15:49.146-08:00

Yet Another Production Proa...I just discovered the "Eskimo 19 CRX 4G Harpoon R" on the Easy Rider site. I had been investigating the properties of ABS plastic for some fixturing at work-- Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene -- when I stumbled upon the laminated ABS material, Royalex, which Easy Rider uses for many of their kayaks and canoes.Coincidentally, I had just recently been wondering why

Doug Weirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102322961608985941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882274938105364346.post-66200561308351579482011-03-08T16:24:00.000-08:002011-03-09T09:21:45.661-08:00

Here's the stitching along the keel of my plywood,vee-hull ama (that doubles as a small, car-topable waka):I used galvanized steel wire, which is far stronger and cheaper than copper, but needs to be extracted with a) heat from a blow torch and b) a firm grip with linesman pliers, after the epoxy has cured for a dayI pre-coated the panels with marine epoxy before stitching them togetherOnly

Doug Weirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102322961608985941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882274938105364346.post-22899334058311551962010-12-20T20:40:00.000-08:002010-12-20T20:51:48.254-08:00

Holy Moly!A whole year went by and no posts!Well, I launched my little outrigger canoe several times over the summer on Lake Byllesby in SE Minnesota.I rigged him with a make shift poly tarp sail and used a paddle for a rudder.He went fast indeed !I got compliments galore to stoke my ego!He fit neatly on my home built roof rack for my Subaru Forester (Sadly, my Mercury Sable station wagon threw a

Doug Weirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102322961608985941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882274938105364346.post-53351757100217322162009-12-09T13:05:00.000-08:002009-12-09T13:06:48.906-08:00

Doug Weirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102322961608985941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882274938105364346.post-88912999561004582042009-12-08T16:08:00.000-08:002009-12-08T16:23:57.536-08:00

The lakes around here are frozen over. It happened just a few days ago. We're expecting eight inches of snow tonight. Time to take out the skates and cross country skis.In the meantime I'll post more on my other canoe waka and ama projects. I will also keep a photo log of building a long, insulated epoxy curing box along one wall in my garage. I hope to heat the interior to 30 or 40 C.It's

Doug Weirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102322961608985941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882274938105364346.post-4047234690723035302009-12-01T12:59:00.000-08:002009-12-01T17:50:52.574-08:00

(click on images to enlarge)I finally launched my first proa at the south end of Cannon Lake.GLORY TIMES!The two wheeled dolly, shown above, worked perfectly, even through soft beach sand. The wae ends fit into forks in the top of the dolly cradle.I used the same bungees to lash him together that I used to secure him on my roof rack, seen in the background. (Proas are male)The bungee cord

Doug Weirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102322961608985941noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882274938105364346.post-81281414246800795602009-11-12T09:35:00.001-08:002009-12-08T16:49:35.262-08:00

The ama (outrigger float) all faired and sanded, resting on styrofoam cradles. It's ready for surgery to implant the hardwood posts, to connect the ama to the iakos (crossbeams).Performing surgery with an underused Dremel Tool. Here I'm cutting through two layers: one layer of epoxy filled fiber glass tape over a single layer of epoxy filled 7 oz. e-glass cloth. I'm cutting a rectangle to

Doug Weirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102322961608985941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882274938105364346.post-51263037281196974442009-11-02T09:55:00.000-08:002009-11-02T10:00:32.407-08:00

Last week I bonded the aka attachment posts into the Ama. Photos shortly. Meantime, here's Cannon Lake, Minnesota, the likely launch site. There's a nice sandy beach at the far (South) end of the lake.

Doug Weirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102322961608985941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882274938105364346.post-92220447884224548712009-10-28T09:30:00.000-07:002009-10-28T09:39:00.471-07:00

Doug Weirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102322961608985941noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882274938105364346.post-17158552660812196722009-09-22T16:25:00.000-07:002009-10-25T09:21:20.589-07:00

Here's a view of styrofoam/plywood sandwich trimmed/shaped down to close to its final cross section for the top view and side view: Next I removed material from the hard chines, to ultimately get an elliptical cross section... Here I'm getting closer to the ellipse, but there's a lot of fairling with a long sanding board left to go.And voila!Note: the styrofoam cradles, at least 4" thick, were

Doug Weirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102322961608985941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3882274938105364346.post-51267380009949371912009-09-18T16:59:00.000-07:002009-10-28T13:23:38.070-07:00

Late in the summer I started building a styrofoam and fiber glass ama for an outrigger canoe.I followed Gary Dierking's advice posted here.It's been fun and rewarding. I learned a lot.I definitely gained some skill at this amazing technique that's been used to build hundreds of thousands of surf boards.This post shows the first steps of carving and shaping the styrofoam.Check out Tim Anderson's

Doug Weirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09102322961608985941noreply@blogger.com0