Articles

The Bug-Out Boat

 New Designs  Catamarans  Rigs

As I am confined to quarters for the duration, pacing the perimeter of my isolation in endless circles, my imagination is drawn to devices of freedom and escape. Freedom of the seas is a perpetually compelling and romantic idea so here I present a Bug Out Boat for 2020.

The basic concept is millennia old: tie (or ‘catamaran’) a few logs together into a rudimentary raft, build a platform above with some shelter and a device to catch…

Bug Out Boat

28 April 2020     36 comments.

Proa Build in New Caledonia

 Boatbuilding  Proas

Franck Meidinger is building a proa in New Caledonia. La MANGUE BLEUE appears to be a large cruising Pacific proa, intending to employ a crab claw schooner rig! He says:

I’m currently building a proa in New Caledonia. The hull is completed by now and I’m longing for the (COVID 19) lockdown to stop in order to launch. I could work on the rig (eventually crab claw) if I had some materiel but shops are closed. Not even allowed to harvest…

La MANGUE BLEUE

25 April 2020     2 comments.

Mini Cargo Ferry Prototype

 Just Launched  Boatbuilding  Proas

Mini Cargo Ferry prototyping and development in the Marshall Islands, by Harry Proa. This is the first step on the road to getting the zero emissions 24m cargo ferry built and hauling passengers and freight.

The mini cargo ferry was designed in response to a need to replace the outboard powered fibreglass skiffs which are ubiquitous in the Pacific.  These boats are expensive to run, difficult to maintain and have almost completely…

Mini Cargo Ferry

25 April 2020     5 comments.

Alu Proa Build in Belgium

 Reports  Boatbuilding  Proas

I was pleased to find this email from Ewaut Van Wassenhove in my inbox:

It was a while ago but through your website I came across plans for Madness by Chesepeake Light Craft and now I’m building a scaled up version of the plans in aluminum in Belgium.

I’m super stoked about the design and I’m making an effort to make weekly updates on YouTube about the whole build.

I recently made a YouTube explainer video or an effort to explain…

18 January 2020     4 comments.

The Pjoa Folk

 New Designs  Boatbuilding  Proas

The folks at Pjoa.eu have a nice Christmas gift for us: plans for a plywood-epoxy stitch and glue version of their beach-cruiser sailing proa:

Let us proudly share that we have made available an extensive plans set for proa PJOA FOLK. By “extensive” – they contain e.g. step-by-step building and rigging instructions. Knowing where a lot of proanauts find significant problems, we want to save them a lot of time, so another part is soon…

Pjoa Folk

20 December 2019     0 comments.

Outrigger Fishing Boat for New Guinea

 Reports  Outrigger Canoes

Paul Cheevers has written in to share his new project: a 7m (23’) sailing outrigger design to be produced in fiberglass and used on the islands of Papua New Guinea by the locals as an alternative to the ubiquitous outboard-powered banana boats. The design is called VAN-2, from the free plans offered at the CFP (Coastal Fisheries Programme) website. Paul writes:

“After seeing hundreds of Yamaha 40hp banana boats (pangas) over the…

Spraying up hull

19 September 2019     1 comments.

LaShunk from Balkan Shipyards Update

 Just Launched  Proas  Rigs

Rael Dobkins of Balkan Shipyards sends us a video update on his shunting junk rigged proa:

WE MADE IT! The new proa rig from Balkan Shipyards. Pacific proa ‘Make
O’Break’, LaShunk rigged and showing off….. No secrets! Keep Shunting -BSY.

Congratulations BSY. Reconciling the world’s easiest handled rig to the world’s most difficult hull platform. Who’d a thunk?

Rael’s driving concern with this rig is shifting the CE (center of…

La Shunk

27 August 2019     0 comments.

Poor-Poise: A Hardware Store Outrigger

 Reports  Boatbuilding  Outrigger Canoes

A reader sends in his account of repurposing plastic canoe and kayak with hardware store parts to obtain a sailing outrigger. A Home Deproa! Thanks for the submission. -Ed

My name is Mason, I’m 25, and I work as a preschool teacher. I first started sailing at summer camp when I was growing up, and I’ve been looking for a way to enjoy it as an adult ever since. A few years ago I bought a 1978 16’ Hobie Cat catamaran, but I ended up…

Poor-poise

06 June 2019     3 comments.

The Baltic Tepuke

 Proas

A Tepuke sails on the Baltic. This seems like fulfillment of the ancient prophecy “When a crab claws the northern sea then the dreaded Old Ones shall return.” Or something.

Thanks to Yurek for the submission!

 

03 April 2019     6 comments.

Mini Cargo Ferry from Harryproa

 New Designs  Proas

Here’s another cool project from Harryproa:

The mini cargo ferry was designed in response to a need to replace the outboard powered fibreglass skiffs which are ubiquitous in the Pacific.  These boats are expensive to run, difficult to maintain and have almost completely destroyed the islanders boat building and sailing skills.

Taking a step back to near stone-age construction materials of plywood/epoxy, the boats are as…

Mini cargo ferry

02 April 2019     2 comments.