I was flipping through my local library’s copy of Canoes of Oceania and thinking about Haddon and Hornell’s obsession with outrigger attachment styles, and wishing that they’d been obsessed with hull shapes instead. I was thinking about this specifically regarding recent internet interest in the Tuamotus double canoe, which is to my eyes a Pretty Well Documented hull. There are other canoes that seem to be fairly well studied; Gary Dierking’s recent posting of Dennis Alessio’s walap papers is a goldmine of walap-specific information.

But when I see the many threads posted here about people experimenting with various hull forms, I keep on looking at the knife-thin walap and the round-bilge te pukei and the, uh, funky shape of the Tuamotus hulls and wonder to myself: which hull do we know the most about?  I’m not looking for outrigger attachment methods or rigs or anything of the sort, just hulls. Who has taken lines off of which canoes?

which hull do we know the most about?

Since there is a lot of Wharram catamarans that has sailed many miles during half century, I would say the deep-V is the most tried and well documented. The traditional sailing canoes from the pacific where all optimized for whatever needs the islanders had. Deep-V, multi-chine, flat bottom, round bottom, flare, overhanging or vertical ends and many more variations where all used at various locations throughout the pacific. We only have a very brief “snapshot” of whatever remains there is left,since we western people destroyed their culture and knowledge in the late 16th century.

I would like to have a time-machine to go back to the peak of the pacific culture and see them sail and build boats at that time. I believe most of their knowledge is gone today. We can only see the leftovers and “breadcrumbs”.

Cheers,
Johannes

If you have a chance to contact “Waan Aelon Kein, Alele Museum, P.O.Box 629, Majro, Republic of Marshall Islands” you can order a copy of the reports (each around 70 pages) from Dennis F. Alessio:
“Traditional and contemporary measuring, lashing and construction techniques of the outrigger canoes of eg. ..”
No. 3 Namdik (Namorik) Atoll
No. 5 Ailuk Atoll.
Both I have, may there are other available too. These are scientific descriptions of all parts of these specific outriggers incl. rig and sail,  measurements and naming. See examples below,
Cheers
Othmar
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http://alelemuseum.tripod.com/Index.html
http://www.yokwe.net/index.php