Coconut - the 24’ sailing fishing proa
GALLERY | Click images to enlarge
Coconut is a 24’ sailing fishing proa being built in Honokaa, Hawaii by Tim Mann, for employment in Micronesia as a lagoon taxi, fishing boat and small copra hauler. She is a proof of concept for Tim’s vision of “carbon-negative” modern technology vessels competing boat for boat against the gasoline-powered craft now so ubiquitous in the islands.
“She’s lashed together. Outboard-hung kick-up rudders lash onto the boat also; when they hit something in the down position, they break a short 1/8–inch parachute cord “fuse” and kick up, riding over the obstruction instead of ripping a piece off the boat. Tillers lash onto the rudders. Iako (plural of “crossarm” for you English-speaking folks), lash onto the ‘akea (main hull).
There’s a daggerboard in the ama (outriggers) which helps with leeway, as does the 12-foot long, 6-inch deep skeg built onto the bottom of the main hull, with a 1/4-inch by 1-inch steel strap on the bottom. The strap allows the boat to be beached and dragged up coral beaches with no damage to the hull. This because there are no docks to tie it to, no launch ramps to trailer it from, or other modern amenities in the area we designed it for, which is Micronesia. She’s a modern Stone-Age proa.
She’s 2,100 pounds at design waterline, that’s 1,000 pounds of boat, rig and gear, two 200-lb Micronesians, 400 lbs of fish, 200 lbs of ice, and 100 lbs of fishing gear. She’s 22 inches wide at her waterline amidships on a 22-foot waterline, for a 10:1 waterline fineness ratio. That means she should be fairly fast under sail, and easy to paddle when the wind quits.
Paddle? Yeah, in places where gas is $8/gallon, if they have any; they’ll be overjoyed with how easily she paddles!”
Visit the New Age of Sail to read more.
very elegant design; curious how they are going to construct the rudders and the the connection between the akas und the hulls