It has folding "beds" for two, a removable roof, and a sail.
It's easy to build.
The only tools needed were a machete, knife, drill, chisel, spokeshave, hammer, screwdriver.
Here Nathan Eagle, Eddie Elliot, and myself get the boat ready to launch.
In the second photo Powell Muli age 9 carves outrigger parts.
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The wood species names are what the locals call them. The wood is grown locally and probably not related to the species we call by the same name. Their "cedar" is heavier and stronger than ours.
The hull is 12' 2" overall, made from 6mm cypress plywood joined with 3/4" cedar sticks at the edges. The hull is 18" deep, 18" wide in the middle. The stems are 2'x4" cedar carved into a wedge shape. The stems stand tall and the front one is carved into a dog's head.
The crossbeams are 2x2" square pine, 102" long.
The outrigger floats are 1" thick pine boards 127" long, carved to an upturned point at the front.
The mast is a 12 foot pine 2x2 shaved into an octagon shape, tapered down to a 2" diameter rod at both ends. The sprit is 1" square.
The sail is a 6' square shower curtain rigged as a spritsail. They don't have polytarp in kenya, and tarp like things are expensive.
in this photo Nathan Eagle, Eddie Elliot and myself get the boat ready. I'm lashing a tiller to the rudder with strips of innertube.































































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Could you have added "but we had to leave for the airport instead?"
I'm curious what happened to this boat after you came home.
The hull looks a lot like a 3 board version of the Lepa Lepa you posted on the mit site.
Its probably a little lighter than the dugout, but still looks be happiest with someone under 70 kilos
I wonder how it would work with a bamboo outrigger on one side like the ones
in Indonesia. I think it would work pretty well.
it must be difficult to sail downwind in chop though, because it would get lifted out of the water occasionally.
or is that a safety feature? it's impossible sail downwind and therefore impossible to break?
Do you get much wobble? I really like how it's stiched on. i wish I had thought of that.
P.S. last summer I spent 3 months sailing my own outrigger following you inspiration: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22017239@N00/
cheers
I thought the shallow rudder would be a problem too, but that's how the Kenyans do it on their Sharpies and Ngalawas. Your rudder has to work the hardest when a wave is pushing your stern around, and then the rudder is deeply immersed, so it works out fine. The wave is climbing up your stern and pushing, but to do that it has to climb up your rudder also. Wobble isn't a problem. There's plenty of play in the lashings, but you don't notice it when you sail.