Island Escape: Entry #6: Peter Noble

Another Island Escape Contest Entry

Initial Actions: Make a sun hat from palm fronds, collect some aloe vera for skin gel, build a camp using tarp and netting for hammock, collect some fruit, start a fire and the sit down and THINK!  Before going to sleep check out moon phase so as to plan for launching at a spring tide at a new moon.

Day 2: Awake from good sleep having had vivid dreams of lots of small craft I have studied on CLC, Duckworks and Glen-L pages over the years and native craft I have seen during my world travels; curraghs from Ireland, umiaks from the Chukchi coast of Alaska, outrigger canoes from Madagascar, jangada sailing rafts with tilting rigs from Brazil, sturgeon nosed canoes from eastern Washington State, dories from Newfoundland,  and on and on……

Dream Boats - elimination/selection

• Dugouts and planked boats - very time consuming – not enough tools

• Skin on Frame boats, kayaks , umiaks and curraghs, - interesting but limited “skin” material available.

• An Outrigger might work, but how to build the main hull?

• Reed boats using bundled elephant grass or giant cane built along the lines of Peruvian caballitos de totora or Lake Titicaca canoes, seems most appropriate in these circumstances

• Sail plan using two sprit Malagasy outrigger design or Brazilian Jangada tilting rig look most promising.

ISLAND ESCAPE CRAFT #1 

Basis of Design

• The hull will be built from four grass bundles, secured with bamboo drifts driven through the bundles, which will tie the bundles together and also provide some structural integrity for the whole craft.

• A “boat within a boat” will be built along the lines of a Kutenai sturgeon nose canoe to provide a relatively dry crew space, as grass bundles will provide buoyancy but not complete watertightness to the hull.

• The “boat within a boat” will also provide some measure of safety (life-boat) in the unlikely event that the grass bundles start to disintegrate during the short voyage to our destination.

• The rig will be modelled after the inclined Brazil jangada rafts but will be permanently inclined to port as dominant wind is from the east while our course is to the south.  The inclined jangada rig like the modern sailboard rig is designed to give good thrust while minimizing the wind heeling moment.

Lashings and Fastenings

• Based on selecting a bundled grass construction approach, lots of cordage will be needed

• Shoe laces

• Unraveled polyprop rope

• Leather strips spiral cut from shoe uppers (after softening with aloe)

• Belt cut into strips

• Pleated telephone wires from Garfield phone

• Jute fibers soaked in water and then soaked in aloe pleated into cordage

• Roots from teak and koa trees run shallow and may be harvested and split for more lashing material

• Nylon cords pulled out of bias ply tire – old tire not steel belted.

• Note: I once saw a fisherman do this in Madagascar to make new hand lines.

• In addition, deconstruct pallet and salvage nails and wood.

Tools - Need more than the multi-tool

Multitool is not enough by itself. Make more tools by breaking one glass bottle to make blades which can be fitted with bamboo handles. Also salvage thin steel shanks from shoes and make small hatchets, froes and other edged tools (sharpen with multitool diamond file).  Make mallet for bashing things.

Design Estimates

Make naval architecture estimates in the wet sand – buoyancy and weight estimates…

Build Kutenai style canoe – Boat in Boat

Use thin bamboo for longitudinals and split bamboo for transverse frames.

Cover with tarp, wrapping end overlaps round stem and stern sticks.

Make seaweed glue (see PowerPoint for recipe) and use to make waterproofing of outer skin.

Finished dimensions approximately 14’6” Length x 30” Beam.

Main Hull for Grass Bundle Boat

Build four 18” diameter bundle if elephant grass approximately 20 ft long.

Assemble into boat shape and secure with bamboo drifts driven through the bundles and with overall round the hull lashing.

Sailing Rig

Rig will be variant of Brazilian jangada tilting rig except in our case it will be tilted to one side only (port side) since wind is from the east for our short voyage.

Voyage Preparation

• Supplies for voyage will be assembled ready to load after launching.

• Food and Drink : Coconuts, Mangoes, Guava stowed in containers lashed inside the boat

• Supplies: Aloe Vera, cut and stored in rubber boot (sunburn lotion) • Spare Sun Hat

• Tools and Spare Construction Supplies: Plastic Bottles and Foam blocks stowed in side ends of the canoe • Long, thick bamboo poles for spare spars, poling in shallow etc. brought aboard.

Launching

Launching will take place at the low tide at the new moon.

Bundle boat (which has good keel rocker) will be crabbed down from building berth to launching site as shown on PowerPoint slides.

•SCA•