Background

Mill Creek

This journey began with an interest in building a Stitch and Glue kayak - I was getting very close to purchasing plans from CLC and had priced out the main materials locally (easily $500 - 700). The boat I was interested in was the Mill Creek 16.

Hartley

Then I spotted a 16' ply 'kayak' for sale on TradeMe (NZ equivalent of EBay) which I got for $200. This saved a LOT of building time and money and got me on the water.

Here is one of the actual photos from the TradeMe listing.

This boat is a design by Hartley dubbed a 'canoe/kayak' and broadly similar to the CLC Mill Creek I was looking at building. The hull shape is quite kayak like: fairly low and flat but the very open cockpit seems more like a decked canoe. I call it a canoe-yak. The lines are quite pleasing to the eye, Hartley is no slouch in the design world, even though this is the very small end of his extensive portfolio.

At 16' (actually 15'6") with two seats it seemed perfect for my wife and I or the kids to paddle in. But it felt pretty 'tippy', even with just one in it. I think the position of the seats at the extreme ends of the cockpit did not help. This lead to the idea of a small outrigger on a couple of poles that bolted across the centre of the cockpit. This was an instant improvement: suddenly the boat was rock steady. You could even stand up and walk around, dive off for a swim and climb back on board. It made a great fishing platform in the 2007-08 summer. And it still paddled really easily. But I wanted more.

Sailing Canoes

Lurking in the back of my mind was the desire to put up a sail - which began when I saw the CLC Mill Creek could be fitted with a lug rig.

Only recently I discovered the class of boats called 'sailing canoes' / 'decked canoes'. If I was to put a conventional rig on my hull it night fit in that category.

Outrigger Canoes

Then I discovered Gary Dierking and his beautiful range of sailing outriggers - I instantly wanted an Ulua.

Living here in New Zealand on the southern end of the South Pacific makes an outrigger an appealing choice.

Gary has done such a good job of understanding and interpreting the sailing outrigger into designs that can be built with readily available materials. I reckon this guy is really on to something - and he lives right here in NZ too.

I still want an Ulua ( - and a T2 - and a Tamanu), I love the concept: a boat small and light enough to car-top, you can paddle it, you can sail it, bolt on a small outboard. It is a stable platform, it moves easily under all forms of power, it is simple and it has that local connection.

One day I hope to meet Gary and shake his hand - vigorously - he's my hero - and I hope I'm sailing a real Ulua when we meet!

Making do with what I have

But I have a 'canoe-yak' and I'm working with a shoestring budget. So I decided to try and create an outrigger canoe with a tacking crab claw rig, starting with my Hartley. I have a hull the designer wasn't sure what to call - 'canoe/kayak', with an outrigger and crab claw rig it will have a mixed heritage - some might say mongrel!

Photos and blah to follow showing progress to date.

I have a polytarp crab claw sail cut and sewn, bamboo spars 95% rigged, 8' S&G ama half done, rudder and leeboard done, akas recycled from my earlier kayak-outrigger setup. Just have to finish that ama, paint all this newly made rig and .... heck I have to learn to sail   !