Background

Mill Creek

This journey began with an interest in building a Stitch and Glue kayak - I had priced out the materials locally (easily $500) and I was getting very close to purchasing plans from CLC. 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 it was close enough to the Mill Creek to convince me this was a bargain I should not pass up. The hull shape is quite kayak like: fairly low with a bit of V and not much rocker, 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 15'10") 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, and it still paddled really easily. You could even stand up and walk around, dive off for a swim and climb back on board. It made a great fishing platform for our 2007-08 summer holiday at Hahei (on our first trip out we came back with 2 crayfish, and we never got wet ;-) 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.

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

Outrigger Canoes

But I had discovered Gary Dierking and his range of beautiful 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 a range of sailing outrigger designs that can be built easily with standard materials and techniques. I reckon this guy is really on to something - and he lives right here in NZ too! I keep reading his book and poring over his website and blog.

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 - woohoo! It is a stable platform, it moves easily under all forms of power, it is simple and it has that South Pacific feel.

One day I hope to meet Gary and shake his hand - vigorously - he's my hero.

Making do with what I have

But I have a canoe-yak and I'm working with a shoestring budget - pocket change - beer money - (and I still like a beer or 2). So I decided to try and create an outrigger canoe with tacking crab claw rig... starting with my Hartley... on the cheap... gulp. Actually when I decided to go for it I was all enthusiasm and short on knowledge. The further I get into this the more I learn about different styles of hull / rig and the how and why of what they are. Hopefully I make something work before I say 'what was I thinking!' and give up. I have a hull the designer wasn't sure what to call (canoe/kayak). It is wide and low, rather than narrow and tall like a real outrigger canoe. By adding a crab claw sail and outrigger it will have a 'mixed heritage' - some might say mongrel!

I have a polytarp crab claw sail cut, sewn and rigged to bamboo spars, mast partner and mast step done, 8' S&G ama crammed with coke bottles, deck on and waiting for final epoxy coat and paint, leeboard done, wae (thwarts) for iakos and leeboard done, iakos recycled from my earlier kayak-outrigger setup, working up a rear mount for rudder, 1 paddle shaped, 1 blank still to be shaped.

Here is an earlier shot showing half made ama and sail...

...and contemplating a rear mount for the version 1 rudder (check out the $0 rudder hinge)

On Saturday night I stepped the mast and unfurled the sail to show my mate. With it sheeted hard in to the centre line the waka actually sat there calmy on the back lawn resisting the urge to capsize in the passing breezes - which would be disastorous as it would wipe out my wifes newly planted vege garden - far more dangerous than any capsize at sea - probably fatal. I roughly bungeed the iakos to their thwarts and placed the ama under the iako ends. It is all looking good. When I sat in the hull the wife could not resist taking a couple of photos of my late night 'dry-run'. See: thanks to that no-cost rudder hinge I can still afford a beer, just the one tho' (yeah right!). 

On the Water

Finally after a full Saturday of madly painting all the bare woody bits - sand undercoat topcoat - and whacking together a wooden roofrack to go on the simple metal roofrack bars on 'da falcon' Korari was ready to get wet. Sunday morning I loaded him onto the roof, rudder leeboard paddle inside, ama on top, furled sail alongside, strapped it all down and headed for a quiet little beach on nearby lake Okareka. As we pulled up I could see my idea of a low key launch was blown, it seemed half the local population was packed onto the beach! And the local waka ama club was out in force practicing with one end of their straight line speed run at a bouy 50m directly off the beach. Undaunted by the prospect of large scale public embarrasment I set to unloading and assembling. Fortunately there was very little wind so nothing too dramatic should happen. 

I lashed on the ama and saw Korari floated just a couple of inches off level towards the ama. All good, I can always pack up under the iakos but then again with load in the hull it might be about right - just fine for now. I did a quick paddle trying to look nonchalant and pretend I wasn't noticing curious looks from the waka ama paddlers and the huge crowd on the beach. Back to shore and I put on rudder, leeboard and stepped the rig. Even more curious attention from the masses but I just unfurled the sail and did a final check, yep I'm as ready as I can be so I pushed off and paddled out clear of the weed bank just off the shore, pulled down the leeboard and rudder. The rope haul-down didn't quite get the rudder all the way down so I found I could lean over the stern and give it a shove down. Sheeted in and tried the rudder control lines: the steering was very responsive. Despite the almost non-existant wind I covered about 200m before I knew it. At this distance from the shore I started to pick up more breeze and fiddled with mainsheet and steering trying to figure how to drive this thing. I managed a tack and was starting to think about heading back to the beach when a good gust built up.