Vote to Support Canoe Building Project for At-Risk Ojibway Youth

Here's a project worth supporting, and it'll cost you nothing but your vote:
Anishinaabe Babamadizwin: A Journey By Canoe will work with at-risk Anishinaabe (i.e., Ojibway) youth to build both birchbark and cedar/canvas canoes, and then use those canoes on wilderness voyages. To quote the organization's description on the Aviva Community Fund site, "Such canoe trips could develop leadership skills as well as increase awareness of their Native culture and traditions. The youth participants return to their communities as future leaders."

The organization is competing for a grant from the Aviva Community Fund by soliciting votes from the general public to demonstrate widespread interest and support for the project. To add your voice, go to the project page and register, then vote either on the page itself, or by "liking" it on Facebook.

Burmese Long-Tails

In our last post we looked at Paul Wilson's photos of Philippine bancas. This time we'll view Paul's images of longboats from Myanmar. (I've always heard such boats referred to as "long-tails," but it appears that both terms are in common use.)

Here's Paul's description:

The Myanmar (Burma) photos were pre-digital scans of some photos I took while working/touring there in 1999 or 2000.  The photos are of longboats in Inle Lake in central Burma.  I was interested in the articulated drive mechanism.  Unlike the longboats in Thailand, the engine is stationary with a universal joint at the transom.  The pipe in the wash from the prop is for water cooling to the engine. Very simple and effective.  I loved these boats and their chug, chug, chug with their big Chinese diesels.  The long bow allows them to extend out over the shore for easy loading and unloading at the market. 

Much more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inle_Lake 

I don't have any photos of them but the leg rowers of Inle Lake are fascinating so give them a google if you haven't seen them before.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmSYpWIzidYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpScZKmDkLo

I agree. This leg rowing is fascinating stuff.

It's plank-on-frame construction, but I'd bet money that it's shell-first. Substantial ceiling or floorboards allow cargo to remain dry and possibly protects the planking from damage. Interesting to see a shiny new engine in a boat type that probably dates back centuries. (Click any image to enlarge.)

A rubber hose connects to the front of the water intake pipe and curves over the massive transom. By pushing down on the tiller, the driveshaft and prop can be raised. The gunwales extend far beyond the transom: I'd like to know the reason for this. 

Steering combines the forces of directed thrust (i.e. changing the angle of the prop, as on a sterndrive) and  the rudder just ahead of the prop. These steering systems don't look cobbled together: someone is clearly manufacturing them to a standard pattern.

With numbers like this, it's clearly an economically practical design that suits the needs of the society.

In contrast, Thai longtails mount the engine right on the transom, atop a pivot. This is mechanically simpler, in that it eliminates the universal joint for the driveshaft. It has a substantial downside, though: placing the weight of the engine entirely on the transom must make the boat very stern-heavy. It also orients the prop shaft at a downward angle, which reduces propulsion efficiency. To minimize this problem, the shaft is very long (making the angle shallower), but this "solution" compounds the problem of a long, awkward extension behind the stern. The Burmese arrangement, with its horizontal prop shaft, is shorter and inherently more efficient.

Thai longtail. (Source: Kellerna, via Wikipedia)

Thanks again to Paul Wilson for the Myanmar photos.

Bancas on Corregidor

Reader Paul Wilson sent me a bunch of wonderful photos of boats from various parts of Asia which we'll looking at in this and the next several posts. We'll start with Paul's photos of bancas or paraws, the double-outrigger canoes of the Philippines. (Earlier posts examined banca hull and outrigger shapes, banca propulsion and steering, and banca construction details.)

To quote Paul:

The Philippines Paraws (Bancas) photos were taken in 2002 at the island of Corregidor in Manila Bay.  I loved seeing how the outriggers were attached using heavy fishing line and pipe fittings.  Very practical.  

The garbage from Manila floats across the bay.  As you can see, it is a bit of a problem.

Apply that familiar slanting red stripe at the bow, and even a banca becomes instantly recognizable as a coast guard vessel. (Click any image to enlarge.)

Like most modern bancas, these are inboard powered. The hull appears to be of plywood construction over sawn frames. The text on the stern says "Donated by 125th Coast Guard Auxiliary." (See next image.)

The attachments between outrigger boom and float appear to be pipe hangers. Paul's comment about the garbage being "a bit of a problem" is apparently understatement. 

Yuck. A sorry setting for a handsome boat.

That's more like it! A handsome boat with a nice paint job deserves a clean backdrop.

The banca's narrow hull makes the double outriggers a necessity.

This photo and next: an abundance of heavy-duty monofilament fishing line secures the booms to the hull and the floats to the boom on this banca. The boat in the previous photo had two parallel lengths of bamboo for each float. This one has three. I've also seen floats of one and four lengths: it depends upon the diameter and buoyancy of the bamboo available and the stability needs of the boat.

Tune in again soon for more photos of indigenous Asian boats by Paul Wilson, to whom we give sincere thanks.