Wa'apa sailing outrigger construction.

[Rick_Tatum]

I have started construction on a Gary Dierking Wa'apa sailing outrigger.

Wa'apa a three board sailing canoe


I'm starting with the ama. It's essentially a plywood box with pointed ends, and built in two sections that bolt together at the center bulkheads.

Here are the panels cut. I'll be gluing chine timbers and bulkheads tommorrow.

[Rick_Tatum]

I switched gears a bit and decided to make the ama in one piece. I have the panels spliced here with butt straps.

[Rick_Tatum]

Here the top half of the ama is assembled. I ran the stringers out just past the end bulkheads, then stitched and taped the outer portion. Once I complete the fitting of the connection struts to the top assembly , the lower half goes on and construction of the ama is finished.

[Rick_Tatum]

I'm 'pox coating the assembled panels and the the other two before final assembly. One last coat and I'll put 'er together.

[Rick_Tatum]

I'm 'pox coating the assembled panels and the the other two before final assembly. One last coat and I'll put 'er together.

I have it all closed up. It was a real fiddly task getting the lower panels bent and fit properly. Building this ama was almost as much work as the entire piragua I built a couple months back. I'll have some more pics up soon. I want to get it all filled and faired and primered so I can stash it up in the rafters and out of the way of the main hull construction. Weight without glass tape on the keel and without paint is 29 lbs. It is 16' 1" / 4.9 meters long and 5 11/16"/145mm on a side.

[Rick_Tatum]

I have the construction of the ama complete. Lots of fairing/sanding yet to do. 64 feet of seam filled with microballoon putty and a butt-load of countersunk boat nails.

[seagypsy]

Hey Rick,

Great work so far! Ive been reading through Gary's book and contemplating buying plans for the Wa'apa. Are you building from the plans or straight from the book? If you are building from the plans, how much difference is there between them and the information that's in the book?

Many Thanks,
Josh.

[Rick_Tatum]

Hey Rick,

Great work so far! Ive been reading through Gary's book and contemplating buying plans for the Wa'apa. Are you building from the plans or straight from the book? If you are building from the plans, how much difference is there between them and the information that's in the book?

Many Thanks,
Josh.

Thanks for the compliment. I'm building directly from the book. It's pretty straight forward stuff. I think the most difficult part of the project is this ama...the hull ought to be really simple...no more difficult than the piragua I recently built. Close attention needs to be paid to mating up the bulkheads at the separation joints though.

[seagypsy]

Hey Rick..

Thanks for the info... keep posting pics as you go! Cant wait to see the finished result!

All the best...

Josh

[Rick_Tatum]

Hey Rick..

Thanks for the info... keep posting pics as you go! Cant wait to see the finished result!

All the best...

Josh

I'll have more pics to post....things are still slowed down by pretty cool weather here.

[Rick_Tatum]

Here are a couple of pics of the completed ama. The mounting holes in the struts will be drilled after the boat is assembled, so they can be fit as required. I've stashed it up in my rafters to clear floor space and on to the next step, laminating the iako (cross beams).

[Rick_Tatum]

I have laminated the cross beams. 5 lams of pine sandwiched between a lam of red oak top and bottom. The beams are 11 feet long, 2 1/4" thick and 2 3/4" wide. Glued up with 'pox. Here's a look at the first one after I cleaned it up with the belt sander. Looks like perfect glue lines the entire length.

[Rick_Tatum]

Believe it or not, I'm still alive.


Been shut down building for the last 2 years fighting with the homeowner's association over the use of my garage as a workshop, but things have changed and it looks like I'll be tooling back up

[Bill1@hagel]

I am considering building One of Gary's three board outriggers myself.

I don't really know why though. I live near Athens Ohio. Look at a map. Unless I want to sail the Ohio river it's one hell of a drive to any wet spot that is actually big enough for sailing. I could haul it to lake Erie about 4 hrs north. Remember the Gordon Lightfoot song "The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald"? Might be a bit of a tricky spot to learn how to sail. I could take it to Baltimore MD and put it in the Atlantic. The distance would make that pretty impractical though.

What I really hope to use it for is to escape the winter weather in Ohio by sailing from Miami to the Bahammas and then bumming around the islands. This of course will only happen if and when (mostly if) I am ever able to retire.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I have never sailed before. Also I've never built a boat before. I own a jig saw, a drill and few clamps and planes and I have a 12 ft x 30 ft room over the garage.

Gary's three boarder looks like it might be simple enough to do with few tools and almost no skill or experience.

In any case the Wa'pa looks like it might be a simple boat to start with and it can be broken down for transport and storage. So I've bought Gary's book. I'll be interested to hear what advice you and other people on this forum who obviously have more of a clue than I do have.

[sinjin]

Hi Bill,, years ago i was skiing and got chatting to an instructor while my mates and i were about to head off to do some cross country skiing. I ask him what he did during the off season, and he told me he cuts timber for a living. But he then told me he was building a Chris Craft speed boat. This guy lived in the mountains miles from the water like yourself. I asked why did you want to do it....His reply said it all...
"I thought they looked beautiful.....and i just wanted too"

Sounds a good enough reason to me..

Steven

PS Gordon's song was a great song.....sad but still a great song.