 |
|---|
In the tradition of boat building
You break it same old way... We fix it same old way!..
There's an island in the Riau chain that is known as the Boat Building island. most of the best crafted local boats come from here. There are no paper plans at all. The details of the craft are handed down from one generation to the next. We are lucky in that on site we have som every capable crew. Amongst the crew is a wealth of talent in various occupations and including the art of boat building.
One of th ework boats was unceremoniously dragged up the beach to have rotten planks replaced. The boat was already at least 20 years old and in need of some serious wood as the intervening years had seen little or no real maintenance. If you had seen it with your own eyes you would have thought the refurbish job was either impossible or, going to occupy a place on the beach for a year or more.
The boats are built from a variety of local hard woods with planks up to 9cm thick they are very solid structures. As the planks came off more rot was found in the transom and the bow stem. To save the bow stem a new piece of wood was fashioned to fit. This is not a small piece of wood. A single piece of wood was harvested and then fashioned into a new bow stem slightly triangular, about 2 metres long and weighing roughly 200 kgs was plained into shape and fitted behind the bow planks.
Work goes on pretty much in an un-fussed sort of way! Massive planks a steamed, bent, twisted using ropes, bolts and nails until the desired shape is reached and the plank fills its intended gap.
On one occasion and running short of planks, the builder decided he need a special plank... Off into the forrest and then reappearing with two 8 metre long planks of 10cm thickness. The 'green' was gently steamed for about two days until the desired curvature was met and then final shaping and banged into position! Now that's how you do it!
Coming from the modern era of composite boats, I couldn't believe how solid these boats really are. Sure they are rough and ready but that's exactly what they need to be for their environment. I've never seen anyone hit a modern composite boat with a sledge hammer to have the hammer merely bounce of as they did to this old creature! - Ed.
​
​
Something from one-piece is always going to be strong! So what you do is... visit th eforrest and find an elbow of wood that fits th ebasic shape that you need! In this case, one of the supporting ribs for the planking. One solid piece! One solid boat!!. Wood used or removed from the boat was re-purposed. Stay in one of our cottages and you'll find the planks on the kitchen bench and even a sliver of this chunk became a clock.
​
Planks are fashioned one at a time. First the basic curve is eye-balled. Then the plank receives some heat through sunlight and hot coals. It's progressively weighted as the curvature gently increases. Then it's fastened by its forward end and then manipulated into place.
​
Caulking the planks is done in the time-honoured way. Cotton 'string' is forced into any gaps. Then a local concoction of "gum" is smeared all over the gap and caulking. The 'string' absorbs the gum and seals the gaps as it swells once in contact with water. It's worked for a few hundred years so why not!