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| August 2014 - the late, great Meli lightening the canoe hull where the tree was felled three months before |
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| Hauling the canoe out of the forest over very rocky terrain |
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| Reaching the sea |
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| The new canoe on the beach, where it lay for almost a year, following Meli's death. (First four photos by Bob & Ann Johnson, s/v Charisma) |
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| August 2015 - a tree is felled for additional timber for the decks, side planks and steering oar |
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| Cutting a straight line! Mini starts to cut the tau (fore deck) |
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| Shaping the tau |
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| Pio cutting the side planks - he has an amazing ability to cut parallel lines just by eye |
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| Health & Safety officers should look away now! |
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| The first two planks nearly complete |
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| Mini and Damian with the hollowed-out tau deck |
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| Sel Citron's big dinghy carries the components across the lagoon to the canoe |
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| Planing the top sides of the hull |
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| The 'sai' side planks cut to fit |
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| Damian applies some non-traditional sealant to the deck joint |
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| Team effort |
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| Graham fitting a stainless steel plate he had on Maunie to reinforce a cracked plank |
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| Mini and Lutu enjoying the use of a cordless drill rather than their hand-cranked one |
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| Drilling holes for the lashings to hold the cross beams in place |
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| Copper nails added as well |
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| Taking shape - the outrigger in place |
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| Akosita playing in the hull |
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| Graham adding non-traditional stainless steel screws |
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| Fitting the front board - the latex gloves are because the paint ain't really dry! |
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| Palagis (foreigners) at work |
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| Launch minus 24 hours - painting the deck |
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| Sail makers at work |
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| Detail of Graham's lashing to hold the outrigger firmly in place |
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| Launch Day - adjusting the mast and rigging |
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| Test sail, with Pito, Kerry, Dianne and Mini aboard |
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| The side is engraved with the names of the builders - Meli, Alifereti (Lutu), Mini, Pito and Jio - plus the three yachts who helped with the build - Sel Citron, Ithaka and Maunie |
Really nice story - and sailingcanoo
ReplyDeleteBuilding with green wood must be an adventure in evolution. Thank you, I enjoyed the story and gather Fuluga is exceptionally beautiful
ReplyDeleteRona on Hello World at present in Savusavu
Wonderful stuff, thanks for sharing! I think I may have been most amazed by the quality of the chainsaw work :)
ReplyDelete