"My news" wrote in message
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"Bruce In Bangkok" wrote in message
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On Tue, 6 Jan 2009 09:02:43 -0800, "My news" wrote:

It will be cheaper for them if they can eliminate the dugout canoe and
will
save them time to build the boat. I asked some boat makers in the south
of
manila that their waiting time for the dugout canoe is about four to five
months. The price is not cheap for a very crude work that they still have
to
finish. It is the most expensive part of the boat and mostly came from
illegal cutting.
You can see from the link I provided earlier that the price of the boat
can
go up to 3000 dollars which is not affordable for many native filipinos.

You seem to be implying that the poor benighted fishermen don't really
know much about boats and you are going to teach the ignorant people a
new and better way. Sort of a missionary saving the pagans idea, which
is often a trait of people who really don't have a great deal of
experience in the subject, or area.

My experience, based on asking questions, not on attempting to convert
anyone, is that in most areas the local watermen do in fact have a
fairly good idea of what type of boat is most suitable to their
particular type of work.

For example: In Thailand 99.9 percent of all fishing boats are built
of wood. Big fishing boats - 80 footers or bigger. Recently, while I
was in the yard an 80 footer was right behind me and I asked the owner
why not build with steel. He replied that of course steel was cheaper
but a few years ago some boats were built from steel and the boats had
a lot of problems that the wooden boats didn't have so the owners
generally didn't want steel.

My point isn't that steel is better or worse then wood, rather that
local watermen usually do know what boats fit their purpose.

Given that the Filipinos are a pretty innovative people and have a
world of experience working in foreign countries, adapting foreign
ideas - see jeepney, for example - etc. It seems unlikely that glued
plywood is going to be a real surprise to them.

Re the dugout style boats you mention, I can think of at least one
reason to build them that way - they will be more stable and have a
much easier motion when fishing that a lighter plywood boat.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)


I'm very aware that many people are reluctant to make a big change to the
things that they are accustomed for generations. My only intention is to
show that there is an option for them to use in replace of the bottom
hull. They will still build a basic Banca but less expensive and faster to
make. My plan is to fabricate a similar type of the dugout canoe from
stich and glue and ask one of the natives to build a Banca from it. I
believe this approach will be acceptable because the real intention is the
affordability for others. I estimate that the cost can be cut to
approximately 30% less due to elimination the laborous dugout canoe and
the island to island transport. Imagine that some guys will go to the
mountain, find the right tree with the right size, cut it down and dug it
out for a crudely made canoe in manual labor and finally deliver it to
another island. The plywood is available everywhere in the Philippines but
the available composites are fibergalss and polyester. The only available
epoxy is the thick, grey generic type.

BTW, The easy motion and stability of the Banca basically relies from it's
length. The common size for a small fisherman ranges from 28 to 32 foot
long. This is based from most local fishermen I spoke with. The 32 footers
are more dependable in the open. They are lightweight indeed. The sides are
made of quarter inch plywood. The dugout canoe is three quarter inch thick
and an inch on the bottom. They will like it if the boat will be made even
lighter because they carry Gill nets with plenty of sinks. They can use
extra capacity to carry more nets that will result to higher yield. In
addition, The haul can be made even wider for more buoyancy if stitch and
glue is used.