Korkor
Hi Chuck,
Finished korkor just a little behind schedule but I finished
Woooooo whooooooo. I really liked the Marshall Island style
sailing canoes. So this is my interpretation of a Marshall Island
korkor. I have had him out in light winds only 8 to 14 and with
the 72 sqft camo poly sail, really glides along.
The materials used to make the vaka "main
hull" is 1/4'' luan and 1/4 '' birch bulkheads with 6 oz
glass completely covering the hull with an overlap at the chines.
The wales and stems are douglas fir. The built up rectangular
box on top of the main hull is redwood 1x8 doubled up and covered
with 8.7 oz glass.
The platforms are all 1x4 1x6 redwood with 6oz
glass covering. The four smaller curved support beams are teak
and the larger beams on center are redwood. The smaller slats
crossing the aka "outrigger" are red wood epoxy glued
and lashed the thicker slats at the end are mahogany just lashed
The light color wood slat at the end that attaches to the four
curved support beams and goes under the two main straight beams
is douglas fir lashed only. The two fangs that hang off the
two main beams are red oak. The curved piece that is lashed
on top of the two main beams at the end of the aka is teak and
acts like a bow holding everything under tension at the end.
The ama "log" is a 4x4 red wood rounded
on bottom with the diamond shape on top. Holes have been cut
out in the ama so that the beams plug into the ama. A couple
of 1/4 bolts with wing nuts makes it easier to disassemble ama
to aka connection. The aka ama assembly gets plugged into the
vaka "main hull" and lashed on the inside.
The whole boat comes apart into four pieces. Takes
about 20 minutes to assemble and fits in and on top of my pick
up. Main hull is 120 lb the aka is 55 and the ama 25lb . The
sail is camo poly tarp of about 75 sqft made from double sided
tape, duct tape, bolt rope, and grommets every 12''.
Yards are 1 1/2'' doug fir mast is 2'' doug fir.
standing rigging is only to wind ward and to the stems of the
main hull nothing supports the mast or sail to leeward. No rudders
or dagger boards just oars to help you set course once on course
weight shift and sail sheeting keeps you on course.
The boat was built from scratch and with the help
of pictures from a book Canoes of Oceania and proafile egroups
on the internet. It is my attempt to create the look and sailing
characteristics of a Marshal Island Sailing Canoe of the past.
Enjoy
Todd Snyder
