Some web-published info featuring small trimarans in Indonesia and the Philippines. Thank you Ian McGehee for sharing this with us!
In addition to Ian’s finds below, readers might also want to view the following posts…
The Bigiw craft was featured here:
http://smalltrimarans.com/blog/bigiw-a-traditional-philippine-watercraft/
And the samaloutrigger.wordpress.com website Ian shares below is mentioned here:
http://smalltrimarans.com/blog/paraw-double-outrigger-sailing-canoe-plans/
And now, Ian writes:
I just ran across these and I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen them before or passed them along.
First one has some very nice illustrations that are both artistically pleasing and technically very detailed:
Boats in Sulawesi: An illustrated journey –
https://www.sea.museum/2016/07/19/boats-in-sulawesi-an-illustrated-journey/?platform=hootsuite
Second one is far more academic and dense with details about boat building, tools, etc. and has some really neat photos of various trimaran types that were mostly extinct or headed that way at the time of its writing.
Link to document in PDF: http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10125/16980/AP-v29n1-51-88.pdf?sequence=1
Both have fairly detailed sail/rig information that is often overlooked.
After learning the name of the spritsail rig shown in the second article towards the end, I googled it and came across this:
“Bigiw can slice thru waves and ride on following seas, with minimal risk of swamping. The bottom half of the hull is made of dug-out log while the hullsides are made of 5mm thk marine plywood. Outriggers and sailing rig are made of Bamboo. Crab Claw or Sprit (Banog Pindang) sails are used. Bigiws are often sailed single-handed and steered by a paddle.
…Bigiw boatplan is now available in PDF format. For builders who don’t have access to a log or prefer a wood-fiberglass-epoxy composite, the boat can also be built using a strip-plank method. The mold frame lines are included in the plans.”
https://samaloutrigger.wordpress.com/bigiw/
The similarity of that main hull to skin-on-frame arctic kayaks is fascinating…I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything from the S. Pacific/Indian oceans that comes so close.
LOTS of neat traditional Filipino tri info at that blog, including paraw plans and all manner of details to geek out over…again, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it so I assume you haven’t featured it yet (apologies if I missed it).
Ian