Turning Grumman Canoe into waka ama

I am most of the way through turning a 17' Grumman aluminum canoe into an outrigger sailing canoe. You may have gathered by my choice of hulls that my budget is low. I found the canoe on Ebay for $350.
To make the ama, I used an 11' piece of nicely curved poplar I found on the side of the CT river which I proceeded to hollow out, fill with the closed-cell foam you can buy in a can, covered the top with 1/4" plywood, and carved a bird's head in the front and tail feathers in the back.
I am wondering what I can do, given that I do not benefit from an asymmetrical hull, to address concerns of excessive leeway and overall windward performance. I was planning on installing a leeboard with a draft of approximately 2' but do not know if there is something I am missing.
If this post is redundant, I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could direct me to a relevant thread.
Also, if you want pictures of the project, let me know.

Warm Regards
Tim

 

That canoe is a good 36" wide, flat bottom. You will have a rather wide main hull, in other words, wide enough to keep the speed down to the displacement speed limit of about 5 1/2 knots. I don't think you are going to exceed that in any condition you could sail in, except maybe surfing while running.
Yet, it's always fun to play with ideas. Narrow boats can sail without an extra hull, if the rig is low and the skipper knows what he's doing.
It sounds like you're enjoying the hell out of this project so please show us some pictures and keep us posted.
Your question about a lateral plane----- probably a leeboard is ideal, maybe three feet depth instead of two for some real bite. The hull isn't contributing much with it's flat bottom and small keel. The hull also has no rocker, which will (at a minimum) cause difficulties coming about (you might keep a paddle handy).


Alan

 

A leeboard is good because it lets you move the center of resistance fore and aft to balance the boat so it will go straight(er) as you change wind angle, heel, etc.
A longer skinnier one lets you move the resistance over a bigger range (but too long needs more depth and is easier to break...). I would make the board about 3 feet overall, since the top 1 foot will be out of the water....

Please post a picture of that ama!

 

Make it Two

Alan's comments are sound regarding sailing canoes.

I've been building and designing sailing canoes for a number of years now and the advice about using a three foot deep (in the water) leeboard is very good, short of punching a hole in the hull and going with a daggerboard.

Both of the sailing canoes you see below utilize leeboards for leeway resistance. The red canoe is shown with a 56 sq. ft. main sail, inflatable amas set five feet from the center of the canoe hull, a leeboard as described and a flip-up rudder for shallow water work. This boat is pretty quick under sail when kept light, it's very helm sensitive and an absolute delight to sail.

The white canoe with the blue sails is a much more developed sailing version of an expedition grade, decked canoe. This boat also runs a leeboard and the same kind of rudder setup. It has 115 sq. ft. of sail area for upwind angles and can also fly a small screacher for offwind work. The boat is rigged with a 2 hp Honda outboard and makes 6 knots at half throttle carrying a full load as shown in the photos.

One of the nice things about boats like this is that they can be easily de-rigged of the amas, akas and sail rigs and returned to straight forward canoe use for paddling trips.

There aren't a lot of boats that can paddle well and sail well. I believe this is the ultimate sport utility boat when it comes to possible uses and bang for the buck invested.

Chris

 

Thank you everyone for your input. I first heard of outrigger canoes about six weeks ago so I am in the very steep part of the learning curve. By now, I recognize that the hull is quite beamy- though hopefully not as bad as that guy who was hell-bent on turning a perfectly good J-24 into a trimaran
Alan, could you explain "displacement speed limit"?
Also, I was wondering if the angle of the leeboard makes any difference. I noticed that Gary Dierking's Wa'apa has the leeboard angled at about 5-10 degrees.
Finally, as I am a newbie, can anyone tell me how to post photos on the threads?

Thanx again
Tim

 

Hello again

Alan, I looked on Wikipedia and got a quick education on how hull length and speed are related. Here is the link if anyone is interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_making_resistance

If the issue is the boats ability to displace water quickly enough, then could the flat bottom of my trusty Grumman become an asset? The Froude Number describes the behavior of waves- if there is no wave, then no drag right?- this seems to be the central principle in that Hydroptere, well in multihulls in general, the former being an extreme. I guess what I am wondering is whether the combination of a flat hull, low weight, and aggressive sailplan that incorporates a jib, via a 2.5' bowsprit, might create some sort of planing effect and turn my Grumman into an International 14- an obvious exaggeration.

 

Yeah, so you see the 5 1/2 knot limit under normal conditions (sq root of 16 waterline length is 4, times 1.34 = about 5 1/2).
Your hull AS A MULTIHULL is on the fat side, and will, I think, usually limit you to displacement speeds (though light air speed should be pretty good---- the boat won't be a sluggard). As Chris says, the virtues of the rig are versatility. Speed will seldom exceed 5 1/2 kts.

 

You guys are awesome.
I was all concerned because, to be honest, I plan to sail this thing from the Connecticut River here all the way to California via the the Straight of Magellan and then maybe hit the Bering Straight if I am enjoying myself. Except for a 21" foot-well, I have sealed the hull with two layers of 1/4" plywood that I will cover with fiberglass. The hull is divided into three compartments with access via rectangular hatches. I have devised a sleeping arrangement that involves sleeping in a hammock off the port side between the gunwale and the outrigger pole that runs parallel to the hull. For the tent, I am going to use the spar from the mainsail and run it backwards much like the spinnaker pole on a symmetrical spinnaker and use rope to make a downhaul and then a topping lift that runs over the masthead from the bow cleat. I will post photos soon.

Warm regards
Tim

 

Nobody, so far as I know, has done the Straits of Magellen in a canoe (But what do I know)?

Just remember to put tacks on your decks at night to ward off the Fuegans.

 

Here are some photos of the ama construction. The finished product will be painted black and white and be somewhat stylized.