Va'a

Errr........ Just picture no comment? Is this a new Japanese invention?

 

Comment

Just didn't have much time to write any explanations .

I am a paddler and canoe designer in Tokyo.

We are currently working on the recreational one man outrigger canoe.
As many of you might know, outrigger canoe("VA'A" in Polynesian language) is quite popular and widely loved in the world these days.

But, the boat available in the market is expensive carbon vacumed racers. We have been keep recieving the requests for non-athletic paddlers to build a suitable canoe for fitness, and weekend fun. But appreciate the tradition of va'a at the same time.

So, this is our proposal to the market. DA IKI V1. "IKI" means small in Polynesians. As racing V1 is sleek and about 6 to 7 meters long, this va'a is only 420cm for easier handling.

We welcome your comment on this design.

 

I like the concept of the VI recreational paddler and the design is reasonable except I think it should be a little longer and a little slimmer as stability is not an issue, but ease of paddling and yawing with a single blade paddle might be. Perhaps 450cm and 10% narrower.

 

Thanks frosh for your comment.

It's short and wide because;

1)Our local roto-molding facility has the max capacity to 420cm
2)Wide enough to gain the desired displacemet(bouyancy) up to 100kg


Maybe we could pursuade roto-molding factory to invest for larger molding facilities. But I'm not sure.

Design wise, there are no problem to make it longer/narrower and we'll give it a try.

 

If you are going to be limited to 420cm then it is still possible to improve the original design a little.
Try a semi-circular bottom cross sectional shape maybe 20% narrower than you have modelled. Flare out the topsides from the semi-circle and also increase freeboard. This should give less overall resistance than the wider design and being more deeply immersed should track straighter as well.
If you model this one and post it on this forum we can have a look and make further comments.

 

Outrigger design

I think the cue here is that this will be a recreational boat and that it is not one being designed for more experienced, outrigger paddlers. The design needs to be reassuringly stable for a beginner and offer a similar experience to that being offered by the longer and faster composite boats.

Just as the pudgy, short rec kayaks are not anything like the longer faster sea kayaks, this doesn't need to be a genuine, OC-1 outrigger. It only needs to bring the flavor and the style of the outrigger to the recreational market.

As you mentioned, building a bigger oven to accomodate longer tools and even longer rotating armatures is an expensive enterprise. From market research, you'd have to know that the increased expense is going to have to be recouped through enhanced sales.

A rotomolded outrigger boat in this category, the Nalu, was produced some years ago by the now defunct, Walden Kayaks in Massachusetts. Purists crapped on the design to some extent for various reasons, but it was received decently by the end users.

The vaka hull was 15' long and 20" wide.

 

tighkey,
it is long time I try to find a one man outrigger canoe for one of my customers; it has to be build in carbon kevlar, do You sale this plan?? It is this regular one man regatta plan?
let me know.

 

Nalu

Walden's NALU is now took over by Riot Kayaks in Montreal.
http://www.riotkayaks.com/v3/fw_nalu.asp

We have that in our hand, but most paddlers wish to have more sophisticated design. Da Iki is inspired by the Tahitian and Hawaiian V1 designs.

 

VA'A design for carbon kevlar

I suppose this short recreational va'a is not suitalbe to build with carbon or hightech materials. This design is mainly for economical materials like rotomolded polyethylene.

If you wish to get the plan for more advanced racing design, maybe I can design one for you.:idea:

 

tighkey,please email me your contact email address,I would like to discuss a design with you which will be used commercially.
Thanks
projectmedia@optusnet.com.au

 

finally, it's on the water!

 

Da Iki V1 Photo

Here're the photo taken last weekend.

And short movie;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjG2V92-Z7g

 

Hi Tighkey, nice outrigger, but did it end up similar dimensions to your initial rendering, 4.2 metres length? It looks slightly more in the photos and video.
I notice that in the slideshow many boats are in the 6 metre range. How was the performance yours relative to those?

 

Well, it's only 4.2 meters long as we designed at the biginning.
But looks sharp and swift for its Tahitian like outline.

Easily reach to top speed and go thru the bumps. Surfs so nicely as well.