Proa Birthday - Now Expedition Ready!

Happy birthday to Waimea the proa! launched one year ago.
In the first year of it's life Waimea has learnt many great abilities such as shunting reliably and sailing in 20+ knots!
Time for a self draining cockpit and a paintjob!

[@shoutatthesky]

Your ability to make use of what you have is astounding!

[@dominictarrsailing]

haha thank you

[@theinspector1023]

Excellent exposition. Some really good ideas. I love the tortured squeal of the wheel bearing!

[@cbleslie]

So many questions answered.

[@ellelyn2000]

I look forward to your upcoming adventures, tks.

[@dominictarrsailing]

I had a great adventure but unfortunately I lost the camera overboard so I didn't get to make a really good video about it, but check out my shorts for some bits

[@bryrensexton4618]

👍!!!

[@ButterflyMatt]

Good stuff! Beautiful boat.

[@volneyklintworth5487]

Excellent!

[@macrumpton]

I love the rough and ready engineering, combined with matter of fact handling of problems that crop up. Very inspiring!

[@brunodunshee8937]

- This DIY vídeo is a blessing for those who are trapped at the MATRIX! I'm also doing a multi hull by my self ! By the way. I just glued all my hair! 😬😵‍💫😁🙏

[@dominictarrsailing]

epoxy hair is the classic boat builder look! even on Tally Ho, how does leo get his hair to stand up like that? it's epoxy I reckon!

[@bertram5798]

Nice!

[@EricMcleod-sy1xe]

sweet

[@AklLibofTools]

Thanks for the shout out Dominic! We love to see what our tools get up to

[@TuanLe-ko5rm]

She’s a beauty!

[@burtonsville]

If you're still in Auckland Bruce and Adventure Cycles in Western Springs has lots of affordable second hand bike parts, likes to support low carbon projects and is a really interesting guy. Great to see the Proa progress - looking flash!!

[@dominictarrsailing]

I've heard about that guy! will check it out next time I'm in town

[@tomedom5107]

Great stuff! You've made a really great boat from scratch and you will go on learning so much from it, having loads of fun. And you are taking us along on the journey, which is downright generous! Thanks! The only things I would have done differently are: 1) Lay woven glass UNDER the deck because otherwise a ding on top will splinter out underneath, its like putting the bottom web on an I beam. 2) The deck seems quite high in the Vaka. That's OK, but reduces legroom (I'm old). 3) Considered using maybe two of those three new compartments for stowage. Weight amidship rather than at the ends. Of course the problem of sealing hatches comes up! Or maybe you have another stowage strategy? Couldn't help chuckling at the trolley failure. Because, seriously, having a trolley that works and that stows in the canoe is no easy thing. It's almost as tricky as rudders on a shunting proa!

[@dominictarrsailing]

normal sailing position is sitting on a beam across the aka (which is also mast step) with feet in the waka. This is improved with the deck because now feet can rest on the deck but couldn't reach the bottom before. For paddling I now kneel on the deck, before I sat on a plank placed across the gunnels, which I could still do, if I wanted. I've now sailed this quite a long way but didn't really need to paddle that much. I didn't put any hatches in because it would be too difficult to make some that didn't leak! If i come up with a good design I might because it would be nice to have clutter free sailing. glass under the deck is an interesting suggestion. I think it would need to be a really big hard ding for that. Like dropping a large rock in! which I do not intend to do! probably more likely to have that problem on the inside of the bottom (top of the keel) but I have managed to keep it off the rocks so far!

[@Disasteradio]

Incredible!!

[@BalkanShipyards]

Thanks brah, finally got to see your hulls, Wharram was strongly against flat bottoms, yet I feel he never truly considered their advantages.... You, wondering around town with your trailer was very cool!!! You sure are a problem solver! the future belongs to this type.... Keep Shunting bro, Balkan Shipyards

[@markthomasson5077]

Woods catamarans…flat bottoms rule!

[@dominictarrsailing]

Thanks Rael! To be fair the first wharram cat had a flat bottom. Quite tubby and square much like my proa here. I think the happy medium would be more dory like flattened V like woods catamaran or havaya! traditional proa from ninigo island has a flat bottom like this so it must be okay!

[@setkacagarro-blogspot-com]

Nice one 👍

[@dominictarrsailing]

thanks!

[@assafjacob5762]

Good job mate🎉 I hope that you epoxied the underside of that plywood inside your new watertight compartment so it doesn't rot with condensation

[@dominictarrsailing]

I sure did! Several coats, each while the last is still sticky, and then glue it down like that too, so everything is chemically bonded!

[@norwestbayclan122]

Looking good Dominic! In relation to the velcro pads, I reckon the longevity is lengthened by having pressure down on the sander when turning on and off. With no down pressure it allows the pad to slightly become loose allowing dust between the pad and disk. The dust is what causes the velcro to fail.

[@dominictarrsailing]

thanks yes that makes sense!

[@richdecibels]

oh my god it is so fancy now!

[@dominictarrsailing]

you are!

[@OgLid]

That was quite a hub failure…the boat looks really cool, looking forward to how she moves in the water now. It thought at first you were building a platform to sail from.

[@dominictarrsailing]

Actually I did make a trampoline, didn't quite turn out as good as I hoped, and this video was already a good length. so I left that out for now

[@Forrest-Jackson]

Hey Dominic! The fleet is looking much more refined! That color red (with its iron oxide pigment) has the benefit of being more abrasive resistant than other colors... as well as looking bitchin'. Waimae is looking good! I made a foam and glass hull years ago and the sun caused it to delaminate horribly b/c I didn't vent it... now, even if I don't necessarily need to, I still add a surfboard air vent. If you start seeing any delamination throw one of those in and give my portion of your libations to Neptune Rex. If you don't see any delamination then still give your libations to Mr. Rex! I took your advice to increase the length of Manu'iki'iki's iokas (my tacking Micronesian canoe) - I'll let you know how that goes this Spring (Northern hemisphere)...

[@dominictarrsailing]

Thanks! I didn't know red was more abrasive resistant! This welliintojits second summer now and no sign of problems from being fully sealed. It's hollow though, and sides are just epoxy sealed ply wood. I guess it can handle the small difference in airpressure from the heat? Will certainly add a vent / drain if I need to though

[@Ron-dx9wq]

The sticky wheel probably has internal brake pads that you could remove.

[@alansmollen]

Great story sir, imagine it, build it.

[@robertlaird6746]

I like the sticky backed random orbital sander without the dust collection best but it seems that all the manufacturers want to only make dust collection and J hook sand paper disks which cost like three times as much as sticky backed. It's becoming harder and harder to find sticky backed.

[@orangespy]

She looks brilliant in red, nice work Dominic

[@dominictarrsailing]

thank you! after painting the catamaran 3 colours I vowed the next boat would just be one solid colour!

[@ecclesheat]

Wow even fancy camera tricks. There a intermediate pad for a sander you can get called pad savers. Ment to be good.

[@dominictarrsailing]

hmm looked that up, seems like it's just another layer of velcro? costs about the same as the adhesive replacement velcro anyway "replace frequently"

[@ktorn1]

Proa's looking great. Looking forward to more vids of it in action!

[@zackariasthepirate]

Good stuff! that enclosed area is key. I like how you transferred the deck template, I might try that at some point. Thanks for sharing the video.

[@dominictarrsailing]

yeah or screw pieces of scrap together so they point at the corners and just fit snugly

[@dnomyarnostaw]

A terrifically useful and well presented project. You provided some great design concepts, not least the idea of nesting hulls and amphibious capabilities. Some rust proof wooden wheels that could be stored on board would be great when wanting to come ashore at remote locations with heavy gear. I saw one design that could slip a wheel onto the rudder, so you could steer the "tricycle " up the beach or road. The problem of finding the length of internal struts is solved by creating a two part template, that you expand to the correct length(width of internal hull), and then tape together to lay on the ply stock to cut to the correct length. In this case, I would have drilled small holes through the hulls in the location of the struts, and a "skewer" reaching through the hulls would calculate the distance, enabling a thumb tack to hold the strut temporarily. Kit hulls actually route small slots at the correct location, and slide overlength struts through the two opposing slots, epoxy them in place, and saw off the excess on the outside when cured.

[@dominictarrsailing]

good suggestions! yes I was thinking maybe slots might work! wonder if it would make hard points that needed fairing though? I did actually make an adjustable template like that with a clamp. I have been thinking about wheels too. with two wheels, near the center of mass, takes very little effort to lift, because it's balanced. You arn't gonna make wood bearings. That's the part you don't wanna rust. can get wheels with alloy rims and stainless spokes... then loads of grease on the bearings. Or junked kid's bike wheels it's like $5 or $10 a bike here (from the dump shop)

[@dnomyarnostaw]

@dominictarrsailing Yes, the holes through the hull with struts would be a hard point, but no more than you have now. Some sealing and fairing at the intersection is needed, too. Edit. I have a Playlist called "AmphibiousCanoe" on my channel that might give you some ideas on wheels. Yes, the axles need to be stainless steel. The metal axle holes csn just be a bit of embedded stainless tube. Wood is for no rust, of course. It could be epoxies, glassed plywood, or those plastic wheels they use on kiddies bmx bikes. Some examples in that playlist used them.

[@skyl4rk]

Very nice. I wanted a boat where I could sleep inside the hull, but a self bailing cockpit would be excellent. I have not figured out how to make a lightweight waterproof hatch for an opening 2'x4'.

[@dominictarrsailing]

the wood kayak people have lots of good DIY water proof hatch ideas. they even use the piece they cut out as the lid. On this boat sometimes cockpit is full of water and I'm not sure if the kayak hatches can handle that so will need to do some experiments...

[@dominictarrsailing]

this boat would be a tight fit to sleep inside the hull (even for someone skinny like me) even if the aka weren't in the way. I did built a tacker once that I could sleep in the hull, akas further apart.

[@roxyknight4909]

Very cool

[@GeeRad]

That looks a lot like lighthouse red....maybe Anna had the red rocking horse?

[@dominictarrsailing]

It's RAL3020 "traffic red". I am sure that there is some document somewhere that decrees lighthouses must be some exact colour but I havn't been able to find it. Maybe it's signal red (RAL3001) If it wasn't Anna's she would have ended up with it. I thought I remembered seeing it being painted in the tool shed at ohaupo, so maybe it was have been for Greg? I had a look through the old photos but didn't find any clues

[@hobocyclist]

Damn these are good tips 👍

[@kormyen]

Excellent video! Love your commentary and story. Looking forward to the expedition ;) Why graphite in the epoxy for the hull?

[@dominictarrsailing]

graphite in epoxy makes a decent bearing surface, that slips nicely. so it's used for say, the inside of daggerboard trunks. hoping it's better to drag up the beach too? also I was told (by professional composites builder) that it protects from UV and that hobie rudders are coated in it.

[@norwestbayclan122]

Oh and if you cut your hair off you don't need a hat under the tarp. If you want to retain a certain amount of style I hear the skullet is a popular option atm.

[@dominictarrsailing]

hahaha I'd need a lot more sunscreen with that haircut!

[@chrispalmer1255]

WOOPWOOP! Just started watching this video and I’m excited! I was considering doing a self-bailing deck using 4mm ply for the bracing too! Can’t wait to see what you came up with!

[@dominictarrsailing]

looking back at it I think I could have saved some time by gluing them in with CA glue (superglue) to hold them in place before the fillets. Hmm or maybe make a double bevel gauge thing to get sizes in one go

[@chrispalmer1255]

Oooh yeah Both good ideas How’d you decide your water line height?

[@dominictarrsailing]

@@chrispalmer1255 ah well since I am adding the deck after extensive sailing trails I know the water line from experience. Still I measured on the bulkheads then realized after that the rocker is already coming up slightly by then so I actually made it higher than I originally intended, but still it's easy for a little water to come in the drain, that would have been worse lower.

[@dominictarrsailing]

but to calculate it at the design stage I estimated the volume of hull beam * water line length * draft * prismatic_coefficient. the prismatic is the ratio of the hull shape to a prism (that is, parallel sides and square ends) if the prismatic is 1 it's just a rectangle if it was 0.5 it would be a triangle, sides going straight from bow to widest part. I chose 0.75 because it was relatively straight then curved in around the ends and it came out pretty close to how it floated

[@tomedom5107]

@@dominictarrsailing Some ideas for self bailing the scuppers: 'Segelreto' the Ukulele playing German, used plumbing elbows on the outside, probably with plugs unside. Of course they needed shunting and he doesn't seem to use them now; see 'Fjordproa' and search Reto. Some RIBs use an 'elephants trunk' as a drain out the back. the soft plastic tube collapses and seals at low speeds but sucks at higher speeds. In your case, maybe a bendy pipe to go with the flow which has a collapsing tube on the end to seal it? A venturi (big tube tapering down to small, tapering out to large again) creates low pressure at the narrow section. Tee in your scuppers here and they should suck dry AND it should work both ways(!) A non return valve at the scupper exit seems like a good idea. Shout out to an Aussie named Michael Smith on the (public) Dinghy Cruising Association Facebook page, on a thread started 16 Dec. He built one from plumbing parts for his monohull dinghy and says it works well with enough speed, which is not hard for a proa. Thanks for helping to revive those highly specialised 'proa grey cells' that were in need of a workout!

[@svbeto6429]

Looks awesome, man! Do you know about how much the proa weighs all rigged?

[@dominictarrsailing]

61kg. The hull is pretty light, could save some weight on the platform rig etc. Anywaybits light enough for two people to carry up the beach or one person to drag

[@alexforget]

Awesome job! Make me wonder if you are considering converting your warram into a proa. I imagine the speed you would get with that lenght.

[@dominictarrsailing]

Haha yes actually the pahi 31 was designed around the time that wharram was exporing proas. There is a illustration of a pahi 31 with a tacking rig. The hull is symmetrical, if you remove the skeg and fill the daggerboard and rudder slot. Maybe if I find a derelict pahi with one good hull? but more likely id just build a new proa from scratch, then it could be lighter and layout that makes more sense for going both ways

[@hardystein114]

Well done Dominic ! You do very nice work , considering the less than ideal conditions . Turned out rather well .👍How wide did you make the bottom of the Vaka , and Ama ?

[@dominictarrsailing]

Everything is designed about 40cm wide pieces, ama 20cm, so that everything fits into 3 sheets (that was before I added the deck though) I think the actual bottom is 36cm (from memory) there is a link to plans I drew in the description of the original build video BTW!

[@dominictarrsailing]

Everything is designed about 40cm wide pieces, ama 20cm, so that everything fits into 3 sheets (that was before I added the deck though) I think the actual bottom is 36cm (from memory) there is a link to plans I drew in the description of the original build video BTW!

[@hardystein114]

Thanks Dominic. All clear now.@@dominictarrsailing

[@Cee2TheZee]

Would it be wise to add an access hole to the deck? i.e., in order access the watertight bulkheads when you need to.

[@dominictarrsailing]

I figure that is something i can leave until necessary. It would be handy to have hatched in the cockpit for stowage but even pretty expensive hatches are not as water tight as you expect! Its been over a year now, no leaks! No problems with air expanding inside (on a hot day) either!

[@Cee2TheZee]

@@dominictarrsailing I see, awesome to hear how well it's working. I was also wondering, is backwinding ever an issue for you? Like would the mast just fall over onto the ama?

[@dominictarrsailing]

@@Cee2TheZee back winding is a problem, but I have it rigged so that the mast doesn't fall. There are two stays from the leeward gunnel, not quite at the ends, which makes it less likely to snag the boom while shunting. these stays run through low friction rings and are attached at the bottom, to allow the mast to tilt to each end. And then there are short lines coming off this that can be cleated. I try to avoid getting back winded. If there is a strong wind, the ama will get pressed under slowly, and I have time to brail or drop the sail. One way is to brail the sail and then gybe back around. Another way is to drop the sail, paddle backwards and turn the bow back through the wind, then raise the sail again. It's mainly a problem when sailing up near a tall object that blocks the wind and makes gusts from different directions.

[@bcr07pzu]

This is incredible! I have been dreaming about building a proa with my kid for some time! Any chance you could make plans? I dont have the same amount of time to get it right. Im sure people would pay! Do you think this boat could take 2 people and still go? hoping to make one that can be trailered with a bicycle Long term dream here

[@dominictarrsailing]

Yes, I have sailed it with another person! 3 times now I think. There is a link to the plans that I drew when building it, on the description of the build video. They are a lot rougher than what you usually get if you buy plans. Hmm, I need to measure and write down the proportions of the rig, because getting that was actually the hard part.

[@bcr07pzu]

@@dominictarrsailing Thanks so much for getting back to me on this! fantastic. was dreaming about building it with my kid but be able to sail it with my wife, so as long as it doesnt completely bog down with an extra person onboard then I will copy your dimensions exactly! Yeah was a little worried me a bit in the video when you said a week to build but a lot longer to get the rig right. i dont have your past experience there so any advice on the rig would be so so so helpful. Thanks again for everything you are doing man! awesome

[@bcr07pzu]

at one point i had a dream of making a inflatable one (with spars etc. for rigidity)

[@adrianbaker9804]

hi Dominic, the graphite in epoxy ...is that a antifouling thing , or does it just make it easier to scrub the fouling off.

[@dominictarrsailing]

it's abrasion resistance, and UV protection. Fouling isn't a problem with this boat because it comes out of the water often enough that nothing can grow on it

[@thecompletetom]

How long did the sander/vac last? We do have a couple of spare Stanley batteries, but it might be time to buy an electric generator.

[@dominictarrsailing]

do you mean like a petrol generator? that's one thing that you will absolutely never find on my boat. I have ZERO internal combustion engines and that's how I like it! What would be possible is running a cordless vacuum like this, which is only 300w, but via a step down converter off a larger battery with solar. a standard shop vac needs 220v and uses 2000w so it's too much to run of a modest solar setup. I just don't need that much power most of the time

[@dominictarrsailing]

sorry to answer your question... I think it needed a second charge to do a whole pass on the ama. that's a little under 2 m^2 maybe an hour? I didn't track the time

[@thecompletetom]

Agree, petrol generators are terrible, was thinking a solar/ac charged battery and inverter. The tool library might have some spare Stanley batteries for next time

[@dominictarrsailing]

that's how I was recharging the batteries! however, the little battery charger they give arn't very fast... don't charge as fast as you can drain them with a vacuum/sander!

[@leonardogaytan3219]

Excellent!

[@alexeybotkov]

Excellent!