24m/80' cargo proa arrives in Fiji

[JoFi]

What an amazing project. Congratulations

[rob denney]

The cargo proa is in the water, thanks to a bunch of CATD students who did the heavy lifting and put it on some tyres on the ramp at low tide. The slope of the rampwas a bit more than the buoyancy at the end of the hull and the deck vents were going to go under. 20 students picked it up and put a couple more tyres under it. When the water got to the deck, we pushed it into the water, an advantage of muddy ramps! No leaks, but the beam attachment is a bit peculiar, nothing that can't be fixed. I managed to twist my ankle in the mud, could barely walk by the end of the day. One of the trainers wrapped it in Vau leaves. An hour later I could limp, the next morning was fine. Vau Wow! The photo shows what an 'island suitable' boat designer/builder looks like. That's mud, not boots.

Lots of prep for the Pacific Island leaders. The CATD staff and students did an amazing job, way beyond the call of duty. Another 15 cu m of concrete hand mixed and laid, grass and trees trimmed, edges painted, drains cleared, big marquee erected with raised plywood/carpet floor, decorated and catered. Big screen with video about the boat and lots of coconut fronds hiding the mud. Haircut, shave, shoes, new sulu and matching shirt for yours truly.

Due to lack of notice and prior commitments 'only' 2 PM's (Fiji and Tonga) could make it, along with a bunch of High Commissioners, ambassadors, other diplomats, sundry NGO's, donors, representatives from several green projects, the press and a bunch of others I didn't get to meet.

That is near enough 2 PM's (Fiji and Tonga), a bunch of High Commissioners, ambassadors, other diplomats, sundry NGO's, donors, representatives from several green projects and the press more than have attended any other boat I have launched.

The program was brief; a meet and greet while we waited for the dignitaries to arrive, a welcome by students in traditional dress, an MC with a cool sense of humour, students draping garlands around the guests of honour, PM's speech, cutting of the ribbon (specially printed with Harryproa images on it), closing speech mentioning the Govts intention to make this area the "Silicon Valley" of green shipping in the Pacific, photos with the PMs, interviews and chats with interesting people, lunch, more mingling, kava and some r&r for the people who had been working hard at the PIF all week.

The event was about the future of green shipping, effects of climate change, acknowledgement of the historical impact of the Pacific on sailing, what could be done and what was being done. The cargo proa was simply evidence of doing something rather than talking about it.

I stressed how the prototype was just that. We are still learning what is required and how we can address it, a process that will continue in earnest when it is sailing.

I had a fine time, chatted to both PM's and the ambassadors, was interviewed for a documentary, and established contacts with a lot of people and projects. I quit in the evening, the party was still going on early the next morning. All going well, it will all be cleared away on Tuesday so we can pull the boat out and start finishing it off, interrupted by a heap of meetings. The first of which is with plastic recyclers about making PET foam here, maybe.

All told, a wonderful day, my thanks to the CATD staff and students and my good friends Arbo (CATD Director) and Dovi (not sure exactly what he does, but everything he says will happen, does).

With a bit of luck, and following a lot of hard graft by my wife (the short person in the middle of the group photo, with the PM of Tonga on her right, me on her left and the PM of Fiji on my left), the next update should have some marvellous news.

Big screen video at https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...dN?usp=sharing
Ministers speech at https://youtu.be/0_slDfmHkxQ
More boat details at Cargo Ferry – Harryproa
and the story of the build so far at Cargo Ferry Prototype – Harryproa

Regards,

Rob

[jordanbigel]

Wow, that is really cool looking. Hoping to see it fully rigged soon!

[GafferMate]

Fascinating. Boggles my mind with admiration in every sentence, every amazing photo.

[rob denney]

It's amazing how much has happened in the 4 months since I arrived in Fiji. CATD and my involvement with them has extended way beyond the cargo proa.

Already happening or in the planning stages are: a biogas reactor program running off food scraps and sewage and producing enough methane to cook for 100+ students. CATD got the first of them at a hand over ceremony with the Israeli ambassador last week; A cassava flour mill for the bread we are cooking in the student built bakehouse; a "village/school appropriate" recyclables collection site organised with Recyclers Fiji and help from the local high school; installing a low cost solar hot water system; producing mud bricks; turning unsorted, uncleaned plastic waste into tiles to cover the mud on the boat ramp and turning scrap glass into sand sized pieces using a locally built kava crusher. Initial use of this will be to substitute for sand in the mud bricks, play with non slip, hard and reflective coatings on the boat and cover some of the mud around it. Sand is $60 /cubic metre, so we're not going to get rich, but keeping Fiji's beaches out of concrete is definitely a feel good project.

It is wonderful working with people whose first reaction to an idea or suggestion is "Yes, let's do it".

Thanks to Sue (my wife)'s grant writing skills, we have been awarded significant UNDP funding to get the cargo proa finished and tested, set up boat building classes for the Women in Fisheries outrigger canoe and the Mini Cargo Proa (incl sailmaking and spar building), get us started on recycling plastic for the MCP deck slats, the cargo boxes and core material for all 3 boats and fund some analysis of routes and production costs.

I was chatting with one of the CATD teachers, who told me his family was the 'sailor' clan in his village and he would very much like to help teach the building classes, and that his grandfather was a traditional navigator, keen to pass on his knowledge. Exciting stuff, as the general consensus is that all the old Fijian master navigators had died, taking their knowledge with them. More on this soon, I hope.

Despite my preference for doing rather than talking, I am spending a lot of time talking due to the interest the cargo proa has generated, particularly the launch by the PM's. We had a 2 day session with the Minister for Rural and Maritime Affairs and a gathering of 300 dignitaries from Korea, the UN, Fiji Govt, NGO's, donors, green groups and sundry others I didn't get to meet. The Minister had a look at the boat, then sought me out to apologise for not being at the launch and to discuss problems and solutions. Cargo proa feedback from everyone was overwhelmingly positive.

The Private Secretary of the Solomon Islands Environment Minister dropped in for a look at the boat. The highest ranking person to climb all over it to see what it was about. Nice guy, very knowledgable about problems and lack of solutions. We discussed the diesel powered solution being mooted for the Solomons, and agreed it is probably the hardest place in the Pacific to service due to strong winds and big distances. He will send over a group of students for the boat building classes.

Had a visit from the Maritime Safety Authority of Fiji, a necessary first step in writing the safety rules for cargo proas. It will be a bit of a process, but they (and us) are keen to get it happening. They suggested a local naval architect who I had a long chat with. Fun guy, very practical and knowledgable about boats, how things work here and what is required. He explained what is required, both for the prototype and the production boats, and assured me he could do all the necessary engineering, drawing and paperwork. Big load off my plate. He and the recently retired ex boss of MSAF visited for a look, were suitably impressed. They said the PM has asked for me to do a cargo proa presentation at World Maritime Day at the end of the month.

I was interviewed for a prime time documentary on climate change by Estonian TV. Cargo proas are going to be big news in Tallinn! Sue and I spent 2 days running a booth on cargo proas and sustainability at a PIDF conference in Nadi. Nice drive there and back, Fiji has some stunning scenery. While there we met with an old mate of mine who is doing some amazing stuff with uncleaned, unsorted plastic waste. More on this in the next update.

The CATD "Skunk Works" department is playing with plastic foam from recycled PET bottles (soda, water, etc). Glassed each side, it will provide some alternatives to ply, mdf etc, may also have some applications for insulation and low cost boat cores. They are also working on island suitable lids for the cargo boxes which cool fruit and veges or freeze fish and meat.

Despite the above, work on the boat is progressing well.
We got 20 students to slip the boat after the Prime Minister's party. All went well until we removed the beams from the masts. One end of the hull was in the water, it floated sideways and the hull, with masts up, capsized. A bit of a bang as the masts hit the beams and a bruise on my finger, but otherwise no obvious problems. Removed the beams, carried them and the ww hull up, righted the lee hull and slid/lifted it up the ramp and onto the level. Most of the time it was on tyres, over which it slid nicely up the quite steep ramp. A village could disassemble it, get the pieces up the beach and prep it for a cyclone in a couple of hours if required. Three tyres (double as fenders) tied under the hulls extends the type of beaches it can dry out on to include the lumpy dead coral typical of the area between high and low water inside coral reefs.

The welding shop is making 3 rollers from 200 kg drums to make launching/recovery easier on the muddy ramp. Hopefully they can handle the load (about a tonne/ton each) without needing too much beefing up. We are applying for funding to extend the sea wall and build a floating jetty, which is starting to look like a marina, with the taro patch to become a car park until it becomes the floor of the proa building factory. We are also exploring some novel bio concrete options for the jetty construction.

One of the many drawbacks of using big jobs like the wings for experiments is that it takes forever, with a lot of small and repeat jobs followed by waiting overnight for epoxy to cure. Get something wrong, and it has to be corrected 20 times. Not helped by a small workspace, a lot of rain showers and occasional power cuts. 5 wing sections for the first mast and 4 for the second are now built, apart from the trailing edge covering which may be sail cloth sewn on, or peel ply and/or 200 gsm cloth glued on. Once I figured out the load paths and let gravity do it's thing, it became a lot simpler to set up, but the 1.25 high x 4m lengths are pretty floppy until they are in place, which makes solo handling frustrating. There are some fiddly string lengths to sort out, but each section is now independent of the rest so any adjustments required do not mean adjusting every panel which is a lot less frustrating for an impatient builder.

Other jobs off the to do list:
Replaced the tie down beams with tapered slots. One less thing to go wrong/be maintained and it makes assembly/disassembly much quicker.
Installed the toy box, not sure whether it will need beefing up, but so far so good. The fibreglass lids, hinges and catches work, but need some prettying up, along with much (almost everything) else on the boat. On the plus side, this makes it much easier to change things without having to worry about destroying or maintaining a showroom finish. I might replace the lids with netting, but at the moment, they are easier to walk on than the cockpit floor, which is supported by string lashed across underneath it to make it easy to walk on and catch anything dropped. It needs closer lashings, which I will do when the dyneema order arrives.
Redid the beam/mast attachments (again) to make them easier to tie on and more secure. Still not totally happy with it, I'll repeat the hull lifting test we did in Brisbane to ensure it is strong enough.
Used tow instead of metal bolts to attach the bilge pump, 4 carbon mooring cleats a winch and the 2 anchor rollers. Not as quick as metal fastenings, but no leaks, lighter, cheaper and a better load spread. More challenging too. There are no screws or bolts on the boat so far. No timber either apart from a bit of cork and the scrap ply the pump is on. The 2 x Sarca 25 kg anchors (thanks Rex) and the Ronstan supplied Anderson winches (1 x #34 and 1 x #40, thanks Tom) are the only metal on the boat so far.
Installed the tender davits using tow to attach them and carbon axles for the sheaves. Looks pretty good and one of them supported half the weight of the tender (double what it will take in use) so another good start.
Mounted one rudder case. Looks workable, I'll fine tune the kick up mechanism when the boat is floating. Still undecided about the other one.
I could not use much tow on the winch due to the bolt hole sizes, but initial tests look like there is plenty. Which makes some of the other carbon tow uses on the boat look like huge overkill. Next challenge is on the Ronstan cam cleats where resin intrusion is a worry, might have to get imaginative attaching those.
So, the boat is progressing nicely. Not as fast as I would like (never is), but fast enough to meet the upcoming deadlines.

Sue and I have just returned from a 2 day CATD staff retreat at Leleuvia to get everyone on the same page about the future direction of the place. Huge fun, lovely people and an exciting vision. We are humbled and grateful to be part of this wonderful community. The only downside was the team I was in carefully selected our hermit crab, then watched it finish a disappointing last in the race to the water. ;-)
More photos, videos and previous updates can be viewed at: Cargo Ferry Prototype – Harryproa
Information on the cargo proa at: Cargo Ferry – Harryproa
Mini Cargo Proa at: Mini Cargo Ferry Prototype – Harryproa

[rob denney]

This site won't let me download photos. They can be viewed at Cargo Ferry Prototype – Harryproa 'soon' or at https://www.facebook.com/Harryproa/?ref=page_internal now.

Rob

[rob denney]

Boat progress has been a bit slow, but steady. We have reached our first set of UNDP targets and qualified for the 2nd tranche of money. Both good feelings. The boat is ready to launch to test the rig and rudders, but the launch has been delayed until we get the ramp fixed where the river has eroded it. This involves building a retaining wall and some back filling when the guys and gear have finished building the new 100 pig piggery.

Jobs off the to do list:
Installed one of the telescoping masts so we can test a third of the first wing (5 x 1.25m high panels). The mast telescoping arrangement needed work, and has been altered. Also built a stopper to prevent the top mast going through the bottom of the boat if something breaks.
Decided the fibreglass cockpit deck was a poor solution, so chopped most of it off and replaced it with net.
Completed the rudders, including the kick up mechanism and installation of the whipstaff. Will run the lines when it is ready to launch.
Put some carpet in the ww hull. Brightens it up nicely.
Made a crude textile clutch which works well for holding the top mast halyard, but may (will!) have some strength issues on bigger loads. I have some kevlar braid somewhere which will be much better.
Built a couple of wing camber inducers from carbon tow. Not sure they will work as the loads are not known for certain, but they are a good start.
Added inspection hatches to the lee hull, experimenting with low cost ways to hold them on.
From the "you've got to laugh or you'd cry" department: I spent half an hour with the big grinder prepping the side of the ww hull for painting, then had to knock off for a ceremony and lunch to bless the new digger. Got back to the boat at 5 (ceremonial lunches are not trivial affairs, the rest of the attendees were still going strong on the kava at 9 pm) and painted it while being chewed by mosquitos. Was woken in the night by torrential rain. The result is attached. Once it dried, I applied another coat which seems to be well stuck. Cheap water based house paint is good stuff. ;-) The copper epoxy has not been sanded to expose the copper yet, so the paint on the antifoul will be easy to remove.
The sailmaker supplied a couple of test wing coverings which fit like a glove. He understood immediately what I was trying to do, and is enthusiastic about teaching the students to build crab claw sails as part of the UNDP funded 'sustainable, island suitable boat building course' we are running at CATD in the new year. The plan is to build PET foam/fibreglass versions of the Marshalls boats, with 2 side mounted kick up rudders, no leeboard and a track for the mast. The boats should last indefinitely, with no maintenance beyond house paint on the bits that are in the sun. No power tools, building jigs, nuts, bolts, screws, plywood, timber, very little metal, 2 measurements (length and width) per component and a 2:1 epoxy mix ratio suitable for use in 30C temperatures.
Each 3 month course will build 2 boats, including spars, rudders and sails, which will then be used to teach sailing and seamanship.

Feedback on this project is that the sailing mini cargo proas are great for fishing and non urgent freight and passengers, not so good in low wind areas, fast flowing rivers and narrow channels. A low drag, small outboard motor boat would be a lot more suitable and a big improvement over the heavy fibreglass skiffs with their big gas guzzling motors. These will be built the same way as the mini cargo proas. An option will be to put a roof on them for shade and solar panels. These will power small outboard motors where the petrol power head has been replaced with an electric motor, reducing maintenance and eliminating fuel costs. A slightly larger version of these outboards is going on the cargo proa tender.

Some of the other things happening:

Spent a weekend at Beqa Island to chat with the islanders and check out the water and location as part of the never ending quest to improve the boats. Navigating to and from Beqa is going to be a challenge. There is only 1.5m/5' to 2m/6.33' of tide, but the land area grows considerably at low tide, and there are coral outcrops all over the place. The Navua river where we boarded the fibre has a wide bar. We touched on the way out, had a moderately exciting surf on the way back. Lots to think about to reduce the chances of strife. Fuel costs are killing the islands, the excitement about the cargo proa and mini cargo proa was quite gratifying.

Visited Rukua village to help with their 'clean up the village day'. Grubby, but it was educational talking to the villagers. They collect all their rubbish, then take it to the mainland in outboard powered fibres/pangas/banana boats and pay $150 to truck it to the tip. Most of the load is air in cans, bottles and plastic containers.
I came back, googled can crushers and asked the welding teacher to build one, which he did. $US20 each from Amazon, could be a good earner for CATD if we sold one to each village in Fiji. A truck full of uncrushed cans costs money to take to the recyclers. A truck full of crushed cans and the village makes money.
Designed a plastic melter/press, to either make something useful (floors, paths, walls) from the scrap plastic or just melt it into blocks for easier and cheaper transport to the tip. I'm waiting for a 200 litre drum to build a prototype. A bonus of melting it is all the smelly stuff gets evaporated off.
Crushing glass bottles and jars is a no brainer. The result is effectively sand which can be tipped into the water, spread on an eroded beach or used in concrete. The prototype hand operated crusher is built from an old gas bottle. It is half built due partly to a measuring error (mine) and partly as the welding crew have been called on to build a jetty over the slip to access a 12m/40' floating pontoon. This will replace Bau Landing as the terminus for the Leleuvia ferry. In true Fijian style, the jetty was built in a couple of weeks and covered with planks chainsawed from a couple of pine trees which were removed to make a flat area for the waiting room, which morphed into a coffee shop, probably made from a container CATD has. Instead of cutting up and hauling away the sunken sand barge at the bottom of the slip, the farm manager had the brilliant idea to use it as a foundation for the pilings. The floating pontoon will make working on the cargo proa in the water a lot easier. I love this place!

A year ago, Rukua village was gifted one of the 100 plywood camakous (18' outrigger with crab claw rig) which were built and used for a TV reality show. They were built in a hurry, did not get much epoxy. A local group fixed a few of them to give to communities to encourage sailing and reduce fuel bills. The Rukua one is now more holes than plywood. I also spent a weekend at Leleuvia patching the original canoe, which was "properly built". I bought the outrigger back to CATD to repair some major rot. Got the outside prepped, but the smell of rot coming out the holes indicates it is an exercise in futility. Hopefully it will last until we can get them a mini cargo proa. Why anyone uses plywood in the tropics is a mystery to me.
..........
Seta, the owner/skipper of the Drua dropped in for a look and a chat, offered me a sail from Leleuvia to Suva: 50 miles inside the outer reef. Interesting, knowledgable people and a nice coast, although navigation was a full time exercise. The boat was an eye opener. I arrived undecided, became a big fan regarding the suitability of this sort of project for cultural reasons. We were in a hurry so didn't get to shunt. Maybe next time, plus a charged phone to get some performance data. It certainly gets along and is the simplest boat of it's size I have seen. 4 wooden cleats tied on with poly twine and a large paddle for a rudder is the sum total of the deck gear. Huge fun and a nice break from boatbuilding. https://www.facebook.com/seru.zara.1...56271862566041
..........
We had a meeting with Waste Recyclers Fiji, who have generously supplied us with 1,200 kgs of empty wine bottles which are waiting to be crushed and used in lieu of sand in our mud brick production. They also supplied 1,000 kgs of unsorted, uncleaned plastic to practise on and figure out a way to make cargo boxes, plastic roofing tiles, floor boards, and concrete rebar. Only 999kgs of it left after the plastic melter/compactor's first trial which turned as much plastic sheet as I could carry into a 70mm deep, 150mm dia block. WRF set up a meeting with the Environment Minister to show him our waste plastic and glass solutions. I was invited to sit on a committee to discuss it further. The Nausori mayor was present, gave me a lift home. She is very keen on discussing a high speed electric ferry to Suva. Maybe once the shed is built.
..........
Visits from the Aus and NZ High commissioners. Nice people, we will see what comes from it. Also visits from representatives of sundry other Pacific Islands, some donors and others looking to partner with us and a couple of film crews. I was in a sailing film shot at Leleuvia by a Canadian couple. We took them for a sail in the Camakou, I explained what it was all about.
..........
I spent a couple of hours glassing the rusted out bottom of a freezer in our new on site supermarket (the only one between here and Nausori, 10 kms and several thousand people away). Not exactly state of the art boat building, but it saved buying a new freezer for several grand.
..........
When it's raining (often), I play with the oven and scrap plastic. I melted and pressed some LDPE packaging plastic (I think it's LDPE, there's no mark on it) and pressed it into some 200 gsm pw glass. Worked a treat, the glass is transparent, indicating complete wet out/impregnation. The result is the same thickness and resin content (95% by weight) as hand laid 200 gsm fibreglass/epoxy. It is noticeably tougher as it bends without creasing or cracking and is impossible to tear by hand, unlike a single sheet of 200 gsm with epoxy. It was heated to 200C (less by the time I got it into the press) and 5 tonnes of pressure, a bit of a breakthrough for several recycling and waste disposal applications. I'm not sure how, or whether to use it for boat building, but have a couple of ideas to try when the PET foam arrives.

I also made a mould for pultruding plastic reinforced tow to make rods to replace steel rebar in mud brick and concrete construction. Failed miserably, so tried it as a compression mould. Better, but not viable for long lengths. An interesting learning curve. Next recycled plastic job is the cargo boxes.
..........
Henrik, who I worked with in the Marshalls sent some pics of one of the mini cargo proas (scroll to Nov 5) in Aur atoll. They added the rudder to replace the paddle and put a cabin on the ww hull to stop the copra getting wet. Hopefully, Henrik gets some performance data while he is there.
..........
It's getting warm and humid with sudden heavy rain showers as the cyclone/rainy season gets underway. My work day is slowly adjusting to 5 am-9 am on the boat, meetings, chores, lunch, office and snooze 'til 3, boat 'til dinner time. Not unpleasant once you get used to it.
CATD closes for Xmas, so I am going to Sydney for a couple of weeks. Steinar is already there. We both come back here in mid Jan. I'm looking forward to discussing boat ideas drawn in the sand on Manly beach with him. A cyclone while I'm away is likely, so I am doing what I can to make the boat safe. The big worry is the huge tree to the south west of the boat which, since the pine trees and hill were removed for the coffee shop is now exposed to sou'westers.

I got a small cut on my ankle which almost healed, then in the course of 2 days turned into a pretty messy superating open sore 50mm in diameter (pics on request ;-). Not an uncommon event here apparently and easily fixed with antibiotics, which I am now consuming.

Previous updates and photos can be seen at Building Blogs – Harryproa
Information on the cargo proa is at Cargo Ferry – Harryproa
Discussions about the boats at https://groups.io/g/HarryProa

Merry Whatever and a Happy New Year to everyone.

regards,

Rob

[JPA Cate]

Thanks very much for the fill. It is such a heartening project, and the Fijian people ARE wonderful. I'm glad you're enjoying them. Some very heartwarming and practical cultural philosophies there.

Ann

[Franziska]

That is such a cool project.
The boat, the setting, the guy driving the project (you!), the folks building the boat and learning new skills and all these low tech recycling ideas.
Awesome.
Please keep the info flowing.

[rob denney]

Originally Posted by Franziska

That is such a cool project.
The boat, the setting, the guy driving the project (you!), the folks building the boat and learning new skills and all these low tech recycling ideas.
Awesome.
Please keep the info flowing.

Seems I neglected to post the last couple of updates. Sorry.

Easiest way to view them is at our newly updated web page https://www.harryproa.com/blog/cargo-proa-building-blog[/URL]

[GordMay]

Have you updated, since November 2023?
Updates on the cargo proa build: ➥ https://www.harryproa.com/blog/cargo-proa-building-blog

Oops! I see you have new builds, in Australia & Brazil ➥ https://www.harryproa.com/?p=4639

[rob denney]

Update 9
Zero emission shipping things are starting to happen at CATD. Not least because we have usable boats in the water. One of the upshots of this is an increase in curious visitors, many of whom are doing interesting things, but need sustainable transport to make them happen.

We fitted the 5 x 300W solar panels to the Rewa water taxi prototype built by the students and powered by the outboard converted from petrol to electric. It worked a treat. The attached photo and

video show it operating

under 2 of the panels (600W, less than 1 horsepower), no battery.

Top speed was 4 knots

, with 2 people on board on a cloudy day. We are now waiting for MSAF approval prior to fitting batteries and taking it down to Rewa, a 6 mile open water trip, followed by 9 miles of river. Once it arrives, it will be used by as many drivers and passengers as possible and the feedback will be used to design the production version. These will be built by graduates of the Sustainable Boat Building programme in the new UN Innovation Hub at CATD.

25 years ago, I realised that kites are by far the best way to use the wind to power boats. Why? They are attached to the deck, so there is no heeling, they require minimal deck gear so they are far cheaper than conventional rigs and they can be flown high where the wind is stronger and more consistent. On the down side, (and what I and many others have spent a fair bit of that 25 years looking for solutions to), they are difficult to launch and retrieve on a small/medium boat, have the potential to unexpectedly quadruple their power output if not carefully controlled, are a nightmare if they fall in the water and have kms of small diameter string which tangles easily.

I spent a couple of days pre Xmas with old friend Trevor Jack on KitetiK, a 15m harryproa used for testing kite ideas. We used a kite handling system devised by Trevor and a 17 sq m/183 sq' (projected area) paraglider, modified to fly like a kite board traction kite. It took a while to get it set up, (once we mark the lines it will be set and forget) but then we could leave it and steer wherever we wanted to from hard on the wind to broad reach with no one touching the kite. Launching and retrieving was simple, using the mast to hoist and retrieve the kite. Once flying, all the loads were taken by a single strong point on the deck. This is a huge contrast to a sailing rig where the sail force acts half way up the mast and the loads to shape, control and support the sails are an order of magnitude higher than the force propelling the boat. As a bonus, the kite loads are lifting the boat, whereas conventional rigs act to heel the boat and depress the bows.

17 sq m is about 1/3rd of the designed sail area, not much more than a conventional storm rig. We managed 6 knots top speed in maybe 10 knots breeze (no white caps, despite wind against tide) shunting through 90 degrees upwind.

This performance and ease of handling was impressive enough to justify bringing Trevor and Gavin Mulvay (kite, electronics, EV's, and a whole bunch of other things guru) over to Fiji to try it on the tender for the cargo proa. Gav also cut and sewed a different type of kite which may be easier to use.

I had 2 weeks to finish and install a lee (actually a weather) board and a mast (one of the booms for the mini cargo proa crabclaw rig), make a paddle and set it up for steering. The mast's sole purpose is to launch and retrieve the kite. Once it is flying, the mast does nothing and is unloaded, or so we thought.

The guys arrived and we spent a couple of days sorting things out, doing some test runs, installing the bridles on the kite Gavin made and

then set off for Leleuvia

, 12.5 miles/20 kms away. A broad reach, barely 10 knots of breeze, with the paraglider/kite from KiteteK. Raising and lowering it was simple using the mast. Pull it up, release a string and it gently fills. How gently is controlled by the string release speed. Reverse the procedure to drop it. Shunting is a couple of seconds of pulling lightly on one line. Faster than the time it took to get the paddle from one end to the other.

Top speed was 9.6 knots,

all went smoothly

until the mast broke between the bearings. A function of the small bury (distance between the bearings) waves from the side and a spar not designed for the job. Nothing to do with the kite.

We spent 2 pleasant nights at Leleuvia and took the boat for a shallow water reach along the beach with a hand held 2.5 sq m/27 sq' kite. Got along at about jogging pace with not much leeboard down. I'd definitely carry one of these (maybe a bit bigger) as an emergency kite. We also test flew the kite Gavin had built (see attached). It needs tuning, but has potential. We jury rigged the mast with stays for the trip back. Repeat of 9+ knots top speed in similar breeze but the stay angle was insufficient, so we broke it again in the cross seas, nothing to do with the kite. We had a play with a couple of hand launched kites, then the breeze died, so we called for a tow to CATD. Gavin had to go home, so Trev and I rigged an inverted Y mast using bamboo. Much stiffer, but we managed to break this too. Definitely a function of the kite this time. We learnt a lot of lessons, not least that big kite techniques on small boats are difficult and kite selection is important. On the bright side, the problems with the masts will not apply to the cargo proa, so we are proceeding with the build of 2 large kites.

The tender is an 8.5m/27' catamaran with 400mm/16" wide, double ended hulls, flat bottom and no rocker. It weighs about 250 kgs/550 lbs and draws about 20mm (3/4") empty. A bit more than double both of these with us three and our gear onboard. The draft enabled us to skim over coral with the leeboard up and the steering oar out of the water to avoid having to go round outcrops. Shunting (couple of seconds and almost no effort) meant we could reverse immediately if it got too shallow. A definite plus in this part of the world. Due to the hull shape it is easy to steer by weight shift with the kite attachment point amidships on the lee deck, opposite the leeboard (actually a weatherboard). Move a person a metre or so and the steering paddle is not required. The hull shape also means that drag is unaffected by shape changes when weight is added.

We were given a 6 kw/8 hp electric outboard and battery in lieu of grant money owed. We fitted it on the tender and with 6 people on board did 5 knots using 1 kw (1.3hp) of power. Impressive enough that both Gav and Trev intend to build smaller versions of the tender. Four of us took it to Leleuvia for lunch, came back in the afternoon, had almost enough battery left to repeat the round trip. Petrol cost and emissions? Zero.

Top speed was 11.2 knots,

which implies the prop is a bit fine, we will test some others.

The students took the tender for a blast and managed to whack the hull with the outboard, at full speed (see pic). Due to the multiple bulkheads in the hulls, it didn't sink and because it is a flat panel construction, the fix was a 20 minute job with a backing plate and a couple of layers of glass.

The end result? We are not there yet with a solution to zero emissions small/medium boats, but we are a lot closer than we were with the conventional and wing rigs. The rig works well enough to buy a couple of kites for the cargo proa and see how it goes. There will have to be a lot of disadvantages to outweigh the advantages: no heeling loads, low cost, long life, easy handling (no winches, 2 finger control most of the time), light weight of the kite and mast, no deck gear, easily learnt basics, a simple problem solver mode and sailing with the bows lifted instead of being pushed down.

I'm modifying the cargo proa and will launch it when we have MSAF approval. The mods aren't simple as the boat is set up to do everything from the windward hull. Trev and Gav will be back with the new kites for the next chapter when it is launched .

Gavin had a small waterproof electric motor with a 3D printed housing which he uses to propel his 7m trailer sailor. We mounted it on a piece of wood and used it to push the tender, then dropped it in the water. A floating outboard! (see attached). This type of motor opens up some interesting possibilities for converting petrol outboards, powering canoes and building our own low cost outboards.

There were a few surplus to requirements solar panels available, so the students put them on the roof of the boat shed, Dels the sparky wired them up and we have Fiji's first solar electric boat recharging station. Not particularly elegant, but it will do the job.

We are organising Boat Master courses for the students and staff so they can take the boats out fishing and snorkelling. An impossibility with the outboard on the 8m CATD fibre due to the cost of fuel.

I spent a couple of pre Xmas days working with the plastic recycling people. Built 2 frisbees (see attached) from plastic bags and scrap dress material. The equipment to process unwashed and unsorted plastic is on it's way from China, we hope to be operational in April. The frisbees are part of the school program planned as the next step after we get set up at CATD.

Last week we attended the award ceremony for the UNDP grant awarded to CATD for a project to develop mud brick houses, similar to the ones built in Ba in 2005, which were the only buildings to survive cyclone Winston in 2017. One of the people involved in building them is now at CATD. There is potential to use the glass we are crushing as a sand substitute and perhaps a couple of uses of the recycled plastic in the construction of these houses. Interesting stuff.

For those who are curious about

CATD and what it is about

, have a look at this video.

There are boat building workshops in the pipeline for Matuku Island (Lau group) and Taveuni, both beautiful places. I won't be running the workshops, but intend to visit and have a look around.

In Harryproa developments, www.harryproa.com is back on line, complete with some stunning new renderings Steinar has been working on. There are now 2, perhaps 3 C50's to be built here, once the Innovation Hub shed is complete. This is an ongoing process, with a lot of disparate elements that need to come together before construction can begin.

We are having a great time, with great people in a great place.

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[catsketcher]

Thanks for the update Rob, you are getting real with your back to the origins multihull designing. I remember talking to Dick Newick about his tri for the Tongan clients (IIRC) and he was really happy about designing a workboat - not a pleasureboat. He said it was backwards to the way yacht design had gone (from workboats to pleasure boats) but he was gratified to do it.

The electric potential is interesting. Hopefully an easy rig would be a useful addendum to the electric drive to keep costs down.

Not to rain on your parade, but I also remember reading an article by Jim Brown who was working with the World Bank to build better craft for subsistence fishers in the Phillipines. He was quite anguished that his better designs with their increased range helped the fishers increase the range of explosive fishing and reef damage they created, increasing their problems in the long term. Same things have happened with wells dug in cyanide rich soils in India by well meaning NGOs. How does one ensure that new technological solutions don't produce negative long term effects? Is there a way of only replicating what has been done but at a lower environmental and logistical cost?

cheers

Phil

[rob denney]

Originally Posted by catsketcher

Thanks for the update Rob, you are getting real with your back to the origins multihull designing.

The quest for simple, safe and cheap has always been the driving force behind whatever I designed. It was pretty much the same for the traditional boat designers, but they did not have the technology and materials that we do. One of the more gratifying comments on the cargo proa was from an elder who said ''that is what traditional boats would look like if carbon, fibreglass and epoxy grew on coconut trees".

Originally Posted by catsketcher

I remember talking to Dick Newick about his tri for the Tongan clients (IIRC) and he was really happy about designing a workboat - not a pleasureboat. He said it was backwards to the way yacht design had gone (from workboats to pleasure boats) but he was gratified to do it.

It is gratifying to be doing something for people who need the end result rather than want it.

Originally Posted by catsketcher

The electric potential is interesting. Hopefully an easy rig would be a useful addendum to the electric drive to keep costs down.

Electric is the way to go, not least because solar battery charging stations can also provide power for remote villages, replacing diesel gen sets. There is a lot of development happening to make it island suitable. We will be teaching the students to make small electric outboards and do electric conversions in a much simpler (and cheaper) way than previously.
The cost problem is the batteries. It is also a safety problem. We are working towards assembling batteries here that can 1) be dropped from waist high onto concrete, 2) float and, most importantly 3) turn themselves off when they are removed and on when they are plugged in to the motor or the charging station. If (big if) we can produce low cost, safe batteries and outboards, Fiji will follow Aus and other countries and ban 2 stroke outboards. The battery tech is currently in the 'valley of death' for innovation. We have the knowhow, we 'just' need to get it up and running. We are fortunate to have the support of the UNDP, Fiji Govt, Fiji Development Bank, sundry other sources of funds and CATD to make it happen.

The other solution is a rig that is efficient enough not to need batteries and hope that when there is no wind, the sun is out to charge the (relatively) low cost solar panels. This was the original plan with the cargo proa, but we have been given a 7 kw battery so will include it in the mix for the prototype.

Originally Posted by catsketcher

Not to rain on your parade, but I also remember reading an article by Jim Brown who was working with the World Bank to build better craft for subsistence fishers in the Phillipines. He was quite anguished that his better designs with their increased range helped the fishers increase the range of explosive fishing and reef damage they created, increasing their problems in the long term. Same things have happened with wells dug in cyanide rich soils in India by well meaning NGOs. How does one ensure that new technological solutions don't produce negative long term effects? Is there a way of only replicating what has been done but at a lower environmental and logistical cost?

The Fijians I know are far too clever and put too high a value on their environment to willingly damage it. The one and two person fishing boats we build in the village workshops are what you describe:* Dugout canoe equivalents easily built from non-rotting, low cost, sustainable materials without power tools.
The cargo proa is far less damaging to the environment than the diesel ships it will replace and it is unlikely we will build enough of them to match the demand for freight and passengers for many years, so they will not be adapted for fishing. The ability to move people and produce regularly and cheaply from village to city will, hopefully, encourage villagers to grow and catch stuff for market and supply a reason for them to stay rather than join the unemployed slum dwellers forced to live in the cities.
The mid size boats we are building could be abused, but they are replacing the fibres/pangas/banana boats with their (often unnecessary) 40-100 hp outboards which are more suitable for nefarious deeds than the sailing and E motor boats so we are probably reducing the harm.

Either way, it is all about education. One of the first things I discovered here is that aid without education is destructive.
1) The aid items break, fall apart or, in one case, sink because no one was shown how to look after them.
2) The aid replaces what was working in the village: skills and jobs are lost.
3) the aid agencies and the recipients don't respect each other, so the relationship turns sour and often spreads to others.
Consequently, we spend time on the boat maintenance aspect and getting to know the recipients as well as on the actual building.

Before you bag the barely surviving Filipino fisherman and his damage to the reef, think of the environmental destruction required to provide and maintain your lifestyle:
The thousands of sq miles of native bush and animal destruction required to provide you with the huge range of diet choices for your 3 meals per day, the transport costs of ensuring these are available all year round; the flooded valleys providing you with water to flush your toilet, wash your car(s), water your lawn, wash your body and clothes daily and a minute portion to keep you hydrated; the cities and associated urban sprawl to give you your 'space' and the opportunity to earn far more money than you need to get by; the loss of land from mining so you can have gadgets, the landfills so you can dispose of them, wars to 'keep you safe' and ensure your cheap energy; recreational travel in planes, cars and boats and entertainment in many of it's forms. Then add in nuclear testing, fracking, gill nets, fish farms, global warming, pollution and feral animals including cats, cane toads, cows, pigs, goats and sheep. All of which (maybe not the ferals ;-)) are "new technological solutions that produce negative long term effects".

The Filipino fisherman probably doesn't know what a holiday is, has certainly never had one in a foreign country, eats only what he can find, catch or grow, washes when it rains or in the sea, has no car or lawn, can't afford petrol for his boat, has a half day bus trip to doctors who he can't afford to pay and is likely to be shot by gangsters if he complains. So he blows up fish to feed his family.

The differences between him and us are huge. But the biggest one is that he doesn't know that his lifestyle is contributing to destroying the planet, and we do.

Rob