It took about two months to let the fresh bamboo we cut from our land dry out (held in a curved shape) and be ready to use as the stringers and gunwales.  But the stringers have been tied up and two layers of fiberglass skin added, and it’s time to try the boat out in water.

Boat skin is 2 layers of fiberglass coated in resin. It looks clear and translucent. We made sure that all the holes in the wood for tying the stringers up were covered by the fiberglass skin.

The boat is very easy to lift and carry with two people. We haven’t weighed it yet, but I’d be surprised if it were more than 30-40 kg.

The boat skin is very clear in the water.

The boat did well on stability. The person inside can lean out all the way left or right without tipping the boat over or letting any water in.

Since the boat does not have any kind of keel, it swerved a lot side to side when rowing, so we used a kayak paddle for testing. We are hoping the leeboards and rudder will solve this.

But it is now water tight and can be used as a boat. The next step is to try adding rudder, leeboards and a sail.