The Hawaiian Canoe by Tommy Holmes

By many this book, The Hawaiian Canoe, is considered the definitive source – The Bible – of Hawaiian outrigger canoes. Covering a historical perspective of Hawaiian canoe design from pre-contact to modern times. Though it is not a how-to book, it is fully illustrated with color pictures, historical artwork, and ‘to-scale’ drawings of actual canoes from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. No longer in print, but a must have for anyone passionate about Hawaiian outrigger canoes.

Building Outrigger Sailing Canoes by Gary Dierking

After ‘The Hawaiian Canoe‘ – Building Outrigger Sailing Canoes is my favorite outrigger canoe book! Well thought out, easy to read, chock full of great information – and obviously written by someone who has ‘been there/done that’! A definite ‘How To’ book!

Outrigger Canoeing by Steve West

Covering the past and present of outrigger canoeing as well as all aspects of rigging and paddling. A great book about outrigger canoe racing in the Pacific. I learned how to rig my canoes from this book.

Waka Ama Plans – a Selway Fisher design

I bought these plans when I first started – I never did build it – yet! But when designing my first canoe I incorporated some aspects of the Waka Ama canoe into my design – most notably, building the hull out of 7 planks.

Ulua Plans by Gary Dierking

I also bought these Ulua sailing canoe plans when I first started, and have not built it yet! But using these plans and his book I learned how to make a foam ‘ama with plywood spline, and how to laminate the iakos together. I’ve used these techniques on every canoe I have built.

Stitch and Glue Boatbuilding by Chris Kulczycki

All the canoes I have built are stitch-and-glue designs. This book has a wealth of material about all aspects of this building technique and can be used to build any kind of boat.