Resources
In my quest to build and learn about the Hawaiian wa’a I have used all these books and plans. Building outrigger fishing canoes will be a life-long journey but these resources really helped me to start off on the right track.
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! |
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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. |
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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. |