Building material, ama design

There doesn't seem to be an easy way to get the foam core that I wanted to build with. I would have to go to Vancouver, or have it shipped. The stuff is so expensive, the cost to get it here would just make it too much to be justified.

So I'm planning now to use marine grade mahogany ply. It will be heavier than the foam would have been, but at least a familiar medium to work with. I'll use lighter, thinner stuff for the decks, heavier stuff for the bottom and the amas. And even though it will be the best plywood one can buy, it will cost far less than the foam board. Hopefully I'll be able to manage the weight, using the noggin.

Speaking of amas, I made a life-size model of an ama out of cardboard, to test the concept. For the first one I made, the two sides were held together with tape. I didn't want to use my good Duck Tape on a model, so I cheaped out and used hockey tape. Well, the tape soon pulled away from the cardboard, so I decided to sew the pieces of cardboard together instead, wrapping each edge with tape to make sure the thread didn't pull through the cardboard.

I'm quite happy with how it turned out, and now it's hanging above my couch:

The painting that the model outrigger is sitting on shows a full moon rising over Cortes Island, as viewed from Rebecca Spit on Quadra Island. The last ferry of the day to Cortes is behind a tree. In the drawing on the right, the Toronto Island ferry captain is chewing out a hapless sailor.