Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-01-04
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SAMPAN BUILDING
BY THE JAPANESE

NJ nations from tim" imm"m
orial seem to have mad their
own special Nay Of boat tWldiuo. and
Japan is no exception The English
speaking people and Europeans III
general, >ptHd much time in Shaping
model, and from that they plan
the future vessel by actual measure
ments on these. lines That is hot SC
with the JAPANESE
For A sampan OF some sixty Iett in
E length like the one being built on
Queens street near the Fish Market
the Japanese first built a flat keel
some three feet wide in the center
by five inches in thickness through
out. These thick planks are strongly
/ boIted together. The builders make
sure that the nuts and heads Of every
! bolt is we'll buried beneath the sur
face of the wood. They do the same
thing to every nail they drive in a
! boat, and every head is afterwards
! covered over with putty. They will
chisel out square space in the sur
face of the timbers in which to bury
we'll every nail or bolt head.
extending some eight feet from the
stern post and bow beam are thick
plankings almost as thick as the keel.
This taperS from two ieet deep at
each end to a few inches in depth at
the keel This is the beginning of
the bow AMI stern. This done they
proceed to build the bottom. The
bottom planks for each half of the
boat from end to end are all fastened
together, and The seams made a work
of perfect fit aud neatness before
they proceed to shape and nail them
to the keel and each end frame piece.
The planks are nailed to each other
and the seams made tight as follows:
A foot apart along the entire length
of the planks and some five inches
from the edges a mortice is cut out
half the thickness of the board. This
allows the slightly bent spikes to be
driven home tight in the center of
the opposite plank. Then these nail
grooves are all neatly filled with
wood and the plane is run over them.
A peculiarly of the building Of
sampan is in the fact that the bottom
which is all in one piece for each
side, is fastened to the keel before
there is any frame work attached to
the keel. That is to say the boat is
without the ordinary ribs. Instead
there are six cross section frame
pieces which serve both as partitions
and ribs. They are naiIed to he keel
in the same way in which the planks
are fastened together. To these cross
section pieces the bottom and side
planks are nailed. The side of the
boat is perpendicular giving the craft
somewhat of q, box shape appearance.
But the bottom has a graceful curve
much like that of duck. The close
fitting of every seam in the bottom
and side is an illustration of neat
workmanship. AS their planes work
the reverse of the English and Anne
rican plane i. e. instead of shaving
the wood by pushing plane they
draws it towards their person much
like the Indians do their whiting
draw knife, so do their hand saws
work in the opposite direction from
the American saw 1t cuts as they
draw the instrument towards them.
To make a perfect seam in their
planks they will spend hours saving
out the difference of one sixtieth Of
an inch with their knife shaped saws.
The planks of this boat are Of
Oregon pine one and a half-inch
in thickness and of the uniform width
of one foot, while the transverse
frame section pieces are each made
of three-inch planks. The measure
ments of this boat over all will be
about seventy-five feet in length, by
six feet in depth and the width about
fourteen feet There will be- a side
two feet wide This will make a deck
spece OF some Is feet in width. When
completed this sampan will have a SO
horsepower gasoline engine and with
an auxiliary sail, or even with out it,
she will probably be IN efastest boat
in Hawaii. The bow is somewhat
long and sharp and the STERN has a
graceful sweep that will not drag
water much
The Japanese system of fastening
the rudder to their sampans without
any iron hook or bolt is both inter
eSting and worthy of copying. 1t
consists OF large augcr hold bored
in the edge Of stout timber (say a
foot in thickness and two feet wide
for this boat which fits snugly just
behind the stern wall. Init this augeT
hole, one Size of which is open, the
rudder works and plays according to
requirements.
This boat will be quite capable Of
running betN cen here and HilD ami
to the Coast for that matter, The
building Of this up-tO-date sampan at
an outlay of some $4,000 or more is an
indication Of the money in the fish
business
MRS KING SUES.