Samonan Amatasi Canoe built in New Zealand in 2022

This canoe was built in New Zealand in 2022. Obviously the build quality is very high. There are six square wood blocks placed about 20cm apart on the foredeck. I am not sure what these are, possibly each block has a hole in it, and a line is threaded through these blocks and is used as an attachment point for a jib stay, but this is just a guess and the truth is I actually dont know. It may well be that these are placement blocks for decorative cowrie shells

The finish appears in clear epoxy without paint. This can give a nice traditional look. However the lack of UV protection will see this degrade quite quickly over time. Less of an issue if boat is to be kept indoors, or used only sparingly. Perhaps the tradiional look was more important, there is the option of applying paint over the epoxy at a later date as per the norm

The boat is built in the tradiotnal style, note that the ama is of low volume. This results in any upward forces created by the ama being modest, which is turn permits the use of quite lightly built crossbeams/akas. Often the western tradtion, thanks to the introduction of light waterproof ama technolgy (the plywood/epoxy hull) results in a larger volume outrigger than can support higher loads, and thus stay buoyant at higher windspeeds and thus sail faster without the use of crew standing on the spar on the other side. However these higher lifting loads create greater forces on the crossbeams, which in turn have to be built stronger than otherwise

The outrigger/ama is attached to the four crossbeams/akas through four sticks (these may be called Iakos, but am unsure and have to check the correct term). Each stick is fixed into a hole in the ama then lashed to the crossbeam. This traditional method is very strong and light

The spar that extends three to four feet off to starboard is there is support a mast stay and is tradional to the vessel

Build method appears to be strip planking with use of epoxy resin and fiberglass on the outside. Whether fiberglass was used on the inside is unknown

More information here LINK