The Amas are designed to be a miniature copy of Katie Beardie's hull shape designed by Chris Waite.
You will notice from the photographs that they have a very fine entry transitioning to a broad flat section aft. They will cut through the water without slamming but still provide maximum buoyancy.
It is vital to leave enough room to swing the paddle and provide auxiliary power on a canoe like this. It would be near impossible to achieve this with double aka's which is why I decided to have just the one. It then followed that the amas would have to be allowed to rotate about the akas to prevent high torsional loads which would no doubt result in structural failure.
I used cut down windsurfer masts, in fact they are the bottom ends of the ones used for Katie Beardie's sailing rig.
The point where the Aka attaches is placed just in front of the ama's centre of gravity this is to make sure that when the Ama "touches down" on the water it does so stern first and doesn't dig in. Think of a duck's feet when it comes in to land.
The volume of the 5ft Ama is designed to provide not quite enough buoyancy to support my weight so that in the unlikely even of a capsize I have enough body weight to sink one side and turn her over again.
There are also plans for 7ft Amas to provide even more stability for rigs up to 6m2, these will require double akas.
You will notice from the photographs that they have a very fine entry transitioning to a broad flat section aft. They will cut through the water without slamming but still provide maximum buoyancy.
It is vital to leave enough room to swing the paddle and provide auxiliary power on a canoe like this. It would be near impossible to achieve this with double aka's which is why I decided to have just the one. It then followed that the amas would have to be allowed to rotate about the akas to prevent high torsional loads which would no doubt result in structural failure.
I used cut down windsurfer masts, in fact they are the bottom ends of the ones used for Katie Beardie's sailing rig.
The point where the Aka attaches is placed just in front of the ama's centre of gravity this is to make sure that when the Ama "touches down" on the water it does so stern first and doesn't dig in. Think of a duck's feet when it comes in to land.
The volume of the 5ft Ama is designed to provide not quite enough buoyancy to support my weight so that in the unlikely even of a capsize I have enough body weight to sink one side and turn her over again.
There are also plans for 7ft Amas to provide even more stability for rigs up to 6m2, these will require double akas.