Preview: Worldwide Classic Boat Show Presentation – Classic Workboats of Indochina

16 Responses So Far to “Worldwide Classic Boat Show Presentation – Classic Workboats of Indochina”

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  Nat Bray says:

  This is fantastic!

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  Brenda A Graham says:

  What a terrific story, and real great story teller. I delight in your delight. Thank you, Ken.

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  Kenneth Jeffreys says:

  Always wanted a MI51A1 or A2

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  Shridhar Shridhar says:

  Ken, what a superb endeavor. I’m looking forward to diving into your book as well. There is as much to learn from you as there is your treatise on the boats. As a former long distance motorcyclist, very inspired by how you have over these past years.

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  Ken Preston says:

  I’m glad you liked it!

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  Robert McBride says:

  A very inspirational, educational rare insight into “another world” to those of us who cruise the northeast coast of the United States. Thankfully Ken Preston is an individual who dedicates his life to making ours so much richer. Another fabulous insight into taking advantage of the waterways of the world for commerce, pleasure and excitement thanks to Offcenter Harbor.
  Bob in Maine

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  Ken Moran says:

  Great video. What type of wood did they use for the boats and how did they seal between the hull planks?

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    Ken Preston says:

    The short answer is that I don’t know what the wood is, and more to the point, it is different wherever you go, and getting to be a real problem. . .the supply of trees is running low all over the region. In short, it’s all some form of “tropical hardwood”, and the larger boats are usually built of long planks up to about 2″ thick. In recent years much of the wood available in Viet Nam has been imported from Laos and Cambodia, but those sources have been drying up too. The jungles in the areas I worked in as a young soldier in the war are mainly converted to rubber, tea and coffee plantations. . .bananas too. . .and the remaining jungle in Viet Nam is at least nominally under protection now. Re-forestation projects seem to be mainly pine plantations. . .not good species for boat building. If you can read French, there’s a splendid book by a lady, Francoise Sallenave, “Bois et Bateaux du Vietnam”, which covers the timber species used for planking and gum-pucky (technical term) in great detail. Which leads to the question about caulking to seal between planks. . .depends very much on the locale and the individual builder, and again I don’t know where the material all comes from. The caulking proper is always fiber of some sort, some of it clearly vegetable fiber (looks like loose manila or sisal or coconut fiber rope) and some looks like waste from a weaving factory. . .long gobs of what surely must be wasted thread from the looms. It’s all driven very hard into seams, and then the gum-pucky is smeared over the seam.

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  Ed Howe says:

  and also, a treasure lode of cultural, ethnographic, and geographic information which, for those of us of a certain age, fills in a space previously clogged with horrific images from the Vietnam War and replaces it with the beauty of Humanity,. Thank you again.

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    Ken Preston says:

    Thank you very much. My time in the war was “easy”. . .nobody killed me and I never killed anybody else. Saw a lot of bad stuff of course, but was lucky. My job involved traveling by Jeep (M151A1, not really a jeep) with a guide-body guard-translator all over the provinces around Saigon and Bien Hoa, poking into projects the Army and the Embassy were funding but without any actual oversight. . .and my body guard, Mr. Muy, became a very good friend and made sure I ate in good restaurants and so forth. So I was fond of the “place” even if there was a war on and I knew we’d lost when I left in 1972 and expected to never get to go back. . .but now in my old age I’ve seen most of the whole country (not just a few provinces) and I do love the place. I’m glad you could tell

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      Kenneth Jeffreys says:

      Always wanted a MI51A1 or A2

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  Ed Howe says:

  totally clear and inspiring explanation of how to build useful boats out of wood… thank you!

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    Ken Preston says:

    Thanks very much, that’s what I was aiming for. . .

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  Michael Matheson says:

  how do you enter in the boat show ?

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    Ken Preston says:

    It’s an Off-Center Harbor event, they’ll have lots of information for this coming year, just watch your inbox, they’ll let you know.

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    Nate Rooks says:

    HI MIchael – watch your email for more news coming about this soon!

    We’ll be announcing the opening of submissions soon, but for now, if you want your boat to be considered for the show, you can go here to submit it:

    https://classicboatshow.com/add-listing/?listing_type=gd_place

    The show will be at the end of February, and the boats will show up on the map then. In the meantime, you can also go to https://classicboatshow.com to explore the map and see all the organizations, festivals, and tradespeople already on the world map.