Design
Melanesia
Designed by James Wharram
Melanesia is a 4.90 m outrigger canoe based on the original Pacific canoes. It was designed in 1997 for a small island in Vanuatu where trees for dugout canoes were getting scarce.
The main hull comes out of just two sheets of plywood, stitched and glued with epoxy and glass tape, and everything else is made from naturally grown saplings and timber. She is steered with a paddle and sets a hand made crab claw sail. The plans cover both a sailing and a paddling version. About as simple and cheap as a sailing multihull gets, and it has been built as a school project.
What building a Melanesia actually takes
Medians from the build logs kept on this site, not the designer’s estimate. Nobody has logged this boat here yet, so they are empty until the first builder does.
Those medians firm up as more people log this boat.
Builds of this boat
Nobody has logged a Melanesia here yet.
If you are building one, yours becomes the reference: the page the next person building this boat finds when they search for it. One photo and one line is a valid first entry.
Start the first log of this boatBoats like this one
Same type, closest in length.
| Design | Plans from | LOA | Logs |
|---|---|---|---|
| T-Cat | Stevenson Projects | 16′ 0″ (4.88 m) | 0 |
| Moschino | BCA Demco | 5 m (16′ 5″) | 0 |
| Quattro 16 | Bateau | 16′ 5″ (5 m) | 0 |
| Quattro 16 | Woods Designs | 5 m (16′ 5″) | 0 |
| Tricky Five | BCA Demco | 5 m (16′ 5″) | 0 |
| Strike 16 | Woods Designs | 4.75 m (15′ 7″) | 0 |