Hand made boats Goa

We lived on the beach in Goa right next to these men and boys that made boats for a living. They were very friendly with us and they guarded our possessions while we were away from home. I was totally astounded to watch them build these large fishing boats with almost no tools and with no fasteners except for the rope that they made themselves.

The process started with a large log. They very slowly and carefully shaped the outside into a keel and then hollowed out the inside. The next thing they did was shape some side boards and fit them to the shape of the keel. To fasten the two parts they used a hot poker to burn holes through both pieces by heating the poker in a fire then spinning it as it burned through the thick dense tropical hardwood parts. Then they tied the two pieces together using the rope that they made and sealed the joint with tar that they boiled down from tree sap. They put the whole boat together like this. It took a very long time to make each boat. The techniques looked to have been passed down for centuries without changes. I would have thought that a simple drill would have made their job easier and faster but they did not use any modern tools just an adz and a variety of diameter rods and a simple hand saw. The finished products are called Dhows and they are common all throughout the west coast of Africa and around India to southeast Asia.

On the other side of our home there was a man that tapped the palm trees for their sap and then fermented it into an outrageously alcoholic beverage that we all called Gasolina. We often got hammered with the locals on it while living on the beach in Goa. It almost caused halucinations and always caused a serious hangover. But we had fun drinking it with them. The boatmakers seemed to have a minor addiction to its powers. It was all good fun though.