THE HAKA BENCH SEAT - AN ALTERNATIVE TO TRAMPS

I can buy good straight bamboo here in uniform thicknesses for pretty danged cheap.

Did you consider bamboo? four or five 1" diameter poles with some spacers would probably work. Cheap. rugged. Flexible. Floats way better than wood. Lighter. You don't have to paint it. And it would be authentic.

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Island life in the Devil's Triangle:
http://2gringos.blogspot.com/

Bamboo worked for Tom Hanks in "Castaway".

Joking aside Bamboo is used to build scaffolding in Asia so it would be strong just wouldn't be a flat surface.

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I like the way you think Gringo!

Saving that idea for the "Tiki Bar" Project...

Cheers!

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The Wind Is Your Friend...

Great idea. I am in. My buddy has the wood shop. We will build some and give it a whirl.

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Wile-E-Kayak

San Jose, California
TI - AUG- 2010

Took the Hakas out for a deepwater fishing run last weekend and enjoyed them muchly. This was on the north shore of Oahu.





Once you left the harbor, there was just enough wind and waves to make it interesting (15-20+ and 1-3 swells) and to test my balance out in the Hakas.



There is plenty room left on the Akas for rod holders, paddles and other stuff.



The Amas never bury and you keep the hull on an even plane, so there is a minimum of drama (even more so than with the tramps). I am working on some video that shows this well.



I was getting hypothermic at one point, catching spray in the cockpit so I went out on the bench for the rest of the day. Sittting high and dry, hanging your 'okole in the breeze and steering with your feet is a great feeling. Did not even need my tiller extension.



Speaking of balance (and drama) - this is what it looks like on a TI in the same conditions. Yeehaw!



Did not get to fight any fish from the benches, but I know it would be an improvement. Visibility is also greatly improved.

Best of all- it's now very easy to relieve myself while underway.

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The Wind Is Your Friend...

Nice photos, looks like you went to Shark Pens and then turned east.

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Excellent work, NOHUHU. The HAKA bench looks like a fine alternative to tramps.

Keith

(I'm still out in northern New Mexico at 9500'--high & dry)

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2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

I neglected to pick up those hakas when you were setting up. Was wondering about the weight and how adding maybe two more planks for added width would be. I know the tramps won't support my weight and I would undoubtedly end up trashing them. Those hakas look like a great alternative but I would like to add a little more surface area.

(For everyone else... that's me popping wheelies on the yellow TI. )

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I can confirm, that was 5-0, chief stunt pilot for TI airlines!

Dry weight of each Haka is about 10#. Guessing that is around twice what a tramp weighs. So around 14# if you add another slat. Not an issue for the TI.

Let's see if we can strap them on your boat next time, so you can try em.

Hobie tramps are rated at 200#, and if you were to upgrade the buckles as others have done, maybe add a 2nd lacing rod, I think you would be fine. Just don't land a 40# shibi while out there and hoist that trophy over your head!

Tramps really aren't there for you anyway, as a back seat TI pilot. But they will add a world of comfort for your adult passengers, kids, dogs. With the right crew, you can use them to sail faster, with much higher confidence and fewer wheelies.

Great to see you on the Hobie Forum!

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The Wind Is Your Friend...

I can see I am going to have to get off my butt and build a couple out of bamboo just to try it out. I am positive they will be way lighter than 10 lbs. each.

We love the tramps because of the dog. We move him from one side to the other, so much that now if we forget and he finds himself on the lee side he starts working his way across the boat on his own. But one of the few downsides to the tramps is that it blocks the view straight down into the water for the front seat occupant and in this clear water, that's missing a lot of scenery. Also the tramps make it impossible to paddle from the front, and complicate getting in and out of the boat for conch diving. Still have to work out the dog angle. Maybe let him ride in the back with me.

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Island life in the Devil's Triangle:
http://2gringos.blogspot.com/

I think you and La Gringa will like them, in those nice clear shallow waters.

And if you had access to materials, you could build them out of aluminum and clear plex.

But Dooley will be happy where ever you put him.

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The Wind Is Your Friend...

It's not all shallow around here. Just a mile and a half off the beach to the north it drops to over 5,000 ft. Instantly. I think anything over a thousand feet is deep. The whole country is surrounded by deep water, kinda like you guys but we're on the highest, unsubmerged bumps of a big limestone mesa in the ocean instead of a volcanic peak. Highest point of these islands is just less than 200 ft. ASL, but all the water around us is 5,000-7,000 ft.

I could probably come up with some aluminimum tubing but really like the bamboo idea. Plexi scares me for this, I think it would be a potential diving plane. We drove over to the yard and garden center here ( Sunshine Nursery) yesterday and I looked through their limited bamboo supply. They have a few dozen in stock but it's smaller than what I want. What they have in at the moment is only about 3/4 to 1" in diameter, 8 ft. long. so it gets down to about a half inch as it tapers, five feet from the thick end. And a lot of us has splits in it. I don't want that. I think I want to wait until they get some fresh stuff in, larger diameter. I think 1.5-2" bamboo would do it. Four
2" thick with three short sections as spacers between the five foot ones would make it all about 14" wide. I think that would work okay, be plenty strong enough to support a few hundred pounds, float on it's own, and the round cross section should shed water faster than a plank. I don't know what to do about Dooley, though. His feet would slip through. Maybe cover them with netting.
Should make his sail a lot more exciting. He tends to doze off going downwind on the tramps.

We've got good sea but bad sailing conditions coming up this week. A two meter, 12 second swell but only 8 kts. of wind. this is from TS Katia. A big glossy swell could be interesting. We want to go beachcomb West Caicos after Hurricane Irene came through. It's mostly untouched over there.

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Island life in the Devil's Triangle:
http://2gringos.blogspot.com/

We can cut all the bamboo we want free here. It's invasive.

Some old school guys still make surf fishing poles out of them.

I just checked out my friends trex 1x6 boards. They weigh a ton and bend like circus acrobat. Never going to work.

Wood is good.

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The Wind Is Your Friend...

5-0- this is what the 4 slat version looks like.

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The Wind Is Your Friend...

Hi NOHUHU

Thanks for the pix. Great ideas and build.
May I respectfully suggest that oiled or varnish Teak would look killer.
(Kind of gives it a bit of old school with new school look plus a natural no slip).
If you are concerned about weight, Red Cedar might serve you better, however Yellow Cedar is stronger, either way the first 2 woods are almost rot proof. Yellow cedar not quite as good in that department unless it's kept coated.

Regards from the good vessel:
Trinomite

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Always looking for ways to make good things 'Gooder'