Theplastiki.com. The Plastiki Expedition. Bamboo Boats. "Just as the earthenware tigari replaces the skin coracle in Bengal and the tub boat is its equivalent in China and Japan, so in Tongking (Tonkin), in Indo-China, a closely woven basket boat is the parallel substitute. This is a light, graceful craft made of inch-wide strips of split bamboo, closely woven into stiff matting, a material of great strength, resiliency and resistance to strain. In plan it is an elongated ovate form, the wider end being the stern. Both extremities are spoon-shaped like the fore end of a Norwegian pram and are rounded in horizontal outline. A gentle sheer toward each end carries stem and stern above the level of the midships gunwale, the stem rising the higher.
[Emphasis and key letters on diagram by COD:] The bent-up sides of the bamboo body are embraced around their margin by several broad bands of split bamboo on each side and bound together into a stout cylinder with rattan strips to form a stout, continuous gunwale. John's Nautical and Boatbuilding Page. All about Houseboats has daily Tips, Guides, Articles for House Boats. Blueseed.