Home | Intro | Custom Yacht Design | Stock Designs | Motor Yacht Gallery | Sailing Yacht Gallery | Prototypes Gallery | Plans List
Articles | Our CAD Design Stream | MAXSURF For Marine Design | News..! | Design Team | Site Map | Site Search | Contact Us
Please see our AVAILABLE BOAT PLANS web page
Creating The Ultimate
Indonesian Charter Phinisi
Copyright 2010 - 2011 Michael Kasten
Anyone who is interested in the Indonesian phinisi as a platform for charters in SE Asia would do well to emulate the Silolona, now chartering or the Dunia Baru, now being outfitted in Surabaya. Soon to be added to that list are a 38m Sailing Phinisi and a 30m Sailing Phinisi both now under construction in Kalimantan Timur.
Since every story has more than one side, in order to tie a few loose ends together I'd like to provide some background that does not appear among my other web articles about my work with those boats and the Indonesian phinisi types .
THE SILOLONA
The Silolona is a design that I created in 2001 for Patti Seery. When Patti first contacted me by phone, she asked if I had any knowledge of the phinisi boats of Indonesia.
As it turns out, yes I did. This was by virtue of my friend, PhD Anthropologist Michael Colfer, who had planned his PhD thesis to be specifically about the Indonesian phinisi and their builders, the Bugis of Sulawesi. Michael and I had been sailing together many years prior to this inquiry, so I already knew about these craft, how they are built, and how they have been used by the indigenous Bugis sailors for carrying cargo throughout the Indonesian archipelago.
Once Patti had articulated the preliminary requirements for a new charter phinisi, I was invited to propose a new design. My proposal was accepted, and so we commenced...! During the creation and detailing of the Silolona, I considered it to be an essential part of my personal mission to create the best marriage between the boat building methods of the East and those of the West. My specific goal with the Silolona design was to bring the local phinisi types into compliance with worldwide standards for both structure and stability, but at the same time to preserve the local traditions, aesthetics, and construction techniques to the maximum degree possible.
The web page links given at the bottom of this page are a good source of information about just how we managed to accomplish that feat.
OTHER PHINISI DESIGNS
Since that time, in addition to having created four different phinisi and KLM designs for Patti, I have also developed four other sailing phinisi and KLM designs for construction in Indonesia for other clients. Naturally, each of these designs is an improvement on prior designs.
The most recent of my phinisi designs are the 38m Sailing Phinisi and the 30m Sailing Phinisi, both now under construction in Kalimantan (2010). In addition to those fully developed designs, I've also created a number of Sailing Phinisi Prototypes and KLM Prototypes, each of which is aimed at the capabilities of the local indigenous builders in Indonesia.
During the development of each of these phinisi designs I have sought to improve the standard of local construction by keeping intact the best local methods such as the 'Asian' approach to building (for example, planks first), and then to change only what was necessary in order to achieve the layout and safety that we required for the intended service as a charter yacht. My design drawings have therefore had a dual purpose - on the one hand to be a means of communication to the builders, and on the other hand to provide sufficient documentation that the vessel could be classed if so desired.
For the local Bugis / Konjo builders my goal has been to show the shape and structural arrangements with sufficient clarity that they can build the precise hull shape we wanted to achieve via use of mould frames rather than building entirely "by eye" and to provide step-by-step illustration of the arrangement of primary structure with the methods of fastening. Since the builders were entirely unaccustomed to reading "plans" of any kind, my drawings had to be good illustrations. Cartoons if you will...!
TEAM WORK
All of this has required good team work among the players.
For example, during the development of the Silolona, in one marathon phone conversation Patti outlined what she wanted to achieve in a 40 meter charter phinisi. With those goals in mind, I designed a sailing phinisi type of hull, detailed the structure according to Lloyds, and created a charter layout that would gracefully fit within it.
With those preliminary drawings approved, Patti invited Lena and I to Indonesia in order to introduce me to the builders and to their culture. The Bugis / Konjo builders in turn introduced me to their methods of boat building, including specifics of their long-standing traditions, the Bugis names for the myriad boat parts, and the wood species that they prefer to use.
I subsequently introduced the builders to several new ideas, including:
- The use of mould frames and "lofting" in order to create a precise hull shape so that we could predict and then achieve the requisite stability, efficiency and comfort;
- The design of timber joints and methods of fastening them for maximum strength and longevity;
- The use of only the best quality timbers;
- How to specify the placement of plank and timber joints for compliance with Western structural standards.
STANDARDS - EAST vs. WEST
While Lena and I were on-site in Batulicin (Kalimantan) to set up the mould loft and create the shapes for the hull, suddenly the overall size was changed to being 36 meters on deck. This meant that I would have to completely re-design and re-fair the hull shape on-site, re-calculate the sizes of all the timbers and planks, re-calculate the overall weight, and generate a new table of offsets - essentially requiring that I create an entirely new design within an extremely short time...! Miraculously this was accomplished within the span of about two days, even though there were innumerable details yet to be determined.
Having carefully re-calculated the structure according to the British Lloyds and German Lloyds rules for wooden ships, I sat down with the master builder pak Haji Abdul Wahab (and a translator) to inquire as to the recommended timber and plank sizes per his own Bugis tradition, as well as to learn the Bugis name for each part of a boat's structure. Based on the vessel's newly specified smaller size, p'Haji Wahab recited the dimensions of each and every part of the vessel... from memory. No books, no calculators, just knowing...!
I was quite shocked to discover that nearly every timber was sized almost exactly the same according to the Bugis tradition as per the calculated size according to Lloyds. So much for all my silly calculations..! It seems that with regard to the sizes of the timbers and planks for each size of vessel, the Bugis builders have been taught the very same structural lessons by 'Mother Ocean' as have the Western classification societies! In other words, per the traditions of both East and West, boat structure has evolved to be what it needs to be in order to survive the sea. I should not have been too stunned by this discovery, but I have to admit that it was quite a surprise.
THE RESULT...
As a result of our teamwork, I think the Bugis / Konjo builders have learned that not all Westerners are complete fools...! And at the same time I developed a very high regard for the indigenous boat building methods used in Indonesia. I think everyone involved earned a well-deserved mutual respect.
And... for the sake of the improvement of the fleet, I sincerely hope that the design features that I have helped to introduce will be copied profusely, not only among the local builders but also among potential owners of these craft. In particular I hope that our design approach will be copied. What I mean is, our methods... By design, this must involve pre-planning the hull shape, the structure, the weight, the performance and the layout that is desired. These are all merely elements of good planning, and therefore of good design.
I know the Silolona and other phinisi designs that I've created have been widely copied. I just hope there has been a commensurate recognition of the value of good planning, including calculating and verifying the structure and stability per international standards.
However... unsurprisingly, I have seen precious little evidence of these factors actually being employed.
There are of course exceptions among a select few high quality projects where 'design' has been given due respect, and adequate planning has been allowed for. I consider it an honor to have been an integral part of promoting this process, and I look forward to continued improvement of these vessels through my on-going design work.
CHARTER PHINISI
I'm sure that the newfound interest in building indigenous wooden vessels for cultural charters throughout the Indonesian islands will continue to see good growth, however it is my opinion that the greatest success will be among those few well-planned high quality locally built phinisi and KLM types aimed at the upper end of the charter market.
Prior to building the Silolona, Patti Seery had been chartering other phinisi boats but had often been disappointed in their quality of their service and the reliability of their schedule - once having become stranded with an entire troupe of charter guests in Irian Jaya. Those experiences prompted Patti to want to build and operate her own vessel. Having studied architecture, and therefore having recognized the benefits of adequate planning, her immediate tasks were to find a design firm familiar with the Indonesian phinisi that could create what she envisioned, and to find a Bugis builder qualified to make it so. Thus the call I received...
MARKET SATURATION...?
Over the years I have been contacted by a number of people who want to build or are in the midst of building their own phinisi boats for charter. A few have said they believe the field is now getting saturated. The consensus is that this is only the case among the boats of lesser quality, the vast majority of which are adaptations of cargo hulls that have been built "by eye" as cheaply as possible without the involvement of modern naval architecture or adequate advance planning.
This has actually become rather commonplace. There are many who pander the local phinisi boats under questionable pretenses. For example there are a few high profile promoters of the Sulawesi-built phinisi who talk the talk, but who unfortunately do not have the requisite knowledge to even know the difference between good planning and none - one in particular is a well known brokerage out of Jakarta. These boats have no 'pedigree.' Their aesthetics, functionality, structure and safety are very much in question, and they do not meet the 'standards' that are being claimed by any stretch of the imagination. The result is that the vast majority of phinisi boats built for naive Western owners do not even come close to what I know the Bugis / Konjo builders can build.
My comments here are in no way intended to disparage the extraordinary talent of the Bugis / Konjo builders, but I do want to emphasize that for the more discerning cultural or dive charter audience, merely adapting a cheaply built cargo phinisi hull to charter work is not an especially desirable path. Especially so because in terms of quality it may well be that the mid to low end of the market could be getting a bit crowded.
Conversely, I believe it will be quite a long time before the high end of the charter market is any where close to being saturated. Therefore our focus on quality.
THE PATH TO QUALITY
It has been my wish to buck the tide of cheaply built vessels, and instead to promote improved quality, safety, longevity, comfort and aesthetics for these vessels so that they are able to inspire confidence, and can therefore appeal to a more qualified, world-traveling, culture oriented clientele rather than the average dive / surf charter guest that has become so common these days in Indonesia.
The essential ingredients are first, a sensitivity to the local traditions and styling of the cargo phinisi - past and present - rather than to impose a foreign / Western notion of aesthetics. Then it comes down to making the essential hull shape and structural changes in order to improve the comfort and safety of the vessel, to provide a functional layout for charters, and to involve thorough planning and design, done well in advance of starting construction.
This goes well beyond creating the design, producing the drawings, and calculating the structure and stability. The planning must extend into the construction phase in order to monitor the build quality, to answer questions from the builder, to be sure that the systems are subsequently both adequately planned and correctly installed. Essentially a commitment all the way from concept to launch.
A few vessels stand head and shoulders above the crowd. They represent the caliber of phinisi I wish to promote. The Silolona and the Dunia Baru are excellent examples, and they will soon be joined by our 38m Sailing Phinisi and 30m Sailing Phinisi now under construction.
MORE INFORMATION...
An interesting article on our work with these vessels appeared in the New York Times, called The Traditional Pinisi - And Then Some.
For complete information about the design and building process that we recommend please see the following links, or for more information please inquire.
Our articles about building an Indonesian Phinisi or KLM:
Phinisi History | Phinisi Building | The Ultimate Charter Phinisi
Sailing vs. KLM Types | A Cargo Phinisi as a Yacht...?
Phinisi and KLM designs that we have created or have planned:
30m Sailing Phinisi | 36m Phinisi, Silolona | 38m Sailing Phinisi | 50m Sailing Phinisi
30m Charter KLM | 33m Charter KLM | 36m KLM, Dunia Baru | 40m Charter KLM | 50m Charter KLM
Descriptions of our adventures with these boats:
Silolona "Homecoming" | Indonesia Boatbuilding Images
A Tern Schooner and An Arabian Dhow With Similar Wooden Structure
22m Arabian Baghala | 36m Tern Schooner
Two junk rigged KLM types for construction in steel:
25m Lady Destiny | 55m Lady Destiny
Please see our AVAILABLE BOAT PLANS web page.
Home | Intro | Custom Yacht Design | Stock Designs | Motor Yacht Gallery | Sailing Yacht Gallery | Prototypes Gallery | Plans List
Articles | Our CAD Design Stream | MAXSURF For Marine Design | News..! | Design Team | Site Map | Site Search | Contact Us
- All Web Site Graphics, Layout, and Written Content at this Domain Created by Michael Kasten.
- All Graphic and Written Materials at this Domain Copyright © 1989 - 2013 Michael Kasten.
- All Content Registered with US Library of Congress and US Copyright Office.
- Copyright Violations will be Prosecuted. All Rights Reserved.
