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Innovation in Traditional Boat Building in Indonesia: Theory and Practice*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2011

Gerard Dijkstra  and
Joop de Schutter
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Extract

Traditional boats of Indonesia, usually called perahu or proa, cover an extremely wide range of sailing craft and date back centuries. The oldest known picture of an Indonesian ship can be seen, carved in stone, on a panel of the Borobudur, the famous eighth-century Buddhist temple in Central Java. This picture basically shows the same built-up hull rigged with tripod masts that can still be seen sailing today. Traditional boats of Indonesia, as they are built today, vary much in shape and size from a simple dug out canoe to large, motorized, cargo boats of over 500 tons of deadweight.

Type
Transfer of Science and Technology
Information
Itinerario , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , November 1995 , pp. 153 - 166
Copyright
Copyright © Research Institute for History, Leiden University 1995

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References

Notes

1 See:Horridge, A., The Perahu: Traditional Sailing Boats of Indonesia (Oxford and Singapore 1985)Google Scholar.

2 In 1958 the KPM (the Dutch Royal Shipping Company) left Indonesia, creating an enormous demand for cargo space. This gap was filled by production of larger and motorized wooden cargo vessels in traditional shipyards and started important changes of the industry.

3 It is interesting to notice that the Hassanuddin University staff was very much against IBP project interference in traditional boat building in the beginning. After practical successes in other places showed its viability, this attitude has changed into support

4 In laminated wooden boat building as discussed in this paper, we distinguish between inside planking, which is not directly exposed to sea water and which serves strength purposes mainly, and outside planking, which is the outside layer of a laminated wooden hull and directly exposed to sea water and marine borers attack.

5 Difference in efficiency between a sailing pinisi that on its way from Jakarta to Padang may have to tack against the wind using the whole of die Java sea between Java and Kalimantan, or sail straight to Sumatra with a speed even as low as five miles per hour using a diesel engine of only 80 HP.

6 Very well known is the example of the PT Nelayan Bakti, a JICA/WB supported project of PT Mantrust for the introduction of 350 GRP Pole and Liners in East Indonesia. This project failed mainly due to the complete lack of support to the fishermen involved after the transfer of the boats started on a large scale.

7 Use of laminated wooden boat building technology is widespread in Western amateur wooden boat building where very good results are achieved under difficult circumstances of production and where many different systems have been developed.

8 These early experiences are described in Bar, Cameron, and Dijkstra, ‘The Development of the Wooden Boat Building Industry in Indonesia’ (HISWA symposium paper; Amsterdam 1989).

9 See A Matter of Course, the DLWB/DPKB Laminated Wooden Boat Building and Marine Advisory Services brochure, which was used for advertising purposes throughout the project.

10 See for a complete review of project activities and boats produced the final report of DLWB/DPKB, ‘Laporan Kegiatan Pengembangan Kapal Kayu Laminasi, Maret 1993’.

11 Decision of a limited Government of the Republic of Indonesia Cabinet of Ministers (EKUIN) session in September 1990, which mentioned PT DKB of Jakarta and PT IKI of Ujung Pandang as the coordinating boatyards in this process.