I've built a coracle ("curragh" where I come from) out of green willow covered in painted canvas. It's not quick in a straight line compared to an open canoe, but it's cheap, light and easy to carry: great for river crossings. I use mine for ditch maintenance: floating along drains to remove poisonous plants such as hemlock from steep sides which are hard to reach from above. And our nearest pub is a mile away, on the other bank of a river on which the nearest bridge is three miles away: a boat you can easily carry comes in very handy!
These are fantastic. Been threatening to build one for ages. Many a young man, or grown working man could benefit greatly from building one of these, especially the fisherman who thinks he is stuck on the bank.
Super cool, id love to see you build one, maybe even a lesson in one using materials more accessible to the modern man, as we don't necessarily have hides laying around
I can only speak for Canada, England, the United States, and Germany but if you're in any of those spots it's not terrible hard to get cow hide for 100-300 usd.
Buy some cloth (denim, tarpaulin) and seal it with silicone or underbody protection (spray cans for car repair). Do not use honey, wasps will follow you, but it's quick learning to paddle this way. ?:o)
In most regions of the world, if you look just a little bit, you can find a "green hide" off a horse or cow without too much effort...or...several small hides such as goat or sheep. These will need more refinement to be employed in such a traditional watercraft, but well worth the experience gained...Flax cloth, of course, can replace these animal based textiles...
I built one at a museum back in 1980's and paddled it about in a pond. It's the paddling it in either a figure of 8 or an L shape that matters or you will go around and around in circles if trying to paddle like a canoe.
A few of the photos in this video come from 'Coracles Of The World' by Peter Badge, a book I highly recommend. It's not just the Scottish and Irish that built boats like this, the Native Americans and many Asians built very similar craft. It's also important to understand the use case of these Scottish and Irish coracles. While a canoe is designed for long distance travel on lakes and rivers, the coracle is designed for primarily short downstream travel on relatively calm rivers. The idea was you would travel downstream a good number of miles fishing, hunting, bringing goods to market, something along those lines, then put the boat on your back and carry it home. The modern equivalent to this is the Packraft, such as the Alpacka Raft. But the time gap between the Coracle and the inflatable Packraft is probably thousands and thousands of years.
I'd like to see a packraft design that draws on coracle techniques rather than kayak. I tried coracle stroke in a Klymet LWD (kneeling facing the "stern") as a way to use a single blade paddle. It does work but the hull is really too flexible and not deep enough. Using a kayak paddle from sitting suits that raft better. A coracle packraft would have to be designed for it. Perhaps a folding coracle using carbon tent poles and nylon fabric? Or inflatable poles? BTW the canoe form is also pretty much global (some of the oldest finds of canoes are from Britain and Ireland) but got lost somehow before being reintroduced by way of North America.
You can carry it around pretty easily, it seems. With the great kilt it would make a pretty handy little shelter in the middle of nowhere. Rather like a turtle!
Thanks for the video, Tom: curraghs are a fine example of how you can usually sort out the basic needs of life (food, ahelter, clothing, transport etc) with imagination and natural materials. Tim Severin illustrated the robustness of this technology by sailing a four person version acrosst the Atlantic to prove that the ancient stories of the voyage of St Brendan from Ireland to America could have a basis in fact.
Until Modern times Iraq had boats built similar to a coracle. Theirs were made of woven rope sown together on the edges, then sealed with pitch inside and out. The materials are certainly different, but the round construction is the same. You can see photographs of the boats in their national Museum.
I love the contrast of you two standing next to each other with these boats older than any of the clothes you're wearing. It's a beautiful blend of all of humanities stages.
Great stuff Tom! I'm from Inishbofin off the coast of Galway, Ireland, so am familiar with such things. Started going to sea with my father as a child, in a traditional wooden currach rather than a "canvas" currach. I've built a boat with my father and taken part in the construction/maintenance of a few others over the years, though never a corracle. ⚓
Fandabi, that boat reminds me of the boats built by Native Americans here in America. They were called "Bull Boats " and are quite similar. Thanks for the video!
They are found in a number of another countries too including Vietnam, Tibet and India. I didn't mention that as the thrust of the video was about British coracles but you are quite correct.
Worth watching Coracle video for the scenery alone.. magnificent.. and that river.. that pristine blue colour drew us in.. we so longed to be there💜💙 And the Coracle itself is quite a fascinating vessel indeed.. does appear to have more stability than a canoe.. and easier to paddle than a kayak in our opinion.. As wild life enthusiasts.. we appreciate the quietness of maneuvering such a craft.. how peaceful.. with less disturbance from noise.. good for spirit and soul..💜💙 We definitely appreciated Charlie’s expertise and will be looking into creating a craft of our own..😊🌳🌹 We have created our walking sticks from hazel and oak.. perhaps a coracle will be on our building agenda next! Thank you for this delightful and informative video.. ‘S math a rinn thu, mo charaid💜💙🙏 William and Jen
I would love to see these used in some sporting events. Slalom, Dry-athlon where you carry your boat during run, then mount it, race on it and then také it on a bike to the finish line. Or some sort of Corrackle Polo
As a child I always loved going to the Ironbridge - Shropshire on the river Severn - and seeing the man in his coracle. I believe the Severn has the strongest current in the UK. He made it seem effortless.
My understanding of these little boats is their main advantage is that they are carried by a single person, strapped on their back. This meant that people could hike with them on footpaths quite easily and then use them to cross streams and rivers.
Back in the late 50s I used to go camping with a farmers son. They had a large stream running through a small treed enclosure with a small lake ( large pond?) We built a coracle and an oil drum raft. Happy times!
After WW2 in Britain there was a trend to build canoes/Kyayaks using this method. They were even used during the War and were written about in; The Cockle Shell Heroes. They were then popularised after ww2 by Percy Blandford who wrote a book which included plans to build one. They used thin strips of wood as ribs and were then covered in canvas which was painted. In the 1950 and 60s boys would build them at School during wood work classes. I bought one years ago which the canves had rotted through, so I recovered it in PVC tarpaulin, they are great fun too.
This style of vernacular watercraft must, at this point, be part of the human genetic code as each culture around the globe near water has almost identical versions in both design, application, mode of movement with paddle, and general affect, such as the Vietnamese (et al) "thúng chai." Thank you for another wonderful video...!!!
There is a particularly interesting coracle-type boat in Japan that started life as a washtub. I believe the article was featured in Woodenboat magazine some 10 years ago.
@@MWodenberg Yes...!!!..A wonderful example...たらい舟 (Tarai-bune)... that a friend of my appretised on learning to build (see: Douglas Brooks.) I do believe this was one of Douglas's early apprenticeships in traditional japanese boat building, of which there is a great lecture he did about a year ago in Australia...Thank you for sharing that example... th-cam.com/video/fwrWlyi7fx8/w-d-xo.html
You inspired me, so right now I´m drinking coffe and regreting that I didn´t buy the cheap cowskin they had for sale on bauhouse. Would have been perfect for a coracle!!! But from the other side, I can´t use one here in sweden until vinter is over anyways, so I´m planing for what to do this spring instead!
I had heard of these before and always found coracles very interesting and something I'd love to try building given the chance. I would love to see you build a 1 hide coracle and then watch your adventures possibly fishing with one!😊😘
It is definitely possible, but hard work & long days to build one in a weekend - I did, from bent Hazel, covered with Calico & painted with shed roofing material. It kept me dry for a test sail on the Sunday afternoon. Give it a go - the trick with bending Hazel is to cut it fresh & dend it always the wrong way first ! You will often think it is impossible to make it bend enough, but keep tring & it will. Top tip though - find somewhere undercover & dry to store it before you start. They naturally will rot away quite fast if you don't. If you decide to use a cow hide, remember that it will absorb a lot of moisture in use & become very heavy.
Great video! Met Charlie about 10 years ago at Farm Hack on Loch Tay, he was there with his scythes. Nice bloke, didn't know about his coracle interest though.
Really cool! Thanks for sharing about this kind of book, I'd never heard of it before. Also, the footage for this video looked extra nice somehow, it was so crisp and smooth!
Awesome video Reminds me of the kuphar that they used on Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia times.You don't think somehow.....great minds think alike...yours seems a bit more maneuverable
I've read that on calmer water, especially in the Roman era continent, these could be strung along in a train and pulled by horses or cattle. And that once a traveling merchant went as far as he could by water, he could easily prop his boat on a frame and turn it into a small cart. Like a cheaper, faster, and simpler version of what 19th century Americans would have done with their flatboats once they made it to Mobile or New Orleans.
Nice video, I see many coracle videos where the creator has way less knowledge than you share here. Btw you can do a "modified J stroke" in a coracle, but you paddle from the front rather than the side, I help out on courses building Boyne style coracles, great fun.
This was very interesting, and sobering too, to think our ancestors actually went to sea in similar vessels, even crossing to North America, is amazing. I like the comments pointing out that by using the kilt, a shelter (or even a sail!) can easily be created - but one does wonder - if one's kilt is used to build the shelter - what, exactly, is one wearing? 😳🤭
I have read that early Christian missionaries from Scotland would build these and put out and let the wind and currents take them to wherever and where they landed is where they would begin their mission work. I absolutely love the video.
Part of me wonders if anyone ever used a double-ended oar, as it seems more efficient, more ergonomic and less exhaustive/straining compared to leaning over the front of the boat like that... I'm guessing it was just the done thing, so people stuck with it? That, or such an oar would be too long for practical carry when also slinging the coracle over your body?
Because they have a flat bottom and very shallow draught, they are ideal craft in moving water. I'm not so sure about moving water with sharp rocks or big waves, though. For crossing a fast current, lean slightly downstream so that the edge of the boat presented to the upstream flow is raised a little: this allows most of the force of the current to pass harmlessly under the boat.
Irving Finkel found textual evidence in cuneiform versions of the great flood story that suggested the actual boat that later turned into Noah's ark through translations was a very large version of the mesopotamian coracle Quaffa. they even reconstructed one to see if the very specific measurements were plausible... also noteworthy is the lovely triaxial weave used for coracles in india, an amazing application of the same pattern known as kagome in japanese basketry.
So i wonder if the name is derived from the extinct bovine species the Auroch. Much larger than cows, the hide would be perfect for these boats. Spelling is different but pronunciation is similar. I’ll take my answer off the air. Thank you.
Having built cold frames etc out of mdpe water pipe. I'm sure it could be used to make a coracle frame. I have used green willow inside the pipe to make it stronger and less flexible - maybe just for the gunwhales and the ribs which support the seat?
@thekiltedgunsmith1776 Wood franes are best, I agree. But I guess the spirit of the curragh is a boat built from applying ingenuity to whatever materials are available, which in today's urban environment probably isn't coppiced hazel, sadly.
@@chrismcbride2572 to me it's about using what nature gives you. Granted the cover is often not a natural product, but making the fame from wood is easy enough, and it is by far the best material.
The point of them is you can paddle in extremely shallow water. Any kind of rudder or skeg would catch in a fast current and endanger you. These can skim across the top of a fast current safely. Plus this paddling technique is by far the most efficient with a single paddle. Just look at Tom fly across the river there.
Like everybody think now. If you doing something by yourself, you must be poor. I still ptefer to do and repair something instad of buy new things or pay repair man. There is no fun in just buying something and just spend each day at work at computer. This is not fun living like this ...
I've built a coracle ("curragh" where I come from) out of green willow covered in painted canvas. It's not quick in a straight line compared to an open canoe, but it's cheap, light and easy to carry: great for river crossings. I use mine for ditch maintenance: floating along drains to remove poisonous plants such as hemlock from steep sides which are hard to reach from above. And our nearest pub is a mile away, on the other bank of a river on which the nearest bridge is three miles away: a boat you can easily carry comes in very handy!
These are fantastic. Been threatening to build one for ages.
Many a young man, or grown working man could benefit greatly from building one of these, especially the fisherman who thinks he is stuck on the bank.
Super cool, id love to see you build one, maybe even a lesson in one using materials more accessible to the modern man, as we don't necessarily have hides laying around
I can only speak for Canada, England, the United States, and Germany but if you're in any of those spots it's not terrible hard to get cow hide for 100-300 usd.
It’s easy to get deer hides for free from a processing spot. Most hunters take their game there and leave the hides
Buy some cloth (denim, tarpaulin) and seal it with silicone or underbody protection (spray cans for car repair). Do not use honey, wasps will follow you, but it's quick learning to paddle this way.
?:o)
In most regions of the world, if you look just a little bit, you can find a "green hide" off a horse or cow without too much effort...or...several small hides such as goat or sheep. These will need more refinement to be employed in such a traditional watercraft, but well worth the experience gained...Flax cloth, of course, can replace these animal based textiles...
Tarp would work
A brilliant film, beautiful surroundings.
I've wanted to build a coracle for years. I think it would be the first one in Tasmania.
I'd like to see that Ruby!
I see a Tasmanian Coracle Society on the horizon.
@Skerath
Such fun!
Pretty neat how your dedication to blending culture and survival has led to really interesting videos like this
I built one at a museum back in 1980's and paddled it about in a pond.
It's the paddling it in either a figure of 8 or an L shape that matters or you will go around and around in circles if trying to paddle like a canoe.
A few of the photos in this video come from 'Coracles Of The World' by Peter Badge, a book I highly recommend. It's not just the Scottish and Irish that built boats like this, the Native Americans and many Asians built very similar craft. It's also important to understand the use case of these Scottish and Irish coracles. While a canoe is designed for long distance travel on lakes and rivers, the coracle is designed for primarily short downstream travel on relatively calm rivers. The idea was you would travel downstream a good number of miles fishing, hunting, bringing goods to market, something along those lines, then put the boat on your back and carry it home. The modern equivalent to this is the Packraft, such as the Alpacka Raft. But the time gap between the Coracle and the inflatable Packraft is probably thousands and thousands of years.
I'd like to see a packraft design that draws on coracle techniques rather than kayak. I tried coracle stroke in a Klymet LWD (kneeling facing the "stern") as a way to use a single blade paddle. It does work but the hull is really too flexible and not deep enough. Using a kayak paddle from sitting suits that raft better. A coracle packraft would have to be designed for it. Perhaps a folding coracle using carbon tent poles and nylon fabric? Or inflatable poles?
BTW the canoe form is also pretty much global (some of the oldest finds of canoes are from Britain and Ireland) but got lost somehow before being reintroduced by way of North America.
You can carry it around pretty easily, it seems. With the great kilt it would make a pretty handy little shelter in the middle of nowhere. Rather like a turtle!
Thanks for the video, Tom: curraghs are a fine example of how you can usually sort out the basic needs of life (food, ahelter, clothing, transport etc) with imagination and natural materials. Tim Severin illustrated the robustness of this technology by sailing a four person version acrosst the Atlantic to prove that the ancient stories of the voyage of St Brendan from Ireland to America could have a basis in fact.
Until Modern times Iraq had boats built similar to a coracle. Theirs were made of woven rope sown together on the edges, then sealed with pitch inside and out. The materials are certainly different, but the round construction is the same. You can see photographs of the boats in their national Museum.
The Quaffa
Also seen some in Australia, as several people came from the UK, it wouldn't be surprising that they just did the same as back home.
I love the contrast of you two standing next to each other with these boats older than any of the clothes you're wearing. It's a beautiful blend of all of humanities stages.
Great stuff Tom!
I'm from Inishbofin off the coast of Galway, Ireland, so am familiar with such things. Started going to sea with my father as a child, in a traditional wooden currach rather than a "canvas" currach. I've built a boat with my father and taken part in the construction/maintenance of a few others over the years, though never a corracle.
⚓
Fandabi, that boat reminds me of the boats built by Native Americans here in America. They were called "Bull Boats " and are quite similar. Thanks for the video!
They are found in a number of another countries too including Vietnam, Tibet and India. I didn't mention that as the thrust of the video was about British coracles but you are quite correct.
This is a great place to start if you want to build one in the US with native species. Thanks!
Growing up near Cenarth, still enjoy watching Coracles.
Worth watching Coracle video for the scenery alone.. magnificent.. and that river.. that pristine blue colour drew us in.. we so longed to be there💜💙
And the Coracle itself is quite a fascinating vessel indeed.. does appear to have more stability than a canoe.. and easier to paddle than a kayak in our opinion..
As wild life enthusiasts.. we appreciate the quietness of maneuvering such a craft.. how peaceful.. with less disturbance from noise.. good for spirit and soul..💜💙
We definitely appreciated Charlie’s expertise and will be looking into creating a craft of our own..😊🌳🌹
We have created our walking sticks from hazel and oak.. perhaps a coracle will be on our building agenda next!
Thank you for this delightful and informative video.. ‘S math a rinn thu, mo charaid💜💙🙏
William and Jen
I would love to see these used in some sporting events. Slalom, Dry-athlon where you carry your boat during run, then mount it, race on it and then také it on a bike to the finish line.
Or some sort of Corrackle Polo
Coracle polo is a regular feature of coracle regattas. There's one at Ironbridge in Shropshire each August.
I was just having a conversation about coracles earlier today, then this video coes across my feed...i swear the phones are listening
As a child I always loved going to the Ironbridge - Shropshire on the river Severn - and seeing the man in his coracle.
I believe the Severn has the strongest current in the UK. He made it seem effortless.
Our ancestors were great at figuring out what works and what don’t.
Human turtle shell. These are really cool. Nice to see that step down in effort from a dugout canoe. Those things are ridiculous compared to these.
My understanding of these little boats is their main advantage is that they are carried by a single person, strapped on their back. This meant that people could hike with them on footpaths quite easily and then use them to cross streams and rivers.
Wonderful stuff Tom, mòran taing dhuibh airson a' bhideo seo!
Back in the late 50s I used to go camping with a farmers son. They had a large stream running through a small treed enclosure with a small lake ( large pond?) We built a coracle and an oil drum raft. Happy times!
After WW2 in Britain there was a trend to build canoes/Kyayaks using this method. They were even used during the War and were written about in; The Cockle Shell Heroes. They were then popularised after ww2 by Percy Blandford who wrote a book which included plans to build one. They used thin strips of wood as ribs and were then covered in canvas which was painted. In the 1950 and 60s boys would build them at School during wood work classes. I bought one years ago which the canves had rotted through, so I recovered it in PVC tarpaulin, they are great fun too.
Yessss man. i'm gonna build a flippin coracle this summer! cheers for the vid - always a crackr
The rowing style reminds me of Lin rowing the boat to the train in Spirited Away. Very nice video.
Yep, you've got to build one, Tom!!
Very interesting! Coracles are still widely used in Vietnam, primarily made from bamboo.
Lovely, thanks for sharing this treat
This style of vernacular watercraft must, at this point, be part of the human genetic code as each culture around the globe near water has almost identical versions in both design, application, mode of movement with paddle, and general affect, such as the Vietnamese (et al) "thúng chai." Thank you for another wonderful video...!!!
There is a particularly interesting coracle-type boat in Japan that started life as a washtub. I believe the article was featured in Woodenboat magazine some 10 years ago.
@@MWodenberg Yes...!!!..A wonderful example...たらい舟 (Tarai-bune)... that a friend of my appretised on learning to build (see: Douglas Brooks.) I do believe this was one of Douglas's early apprenticeships in traditional japanese boat building, of which there is a great lecture he did about a year ago in Australia...Thank you for sharing that example...
th-cam.com/video/fwrWlyi7fx8/w-d-xo.html
i live in california, us. might just bring a coracle to life over here :)
Our ancestors were great at figuring out how to survive!
WONDERFUL! Thank you gentlemen.
Ye got the hang of it quickly! Looks like a blast.
You inspired me, so right now I´m drinking coffe and regreting that I
didn´t buy the cheap cowskin they had for sale on bauhouse.
Would have been perfect for a coracle!!!
But from the other side, I can´t use one here in sweden until vinter is over
anyways, so I´m planing for what to do this spring instead!
I love the 'vinter', the Swedish crept in there! 😅
I did wonder if they used seal skins. Especially as seal hide retains it's waterproof characteristics once it's off the animal.
I had heard of these before and always found coracles very interesting and something I'd love to try building given the chance.
I would love to see you build a 1 hide coracle and then watch your adventures possibly fishing with one!😊😘
Very cool, informative video. Well done
It is definitely possible, but hard work & long days to build one in a weekend - I did, from bent Hazel, covered with Calico & painted with shed roofing material. It kept me dry for a test sail on the Sunday afternoon.
Give it a go - the trick with bending Hazel is to cut it fresh & dend it always the wrong way first ! You will often think it is impossible to make it bend enough, but keep tring & it will.
Top tip though - find somewhere undercover & dry to store it before you start. They naturally will rot away quite fast if you don't.
If you decide to use a cow hide, remember that it will absorb a lot of moisture in use & become very heavy.
Great video! Met Charlie about 10 years ago at Farm Hack on Loch Tay, he was there with his scythes. Nice bloke, didn't know about his coracle interest though.
Hiya Dave how're you doing?
@@charlesquinnell469 Hey Charlie, I'm doing good, hope you're well.
Wonderful! I've been hoping for this bit of watercraft history.
I bet you could rig the kilt and a walking stick up like a sail, lol!
Really cool! Thanks for sharing about this kind of book, I'd never heard of it before. Also, the footage for this video looked extra nice somehow, it was so crisp and smooth!
Awesome video
Reminds me of the kuphar that they used on Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia times.You don't think somehow.....great minds think alike...yours seems a bit more maneuverable
Never seen anything like this, and I like it very much :-)
Absolutly fascinating and beauriful scenery. Thx.
Amazing! I live seeing living history
Excellent, very interesting, well presented, all great, again .
In the United States, the mountain men made coracles of willow and buffalo hide called "bull boats."
I found this video inspiring 😊
I've read that on calmer water, especially in the Roman era continent, these could be strung along in a train and pulled by horses or cattle. And that once a traveling merchant went as far as he could by water, he could easily prop his boat on a frame and turn it into a small cart.
Like a cheaper, faster, and simpler version of what 19th century Americans would have done with their flatboats once they made it to Mobile or New Orleans.
Nice video, I see many coracle videos where the creator has way less knowledge than you share here.
Btw you can do a "modified J stroke" in a coracle, but you paddle from the front rather than the side,
I help out on courses building Boyne style coracles, great fun.
This was very interesting, and sobering too, to think our ancestors actually went to sea in similar vessels, even crossing to North America, is amazing.
I like the comments pointing out that by using the kilt, a shelter (or even a sail!) can easily be created - but one does wonder - if one's kilt is used to build the shelter - what, exactly, is one wearing? 😳🤭
In Ireland they are called „curragh“ and have been in use even about 100 years ago.
That is so neat. I learned something new today. Thanks.
Love the video Tom but I am wondering about the oars, who made them and what kind of wood did they use.. greetings from Flanders!
The darker one is one I bought, walnut I think. The other one I carved from ash. There are traditional paddle designs too for different coracles.
@@charlesquinnell469 Thanks for the swift answer Charles
I have read that early Christian missionaries from Scotland would build these and put out and let the wind and currents take them to wherever and where they landed is where they would begin their mission work. I absolutely love the video.
This would be a great camping thing to make!
You'll have to build one now Tom. 😄👍
Did not have a coracle, but tried your sculling technique over the stern of an 8’ dinghy. Except for the inefficiency of the blunt stern, it worked!
Great stuff
This is so cool!
Those are shockingly fast for what they are.
I'm so old, I remember seeing people use these to go fishing and poaching.
I actually am building one i have a worn out air mattress that i am uzing for the shell
I have seen this kind of boats in India, they were round and I transported my motorbike in such a thing.
the paddling is a bit of a special technique.. I wondered how such a round thing behaves.
Part of me wonders if anyone ever used a double-ended oar, as it seems more efficient, more ergonomic and less exhaustive/straining compared to leaning over the front of the boat like that... I'm guessing it was just the done thing, so people stuck with it? That, or such an oar would be too long for practical carry when also slinging the coracle over your body?
The single paddle is actually extremely efficient and allows for a lot of manouverability. Plus when fishing you need one hand free.
How do they cope in fast currents? My most need for a boat is when the river floods, to ferry to my narrow boat.
Very well indeed.
Because they have a flat bottom and very shallow draught, they are ideal craft in moving water. I'm not so sure about moving water with sharp rocks or big waves, though. For crossing a fast current, lean slightly downstream so that the edge of the boat presented to the upstream flow is raised a little: this allows most of the force of the current to pass harmlessly under the boat.
You have got to build one.
I've read that the stroke was also very quiet and thus used by poachers and smugglers.
Irving Finkel found textual evidence in cuneiform versions of the great flood story that suggested the actual boat that later turned into Noah's ark through translations was a very large version of the mesopotamian coracle Quaffa. they even reconstructed one to see if the very specific measurements were plausible...
also noteworthy is the lovely triaxial weave used for coracles in india, an amazing application of the same pattern known as kagome in japanese basketry.
dang it fandabi, now i have to build one
Very cool 👍
I hope it's not rude of me to say, but the vessel reminds me of a gumnut pot. It looks cozy.
I'm sure it's not as hard to paddle as you make it look! 😁 Just teasin'.
Would have liked to see one being made tho...
Row, row, row your coracle quietly down the stream, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily being a highlander is such a dream
I want pne 6 foot long to use as a shelter too
How heavy are these two boats?
About 40-50LBS. The hazel one is lighter.
After this flick many a farmer was missing one cow or the other.
never heard of a coracle. I've heard of Curachs
Didn't Hough Glass make one to reach civilization ?
Did any UK soldiers use these during WW1 or WW2?
Not sure you’d want to end up in the river with that tweed on!
Reepicheep used a coracle.
Greetings from Australia. You could sleep underneath it and keep dry.
Basically a minecraft boat.
Groovy
So i wonder if the name is derived from the extinct bovine species the Auroch. Much larger than cows, the hide would be perfect for these boats. Spelling is different but pronunciation is similar. I’ll take my answer off the air. Thank you.
It is cognate with the verb "to cure" as in hide.
The Coracle of Narnia.
Looks like something that would be nice to sleep on there on a cold wet rainy night in the Moors
I haven't slept under one, but propped up longways on a forked stick they make an excellent shelter to sit under.
Native Americans made them using buffalo hides. They called them bull boats.
Feel free to use my enchanted coracle.
And know I'm picturing one built of PVC and flex tape.
Having built cold frames etc out of mdpe water pipe. I'm sure it could be used to make a coracle frame. I have used green willow inside the pipe to make it stronger and less flexible - maybe just for the gunwhales and the ribs which support the seat?
Far better to use wood believe me. By far the best material.
@thekiltedgunsmith1776 Wood franes are best, I agree. But I guess the spirit of the curragh is a boat built from applying ingenuity to whatever materials are available, which in today's urban environment probably isn't coppiced hazel, sadly.
@@chrismcbride2572 to me it's about using what nature gives you. Granted the cover is often not a natural product, but making the fame from wood is easy enough, and it is by far the best material.
Stronghold 2 Boat Warriors intensifies
Quite incomprehensible design. If you add just a little bit of rudder, you can paddle normally like a packraft.
The point of them is you can paddle in extremely shallow water. Any kind of rudder or skeg would catch in a fast current and endanger you. These can skim across the top of a fast current safely. Plus this paddling technique is by far the most efficient with a single paddle. Just look at Tom fly across the river there.
You're so dope.
Two Scottish turtles 😂
W
Like everybody think now. If you doing something by yourself, you must be poor.
I still ptefer to do and repair something instad of buy new things or pay repair man. There is no fun in just buying something and just spend each day at work at computer. This is not fun living like this ...