This hull in Dubai was planked up prior to the ribs going in
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Plank keepers in place awaiting fitting of ribs in a Dubai dhow boatbuilder's yard
flexibility and are safer than those held with rigid iron nails if they run onto rocks or come into contact with another vessel. Paint and anti-fouling were not often found in remote ports, and a paste of lime and cattle fat was used to seal the hull below the waterline. This was called shammu and was very similar to the shenam of lime and fish oil I mixed and used to coat the hull of our old scow Te Aroha below her waterline before applying tarred felt and then planks of totara as a sacrificial sheathing. The planks above the waterline of the old dhows used to be
coated with a mix of oil from sharks and turtles, something I hope is not done today, but an oil of some kind is still being used. There is still little paint on modern dhows, but decorative painting using white, black and blue colours is often seen. Planks are still caulked with fibres soaked in sesame oil (simsim), fish or coconut oil. From what I could see when watching a dhow being built in Dubai, the planking was done first, followed by the placement of ribs, which seemed to be a back-to-front way of building a hull!
This may be an individual boatbuilder's preference, as in Sur, Oman, they were building dhows by erecting the ribs first and then planking around them. The boatbuilders here hail from Kerala on India's western coast and take about four months to build a 20m dhow at a cost of around $25,000.
This part of the world is not renowned for its hardwood forests, and the teak and shesham timber required for building hulls comes from Malaysia and India. However, locally grown timber such as qart, sidr and sara is suitable for ribs and knees. In the early 1960s the ships I was on used to make their way around both coasts of India, discharging and loading at the major ports of Calcutta, Vishakhapatnam, Madras, Cochin and Bombay. We also used to anchor off many small ports and wait for the
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