A project with many challenges
First of all: building a wooden Nile felucca took much longer than my friends in Egypt and I had expected. In short - the timetable was far too ambitious and naïve. A construction period of 6 months was planned. We were also unable to keep to the pre-estimated costs - we all learned something new.
Excursions to old boats brought clarity
Ala'adin, the captain of the Horus, hired Nabil as our boat builder. But Nabil hadn't built a wooden boat for 20 years. Many problems arose in the details: How to join the keel beam and frames? This frame, isn't it much too low? Ala'adin had not been sleeping well for a long time, so Ala'adin and Nabil consulted their fathers, who now supervised the project. Without the experience of the old men, nothing could progress. Excursions to old boats that had broken apart provided the final clarification.
It all started with the hard-won keel beam. In Egypt, due to the desert location, there is little suitable wood. The hardwood trunk purchased for the keel had a length of 9.5 meters. The plan was to build a felucca with a length of 8 meters. The fathers refused to shorten the beam; such a log is far too valuable for that. The boat became longer, it also grew in width and more material was needed. Wood prices rose and fell again, and the necessary quality had to be available.
The keel beam was machined with the simplest of tools.
The Felucca Horus - a family project
The wood works, the wood has to be watered and dried again, it needs several coats of paint, and these also have to dry. Due to the size of the felucca, a substantial mast also had to be attached. As with the keel beam, a suitable mast had to be found. The Horus now has a new mast; the first mast broke in a storm and did not fit the hull of the felucca perfectly.
The picture gallery clearly shows the archaic conditions under which the felucca was created: the only machine used was a band saw, an old one for us Western Europeans.
Everyone worked together: Brother Mohammed sewed the sails by hand, his wife and children wrapped the iron parts and dipped the wooden blocks for the winch in oil, while the other brother painted the base coat. The project went through ups and downs, and at times everyone thought: "If we had known ..."
The sail was cut on the Nile beach and later sewn together by hand.
Horus is launched into the water
The families on the Nile island of Elephantine knew only one theme: the children painted pictures of the 'Horus' and hung them up on all the walls.
After a year of construction, the Felucca Horus was ready!
The next step was to transport the boat from the shipyard in the desert to the Nile by truck and everything that goes with it. The almost 10 meter long boat was launched at a Nile bridge. Horus now adorns the Nile as probably the only traditional wooden felucca.
Approximately € 10,000.00 is invested in the Horus project. I have a cost breakdown for € 7,000.00: so and so much for the materials, for the boat builder's wages, etc. The rest was used for all sorts of things. The rest was used for all sorts of things. The first tours have taken place. My boat now adorns the big river. So let's see what life and the Nile have to offer us.