Lashed-lug boat

Lashed-lug boats are ancient <a href="/facts/Boat-building/XSCJG8Re">boat-building</a> techniques of the <a href="/facts/Austronesian_people/mMTl1M9J">Austronesian peoples</a>. It is characterized by the use of raised lugs (also called "cleats") on the inner face of hull planks. These lugs have holes drilled in them so that other hull components such as ribs, <a href="/facts/Thwart/FtgVy3SI">thwarts</a> or other structural components can be tied to them with natural fiber ropes (hence "lashed"). This allows a structure to be put together without any metal fastenings. The planks are further stitched together edge-to-edge by <a href="/facts/Sewn_boat/w2MrGTjS">sewing</a> or using dowels ("<a href="/facts/Treenail/nKz3oTRw">treenails</a>") unto a <a href="/facts/Dugout_canoe/t38LboDx">dugout</a> <a href="/facts/Keel/Ep5vCBc4">keel</a> and the solid carved wood pieces that form the caps for the <a href="/facts/Prow/7IMvUGon">prow</a> and <a href="/facts/Stern/TCkbHe40">stern</a>. Characteristically, the shell of the boat is created first, prior to being lashed unto ribs. The seams between planks are also sealed with absorbent <a href="/facts/Tapa_bark/zyW7Uyjn">tapa bark</a> and fiber that expands when wet or <a href="/facts/Caulk/LgQruKW3">caulked</a> with resin-based preparations.: 297–302 
Lashed-lug construction has been used on a wide size range of vessels, from small craft, such as logboats that have had planks added to their sides to increase their freeboard, to large plank-built ships. It is found in traditional boats of <a href="/facts/Maritime_Southeast_Asia/8Jk7HBF6">Maritime Southeast Asia</a>, <a href="/facts/Melanesia/6NCwA1Sl">Melanesia</a>, <a href="/facts/Madagascar/ez12IAcY">Madagascar</a>, <a href="/facts/Micronesia/xUf6LkMv">Micronesia</a>, and <a href="/facts/Polynesia/rVSckqmD">Polynesia</a>. It forms part of the maritime technology used by Austronesian peoples in their spread throughout the islands of the <a href="/facts/Indo-Pacific/pVfP1gxV">Indo-Pacific</a> starting at 3000 to 1500 BCE. The oldest recovered remains of ships of lashed-lug construction is the Pontian boat of <a href="/facts/Malaysia/8zbUMzCP">Malaysia</a> dated to at around c.260–430 CE. 
The lashed-lug technique of Austronesians is considered to be very similar to that found in archaeological remains of some northern-European boats. This is considered to be a case of independent invention of one of a limited number of solutions to the same boat-building problem.

Lashed-lug boat open-in-new

Lashed-lug boat