He gave me a withering look as he replied, 'Is the paopao a canoe?..."

"At first sight the dugout canoe, steadied by an outrigger float, seems a simple affair. But when one considers that the tree must be felled, cut into lengths, shaped on the outside, and hollowed on the inside with adzes made of stone, the making of the simplest canoe commands respect.

The tree trunks used for small fishing canoes were so narrow that the tendency to capsize had to be counteracted by the addition of an outrigger to the hull. This consisted of a long spar of light wood, which rested on the surface of the water at a little distance from the hull. It was connected to the hull usually by two cross booms which were lashed to both gunwhales (top edge of hull) at one end and to the outrigger float at the other. In order that the float might lie at water level, the booms had either to be bent down to meet the float or, if they remained straight, to be attached to the float by separate wooden connectives. Much variation and ingenuity has been shown throughout Polynesia in the methods of outrigger attachement.

Canoes that went far out to sea in quest for bonito and deep-sea fish were given greater protection from overlapping waves by adding a plank to the top of the dugout hull, which increased the freeboard or height from the water's surface. For the transport of people with food and water supplies, larger vessels were made and still greater freeboard given by additional tiers of planks. For long voyages or the inter-island transport of troops, a second canoe was substituted for the float, and thus was formed the double canoe..."

(Buck)