The second classifications in boat types are those made from skin. Sewing a covering of animal skin or fabric over a framework previously made of wood or bone makes the skin boat. The framework can be long and narrow, like the Irish Curragh (Figure 2.2) or roughly circular like a Boyne Coracle (Figure 2.3). Greenhill (1976, 92) also identifies the ‘basket boat’. This is a variation of the skin boat, where the difference is only in the framework. Instead of a skeleton, this boat has a more complex and continuous frame made up like a basket, which is either covered by stretching cloth or skin over the wickerwork or by closing the holes with clay or tar (Figure 2.4). The bark boat is made by stripping a continuous cylinder of bark from a suitable tree, then forming a boat shape out of the bark itself. Building a strengthening framework of wood then seals the ends of the boat. This usually comprises of twigs lashed together inside it. (McGrail, 1987, 91) (Figure 2.5)
The final boat type is known as the dugout. This is made by hollowing out a log and thus producing a basic boat structure that is watertight. McGrail (1987, 207) argues that the shape achieved by a dug-out increases it’s power to carry cargo by an amount equal to the weight of the wood extracted in it’s construction (Figure 2.6).
