I don't want to buy an Australian made canoe.......only want the facts, because people have recently gone over there and are telling me that there are no weight restrictions, and that the new open class canoes weigh 120Kg all up (ama and kiato included) . I was also under the impression that weight applies to the vaka alone, so that having no rigging, a foam ama and aluminium tube iako would obviously give a final weight advantage. However, the apparent new trend here in NZ is to consider weight specification that includes an ama, and besides this trend (which may be unique to NZ) is the lame idea that everyone should be paddling the same design of canoe.
As it now appears; there is a min weight restriction of 130Kg, ama excluded...........which incidently is the same weight as the old Mahimahi 6man made by Monopoly Nui, which is the regulation racing canoe. This weight included stuff like cardboard and house building timber buried under polyester resin and e-glass, plenty of bog and even puddles of resin that I saw in some of them being made. In contrast a Kamanu Composites 6man built in PU foam cored sandwich is obviously waaaay lighter.
Instead of buying something as comparatively heavy as a Mahimahi, from Australia , it seems to makes more sense building a foam cored canoe right here........but on the other hand this may not be a bright idea given political restrictions.
Besides the politics, is the simple fact that building a 6man weighing around 100 Kg is less restrictive than building a 1man at under 16Kg fully rigged.

@ kaihoe - building a foam core for the purpose of paddling is a better idea than for "testing the market"
If there were no restrictions on canoe designs for local competition the chances are that a Kamanu Composites 6man would very likely already be on order from the manufacturer across the ditch -- OK, that is my opinion, but the things I said about the other canoe builder are merely facts, not opinion.

Shees! talk about "ATTACKING people" it is very clear that you are as much of a hypocrit as your old man.
Truth of the matter is that 'kris' and I initially got on fine together, just like he initially got on fine with Victor Hawker.....you remember Victor?.
But things started to go bad when it became evident that I was not easy with all the smoking going on in the den/shop......I hate smoking with a passion. and was happier to move out of the shop and build Surfriggers over the hill in the shed (where I first met you).
So 'kris' did not like it when people wanted to buy the 1mans that I made as well as the Surfriggers, and he started his campaign to to try stop it........just like he made moves to stop Victor building the other modified 1990 6mans. He succeeded in this by getting the Mahimahi sanctioned....which put Victor out of business.
We hear the line all the time about"it is necessary to have standard canoes for National competition" and the same thing was tried in order to enforce the use of Surfriggers. But fortunately that gab did not get stamped, just like it would not wash to try enforce a one-design paddle on all paddlers.
Your 'advice' to challeng NKHOE to use "my" design shows complete lack of appreciation for anything other than modifying someone else's design and mass producing it. What you call "bitterness" is merely a lack of respect for a canoe builder who rides on other peoples work, and sure! 'kris' did not like it that I lost respect for him when I found out that he didnt have the talent to shape a canoe from scratch....yet claimed to have done so.
Still, he was an interesting character, and my heartfelt sadness at hearing of his death, after which I made the effort to get ti his tangi, makes rubbish of what you say

kaihoe: Thank Maui for getting personal and bringing kk into the discussion
Hey! all I did was compare the weight and laminate of a mahimahi to a state of the art sixman. Maybe you get touchy because I made a joke about the monopoly thing........well it is just my way of trying to laugh off a really costly and bad experience. So whoever you are, if you want the facts I would rather not go public with them, but will oblige by mailing or even telling you direct