Friday 6 February 2015

Houseboat and Snake Boat Manufacturing Processes in the God’s Own Country

While enjoying the picturesque nature and surroundings from the deck of a luxury houseboat, not many travelers give a thought about the wonderfully created houseboat, which they are on and scaling the backwaters of Kerala.

After taking pleasure from houseboat rides and watching the popular boat races in Kerala, some of the curious ones would surely love to see how these beautiful boats take shape, from a few wooden planks.

Before we move further, here are some of the popular boat types in Kerala, viz. Chundan Vallams (Snake Boats), Kettu Vallams (Houseboats) and Uru (Fat Boat). Snake Boats are quite common during boat races; however, Houseboats are popular with tourists from all across the globe that visit Kerala for backwater tourism. On the other end, Uru (Fat boat) is a trading vessel.

The boat building process is quite a gripping experience and the travelers visiting the manufacturing units in Kerala would love to see how different boats built here. The one thing that separates these boats from various others made (in several parts of the world) is that nails are ‘scarcely used’ to join the wooden planks to make boats.

Coir/fiber and twines, natural adhesive (boiled cashew kernel, fish and neem/medicinal plant oil) are ‘being used’ to fasten different parts together, to manufacture the boats. Along with other raw materials, following trees serves the purpose in manufacturing boats, viz. Bamboo, Areca Nut and Palm. The boats are manufactured using eco-friendly materials only.

Watching people work with wooden mallets, needle, scissors, chisel, drilling machines and other tools would be a learning experience for travelers that are new to this boat manufacturing experience, in Kerala.

While traveling in Alleppey, the travelers should not miss the opportunity of witnessing the boat manufacturing process. Luxury houseboats, snake boats or other boat types, one could experience different boat building processes (from scratch to finish) in this part of Kerala.

BookHouseBoats.com manages houseboat tours in the backwaters of Alleppey and the escorted guide would assist the travelers in visiting the boat-manufacturing units, in the region.

Not only the Snake boats or Houseboats of Kerala, which are popular all across the globe, however, the Uru (Fat boat) manufactured at Beypore (Kozhikode) has plenty demand in the foreign countries. Kerala exports the Uru (trading vessel) mostly in the Arab countries.

Hence, make a visit to Kerala with family and friends to explore not only the backwaters on houseboats, however, to get to the roots by visiting the houseboat manufacturing units in Kerala.

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