The St. Crispin Heritage Houseboat Has Been Launched Kodianthara Heritage Home s first houseboat the St. Crispin Heritage Houseboat has been launched. Work on building the houseboat began on July 1, 2008, at a boatyard on the outskirts of Kumarakom, our quaint little village. The boat was launched on January 1. The houseboat has been built by veteran boat builder Jainappan and his team of seven ace carpenters who hail from Kumbalngi village near Kochi. A Bit About Houseboats In local parlance, these massive boats, pushed along by two or three oarsmen using long bamboo poles, are called Kettuvallams. They range in length from about 50 to 70 feet, and at their widest from 11 to 15 feet. Not so long ago, these were the preferred in fact, often the only means of transporting goods in a region that is criss crossed by an extensive, and intricate, network of canals. Paddy, coconuts and shells dredged from the Vembanad lake were all transported by Kettuvallams. A portion of it would have a tiny living and cooking area as these giant, slow moving canoes often took days to reach the nearest marketplace or wholesaler. Kettuvallams literally means tied (Kettu) canoe (vallam). And that s how the early boats were made. Planks of wood usually from the sturdy local tree called the Anjili (Artocarpus hirsuta)were tied together with ropes made from coconut coir. Coconut fibre was stuffed between the planks and the wood was coated by a black resin extracted from the kernal of the cashew nut and then mixed with several other ingredients, including fish oil. This was the traditional method of making Kettuvallams a method that used locally available material and did not use a single nail Modernity has, however, caught up with the business of making these gentle giants. Today, nails, nuts and bolts are used to build the boats, and they are now technically called Tharavallams (thara in the Malayalam language means to nail). And as for the oarsmen they are now at the helm All the Kettuvallams today run on Honda or Yamaha outboard motors.

Services available at St. Crispin Heritage Houseboats are

St. Crispin Heritage Houseboats has multi-cuisine restaurant that serves

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