Flood Prone LGU Builds Bahangka Flood Boats

Wazzup Pilipinas!

To address frequent flooding in Barangay Sta. Ana in San Mateo, Rizal, the local government unit (LGU) tapped an amateur boat builders organization called the Philippine Home Boatbuilders Yacht Club (PHBYC) to provide assistance in building four flood boats called the Bahangka. These boats will be used by the LGU to facilitate its relief efforts in evacuating residents and delivering relief goods in times of flooding.

The Bahangka was originally developed in 2009 in the wake of typhoon Ondoy which left much of the areas around Metro Manila and surrounding provinces inundated by flood waters for several weeks. The Bahangka is a simple and easy to build boat made from plywood and lumber bonded and protected with epoxy. According to Felix Bautista of PHBYC, the designer of the Bahangka: “This boat is designed with minimal wastage of materials and can be built in less than two days by someone with limited carpentry experience, and because it is a rigid boat made of marine plywood, is not prone to punctures the way that rubber boats can be.” Mr. Bautista said.

Plans for the Bahangka are readily available from PHYC’s website www.pinoyboats.org.

Support from boatbuilding suppliers was solicited by PHBYC to maximize beneficial effect the project. Marine plywood was provided by Zamboply, Epoxy Adhesive and Paint was provided by Republic Chemicals and epoxy resin and fiberglass cloth were provided by Polymer Products. Materials cost to build one boat is around P12,000. Marine plywood is a very durable material, sanded on both sides with high water resistance, states on the Cut My Plastic website.

The Barangay Captain of Sta. Ana, San Mateo, Henry “Butchoy” Cruz was pleased with the outcome of the project and said that the boats will greatly help in times of flooding allowing them to respond immediately and not relying on boats provided by the municipality, "it’s amazing that the four boats were built in two days” Captain Cruz said.

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