How long-tail boats keep southern Thailand afloat

Setting down a brush and a pot of thick epoxy glue, Bundit Kunpoh stops to adjust his red bandana. Despite the dappled shade provided by fronds of coconut and fan palm overhead, the heat is stifling. Seated astride the gunwale of his latest creation, the young boatbuilder wipes sweat from his eyes and lights a handmade cigarette. As the smoke curls into the still air, mosquitoes dance above a carpet of wood chips on the ground below.

Ban Pak Rha, the coastal village Bundit calls home, sits 30km southeast of Krabi Town, on southern Thailand's Andaman coast. This is long-tail boatbuilding country. Here, and in a cluster of villages nearby, small armies of men (and a few women) hammer, saw, drill, chisel, plane and brush as they build and rebuild an ever-changing flotilla of vessels.

(literally "long-tailed boats") are Thailand's most distinctive form of waterborne transport. Somewhat grandiosely known as "the gondolas of the south" by many Thais, they come in various shapes and sizes, but are united by one common feature - a propeller attached to the end of a long pole, powered by an enormous engine (typically one that has been removed from a tractor or car). This "tail", which is raised and lowered at will by the boatman, propels the boat and acts as the steering mechanism.

As head of the Ban Pak Rha Community Centre for Boatbuilding, the business of long-tails takes up most of Bundit's life. Not that the 34-year-old is complaining.

"I started learning to make boats from my father when I was 10 years old," explains Bundit, who has a reputation for producing some of the finest long-tails in the Krabi region. "I took a bachelor's degree in community development in Phuket but decided I wanted to use the skills he gave me to keep the traditional boatbuilding industry alive. Seeing my finished work on the water makes me proud.

"Proud to be my father's son and proud to be Thai."