House Boats are huge, slow moving, exotic barges designed for sheer leisure trips. They are the new versions of traditional Kettuvallams. Kettu means tying and Vallam means country boats. These Kettuvallams were earlier used to ship rice and spices and other goods between Kuttanad and the Cochin port. It was a three-day affair those days. A standard House Boat, which could be about 100 feet long, can hold up to 30 tons, and that is as much as three big lorries can.
A House Boat (which is made of hundreds of fine but heavy-duty planks of jack-wood) is held together absolutely by coir knots (not a single nail is used). This framework is then coated with a caustic black resin extracted from boiled cashew kernels. And it lasts for generations. Ancient principles and techniques are used by the local carpenters for constructing house boats. The ?Anjali wood? is used for this purpose. Normally our houseboats are of an average 70 ft long and 15 ft width in the central section.
