Due to shortage of timber coupled with other compelling factors, traditional fishermen along the east coast of India, especially of Andhra Pradesh, of late, are departing from conventional log type wooden catamarans. Instead, they are fabricating catamarans out of timber planks of hard woods and utilizing thermocol for buoyancy. Mostly, locally available timber of a Combretaceae species, Anogeissus acuminata (Yon) is used to fabricate these plank-built catamarans. Since these catamarans are also built with untreated timber, there is every need to extend wood preservation technology to these craft also so as to achieve enhanced service life and conserve the resources. Therefore, the Institute of Wood Science and Technology took up treatment of timber meant for five such craft with copper-chrome-arsenic (CCA). Thirteen different logs were procured and converted into planks and batons of suitable sizes, debarked, cleaned and air dried under shade. While the length of the planks ranged from 0.81 to 6.53 m, the width varied from 16 to 44 cm. After sufficient seasoning, the material was pressure treated with 6% CCA by full cell method as per IS: 401 (1982). Chemical retentions were computed from the weight gained by the individual planks and sets of 20 batons immediately after treatment. The preservative absorption in the planks ranged from 13.05 to 69.80 kg/m3 averaging at 25.90 kg/m3 and that in the batons averaged at 32 kg/m3. The quantity of CCA absorbed by the planks was analyzed with reference to their length, width, thickness and volume. Planks when categorized to different length and volume groups exhibited clear difference in the intake of chemical by them but when categorized into different width and thickness classes showed not much variation. All the treated planks and batons after air drying in shade for 15 days were fabricated into five catamarans. Thus, though the planks of A. acuminata are either very long or very wide, they showed a positive response to CCA treatment by absorbing reasonably good quantities of preservative. Similarly, on fabrication of the catamarans, an average retention of 21.79 to 25.43 kg/m3 of CCA per craft could be achieved. These values fall into the recommended preservative absorption range of 16 to 32 kg/m3 (IS: 401, 1982) for marine structures.

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