Ruea Phi Lok (Thai Ghost-Scare Fishing Boat) — a 1 × 7 m Teak Boat, a White Board on One Side, a 1 m Net on the Other, Rowed at Night so Startled Fish Leap Aboard

"Fish that like to sleep in shallow water ... hear the oar and see the lamplight blazing on the white board, take fright and leap into the boat." (Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, authors กนก ขาวมาลา (Kanok Khaomala) and เพ็ญรุ่ง สุริยกานต์ (Penrung Suriyakan), CC BY 4.0)

Lay the keel, set the ribs, and fit the hull planks up to about 50 cm. Fit the thwarts and deck over the bow and stern, leaving the middle of the hull open for fish to leap in. The bow stem is of board about 3 inches wide. Coat with yang oil to protect the wood.

Hang a board painted white with oil paint, top and bottom, along one side of the boat. On the other side set bamboo posts and stretch a nylon net or seine about 1 m high along the whole length.

At the stern on the right, set a teak oar post about 1 m high, with tao jaeo sockets for the post on both sides to suit the rower and the water. The jaeo standing oar is teak, about 3 m long.

Photo of Uncle Pao's ruea phi lok and drawings of it in use (Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, authors กนก ขาวมาลา (Kanok Khaomala) and เพ็ญรุ่ง สุริยกานต์ (Penrung Suriyakan), CC BY 4.0).

On a moonless night, hang two lamps or torches at bow and stern and row to the grass beds marked earlier, with the white board tilted into the water at about 30 degrees. Fish sleeping in the shallows, such as kasup, barb, soi and kamang, take fright and leap into the boat; those that clear it hit the net and fall in. You work silently in the dark where other boats cannot see you, so there is a risk of collision: light the bow and stern and watch for longtail boats.

Some now fish by day, towing a coconut frond along the bank, or fit an engine and cut it to row the last stretch quietly. Uncle Pao's boat was once rammed by a longtail boat; it is now shown at the Thai Boat Museum, Ayutthaya, as fish have declined with pollution and industry. You work silently in the dark where other boats cannot see you, so there is a risk of collision: light the bow and stern and watch for longtail boats. Source: Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, Traditional Objects of Everyday Use database, "เรือผีหลอก", authors กนก ขาวมาลา (Kanok Khaomala) and เพ็ญรุ่ง สุริยกานต์ (Penrung Suriyakan) (CC BY 4.0 licence). **Limits** The source gives no size for the white board, no rib spacing and no method for joining the hull planks, and there is no listing for teak, white oil paint or nylon net, so they are named in the text.