The Polynesians used to make their voyages in canoes built with tools of stone, bone, and coral. These canoes were navigated by expert seafarers, who depended mainly on traditional techniques of way finding.
The Polynesian canoes were dugout canoes, which are boats made out of hollowed tree trunks, or planks sewn together with cords of coconut fibres twisted into strands.
An outrigger was attached to a single hull for greater stability during the voyage. Two hulls were lashed together with crossbeams, and a deck was also added between the hulls to create double canoes capable of withstanding long distance voyages.
The canoes were paddled when there was no wind, and sailed only when there were enough breezes. Though these double-hulled canoes had less storage capacity, they were much faster.