The pinas, sometimes called "pinis" as well, is a type of schooner of the east coast of the Malay peninsula, built in the Terengganu area.

All pinas, even the big ones of 80 feet and above were steered by a tiller with a pulley block system easing the strain on a conventional rudder hinged on the stern post.

The clipper type bow of the pinas often carried a carved figurehead called "Gobel" and the transom stern was raked aft and reached pretty high up above the waterline.

The locals say that a Frenchman whose boat was wrecked on the shore of Terengganu in the 19th century settled there and his knowledge is said to have influenced the boatbuilding of the shipwrights.

[5] The tradition of building wooden boats in modern Malaysia reaches far back in time: For overseas trade, for fishing, for piracy, for travelling up the many rivers, for each purpose they developed a special design.

Ross, then master of the British East India Company's steamer Phlegeton, who on the occasion a visit to Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia, in 1846 witnessed a schooner built locally by "some of the natives [who] had learnt the art of shipbuilding at Singapore, and [were] assisted by Chinese carpenters",[8] that is speculated to have become the archetype for the Terengganu perahu pinas or pinis.

[11] The two perahu besar (Malay: big boat)[12] of Terengganu, the pinas and the bedar are the result of this cultural interchange.

The boatbuilders of Terengganu were re-"discovered" during the World War II by the Japanese navy who had wooden minesweepers built there by the carpenters and fishing folks.

Rising timber prices and lack of demand forced one after the other yard out of business, so today this tradition is on the brink of extinction, with very few able craftsmen still practicing this rare old building technique.