Strip and Stitch?

What do you think? Strip bottom to get a nice rounded hull to present to the water but a stitched ply side panel for a bit easier and quicker (and perhaps stronger) finish. 18' 4" loa with a strip bottom but solid ply sides. Reduction in surface area over stitched ply bottom is around 3 sq ft. Strips of Cedar or ripped ply...Cedar being preferable for weight. A light glassing (4oz) of the bottom for structural and abrasion reasons.

A row boat with a transom for an electric trolling motor boost if the old arms (or more likely back) putter out or the desire is for fish rather than exercise. Design weight is around 475 lbs but the boat should end up around 200-220 lbs if built with care and attention to detail and weight. Beam is 45" so you might want to add short outriggers for longer oars. Beam on the waterline is about 33.5" for a nice smooth water flow in all directions. Stability on the other hand isn't the greatest...so some care would be needed when landing that large mouth or stripper but a net would do wonders in helping.
A design for one hefty (+ gear) or two lighter persons to enjoy a speedy row in.

 

Looks like a nice, elegant thing, lewisboats.

I see nothing wrong (and a lot of things good) about the combination of strip-plank and plywood; I'm planning to build my next boat in a similar manner.

I'd guess her stability would be better than a canoe of comparable size, probably comparable to typical rowboats of similar proportions. Your calculations, of course, will undoubtedly be more precise than my guesses.

Whether you're fishing for bass and striper, or "large mouth and stripper"- well, it looks like a good boat for the former, and I won't comment on the latter

 

Perhaps the spelling isn't the greatest...'course it HAS been quite a while since I have tangled with either one. ... One "P" elicited a red "bad spelling" squiggly line... so I went with the PP instead.

 

Composite method seems like a good scheme to me. I have built models that way and found it entirely satisfactory.

The double entendre is cute (stripper etc) I like it.

The boat itself is OK. I think it a bit wide for a rowing machine but fine for a fishing boat. It has quite a lot of forward rocker which might cause her to shake her head under oars. Also you have shown about 5 inches of deadrise. Why so much? If we are to believe John Winter (Greenval.com) about canoe design, then lean toward less draft which implies less deadrise. A bonus is that the boat will be less tiddly. Wetted surface may be a tad less also.

Matter of fact I think that you can make part of the bottom of ply and use the strips for the chine areas only. That would save a lot of ripping, coving, beading, fitting, scraping, and sanding

I'm thinking that you can build that boat for considerably less than 200 pounds if you try.

 

Aha!...yes...Radius chine...using ply for the bottom and strips for the chine area! Adds just a bit of extra area but tends to add to the difficulty of the build. Gotta figure out where the ply ends and the strips are supposed to start. Not all that difficult but in the end...strips might just end up taking about the same time to do after scarfing and shaping the rather narrow strip of ply that would be the bottom plank.
The Deadrise aids in the directional stability...acting as a keel when keeping a course but doesn't add much to the difficulty of adjusting a course when needed. It also adds to the load carrying capacity at the same time as reducing any tendency to pound when headed into the wind/waves.

The boat is designed to be not just a mono purpose rower like a sculling boat but something that fills a narrow niche between a purpose rowing machine and a recreational boat used for fishing, picnicking or exercise. It will enable you to get a decent turn of speed in a pure rowing effort or it will allow you to use it as a comfortable and relatively stable craft to fish from and use as a recreational craft.

 

For additional inspiration, here's something else that falls into roughly the same category:
Rossiter's "Loudon" series, http://www.rossiterboats.com/page.cfm?dsp=PageView&PageL2ID=48 - they're fibreglass and have a somewhat more "traditional" look to them, but otherwise are fairly comparable to what you're thinking of. Not saying that you should go buy one instead (although they are beautiful, well-built craft), but they're certainly worth a look for inspiration.