RowBoat Kit Quandry: Need Advice

[Plederman]

I have a 1 acre pond and I'm planning to build a cedar stip rowboat to replace my aluminum one. Plan is to row everyday for the excercise and the beauty. Mostly rowing by myself, occasionally with my wife along...and maybe, some faraway day, with grandchildren.

I seem to have narrowed down my choices to two boats from TenderCraft Boat shop www.tendercraftboats.com...the 14' Cosine Wherry and the 9.5' Blue Water Tender...the first offers 3 rowing stations...and the second only one...not sure what this implies...more people rowing versus me moving around?? and how meaningful to me the other two stations would be given my needs..also given my 20 stroke pond is the extra 4.5 feet a plus or a minus...I'm obviously a newbie and could use some advice

thanks

peter lederman

[Raggi_Thor]

I think it's more fun to row the cosine because it's longer and will track better, you don't have to correct the course all the time, then you are not going very far :-)
The extra rowing stations can be handy if you have company. With your wife ore some grandchildren in the back you may want to move closer to the stem to maintain balance in the boat.
The shorter boat is a little lighter and easier to transport.
They both look very good, I think.

[marshmat]

Hi Peter,
They're both nice boats, IMHO. The wherry is a significantly larger boat, probably comfortable for a rower and two passengers; the tender would carry these people but would be somewhat cramped. In any normal circumstances i'd go for the wherry (a much prettier boat to my eyes). But when you only have one acre of water, the wherry will build up momentum and tend to coast- it could coast clear across your pond on a few strokes. The tender would be slower and need more strokes to row across the pond, probably a good thing in your case.
I think it comes down to how many people you take with you.... and which one you think is prettier.

[PAR]

The wherry will be a much better boat to look at and row. The tender will be more at home dragging a load of supplies out to a moored cruiser then a decided rowing craft. The tender will be more squirrelly and not have a lot of interior space, if crew does happen to be along for the afternoon. The classic lines of the wherry, will have the sailor in all of us in envy.