designing a fast rowboat

I agree about the snap at the end of the pull. It's a natural way of getting your torso back to upright, as well as giving a nice little kick of power. I find it's just a natural thing to do with fixed seat rowing. The scullers tend not to swing their torso as much as a fixed seat crew.
Re this "dory stroke"; what's it all about? I haven't seen that issue of WB yet. The blade entry into the water should be quiet and splash free with any decent stroke. If it isn't you haven't matched blade speed to boat speed. Staggs is right about using scull style buttons and oarlocks, if you can afford them. They're a big advantage for correct pitch and easy, accurate feathering (if you feather, that is).
For your seat how about just finding someone friendly who has a scull or whatever. Then you can just take a mould straight off their seat. Shouldn't cause any mess or damage if you mask it properly. Cheers.

 

oars, locks

this winter, I'll devote some time to contacting local rowing groups to see if they have any broken oars that I can convert to traditional blade design. if so, then skulling type oarlocks and buttoms are a must. No pictures yet, how about it. some of you must have some shots of your boats. I'd particularly like to see something from Melong as he seems to have some very definite ideas about what he wants. Safe Walrus mentioned a Flashboat, that would be good also. We need some factual discussion about real boats and what they are really capable of doing in a race or other real world condition.

 

I didn't take any pics of my boats when I had them. Never even owned a camera until I bought a mobile phone.
Must build another boat that I can take pics of.
My rowing has been on sheltered waters, which can get up a decent wind against tide chop but would not be as rough as what you race in. Also I'm into solo boats and haven't built a double yet. Anyway, this means I have a good idea of what I want but you'd have a better idea of what you need in terms of reserve bouyancy, stability, etc. Being restricted to having your oarlocks on the gunwales makes a big difference to the possible shape.
I'm actually well out of practice at the moment as I've been boatless for a while. This thread may get me started again with a bit of luck.

ETA: Here's a Flashboat for you. Gartside does nice work. http://www.gartsideboats.com/catrow2.php#flash

 

Ah, the Flash Boat! I can fall in love with all sorts of hulls, but this one is engraved in my memory as one of the most beautiful, sculptural, sensual designs I've ever seen.
It was at the Wooden Boat Show at the Maritime Museum in London, ten or more years ago. I forgot who the builder was, but he told me he already had 300 hours in the building, and it still needed finishing and painting...
Absolute beauty!

 

Fast, safe, open water rowboat

I am just now joining the discussion. I have read all of it to this point. I have a 16-17' rowing faering that I have drawn and may build for myself or have one of my building groups build (I teach boatbuilding). What I am trying to get is what you have been talking about and it seems that Paul Gartside has pretty well nailed it down between his "Bob" design and the Flashboat. I am attracted to both and awaiting some further correspondence with him about the Flashboat. I inquired whether or not he could take this design and modify it to be build to 17', narrower beam/using folding outriggers, and in glued lap construction. Here is the link to his double ender called Bob which he claims is the best of what he learned from drawing, building and rowing a lot (3,500 miles) in the Flashboat. http://www.gartsideboats.com/bob.php

I'd like to here from people what the best length would be for boats like Paul's. I have heard rules about no more than 16' WL for solo fixed seat rowing, etc. etc. I an 6'6 and a strong rower so I like the feel of a larger boat. If I do Paul's Bob I plan to stretch her a touch to 16'8". Sounds like a nice length doesn't it? A boat like my faering, for example, with only 4' 1" beam and about the same WL beam (2'10") I feel can be lengthened without adding much weight due to the narrower hull. Outriggers can then be added and a long 9' oar used as with a beamy boat like Bob (4'8" once the gunwales are glued on).

Cheers,
Clint Chase
Portland, Maine
Looking to loft the next boat tomorrow! The white boards are waiting for a grid.

 

bob boat C Clark

I looked at "Bob" and it's a pretty boat to be sure and has nice lines. to my experience, it is too short and too beamy. our new boat will be 51" spread on the oarlocks and we pull 9'4" oars with minimal over lap on the handles when the oars are parrarell to the water. We pull high with the oar handles more or less coming in chest high with no overlap at that point. Sometimes, we feel as if a little less length outboard would be good, but in good weather it's fine. There are lots of open water races up in Maine, and some of the guys come down to Mass. for races. Check out Hull Life Saving museum and Saquish rowing team for information and race schedules. As of right now, as far as I know, there are no restrictions on length, beam or weight. singles range up to 17' and doubles are as long as 22'. waterline length really needs to be maximized to be competitive. Our current boat at 16' 8" just can't be pushed fast enough over a long distance to win. We can get her up to about 7.5 knots for a short distance but it kills us. It's necessary at the start to get a good position and get up front right away. Passing is a demoralizing proposition that can take a half a mile or more depending on how closely the boats are matched. The starting sprint is necessary but has to be done carefully so that you don't take too much out of yourself to do the rest of the race well. Build that faering or whatever, just do it and come racing

 

C Chase flash boat

Just remember, if you go to riggers you are in an unrestricted class and will be competing against Alden shells and the like. Take the beam on the gunnels, add as much length as you are comfortable with, row oar-on-gunnel and be in a good fast and competitive class. We occasionally beat a rigged boat in bad weather, but on a calm day they will trounce you. To us, it's a matter of preferance. As I stated in an earlier post, we have an idea of what a boat should look like, and Alden shells and "freak" boats don't appeal to us. Gartsides flashboat is all you described it as: a beauty that should go like a bullet.

 

I recall reading somewhere that 16' was about the upper limit for single rower boats. The theory was that application of much more power (i.e. a 2nd rower) was a waste because of hull speed limitations; a lot more power would yield only a small increase in speed. Sounds exactly like what you've been describing, and, according to that school of thought, you're doing the best thing (lengthening the hull) to enable all that power to be more effective.

 

Faering

Well, I couldn't resist the Faering and I am pleased with the result on my drafting table so I have a lines plan and am about to pick up the offsets and will start lofting tomorrow. It will be built to 17' maybe 17'3 and have about 15 1/2' waterline length. We'll see how this first design-build goes. Look fwd to racing her in open water.

QUESTION: in the Blackburn for example, if I were using folding outriggers I would still be in the fixed seat single class, right? Someone alluded to being in the outrigger's class. TX.

Cheers,
Clint

 

folding outriggers

I'm not sure what a folding outriggger is. In the Blackburn, any boat that has the oarlocks outboard of the gunnels is concidered to be 'rigged". We have 3" stainless brackets to get our 51" spread, and if I am correct, that would be considered to be "rigged" You can do minimal work to spread the locks to equalize the spread. on our new boat there will be 1-1/2" pieces added to the gunnels to get the rear spread the same as the front. I think that would be allowed. In local races, no one questions our spread or calls the boat as rigged. Good luck with your boat, I'll be looking forward to seeing pictures of your progress. Faerings are a special boat to me, as I'm more Norweigan than anything else. Just as an aside, about 5-6 years ago Wooden Boat had lines for a nice faering. Hope to see you at the Snow row in Hull next March

 

Row Boat or Caique

Dear Mister
Here is rowing boat or Caigue models on this page.
http://www.cembercidenizcilik.com/modeldxf/sandal.htm
Oktay Çemberci

 

Just stumbled across an article from Jim Michalak about rowing, thought Id throw it out to you.

http://www.amateurboatbuilding.com/articles/howto/rowing/rowing.html

E

 

S & T outriggers

Here is a link to the outriggers I drew my boat around:

http://www.shawandtenney.com/catalo...rine_Hardware&pageNum_cart=/catalog/index.php

These are beefy outriggers and not bad to look at. I look forward to rowing my boat. I am already nervous about it (I wonder if the hull might be a bit fine forward); it is my first design/build, but they go together pretty fast and definitely easily (once I've fixed the issues in the lofting!) so if I need to fix it and build it again I'll do it.

I am still debating on how big to build her. She is drawn to 16' but I intend to build her between 16'8" (15'2" wl) and 17'3" (15'9" wl). Longer means more length wl but it also means more boat to row in seas and chop and a headwind. She is 2'10" (34") beam wl and I suspect will weight between 120-135 lbs. Her freeboard is moderate to low. What do folks think for length?

Cheers,
Clint

 

Faering

Clint,
the fareing is a nice boat, with the beam you propose,she will be tender, but probablly not excesivley so. the narrow beam is more in tune with a
Rangley boat or an Adarondac guide boat. both row oar on gunnel with a large overlap on the oar handles. Those folding riggers are a nice piece of hardware and will give you a good spread, but move you up in class against boats designed for riggers and sliding seats. It's your boat and your choice, of course, but I hate being in a class where I have no chance of winning against far superior boats. could you add some more beam and go for the longest length possible? The beautiful sweeping stem and stern of the faering diminmish the waterline length significantly and will cut into the potential speed you have built in with that narrow beam. I'm not trying to discourage you, go ahead and build her, if and when you decide she has faults, build another. Sounds like you have already come to that school of thought. Our boat is almost ready to go in the water. flotation compartments are in, the floor boards are laminated and ready to go in, the last major hurdle is to find some nice clear stock 22' long to make the inner and outer gunnels out of. With luck, we'll be test-rowing her next Sunday with only one weekend to practice for the Weir River Race in Hull, Ma on the 27th.

 

Faering

Tx for thoughts...yes I decided to call it good on these drawings and go ahead and build the damn thing! Or start lofting anyway which is what I am doing now. It is already interesting to see my lines blown up and see where the spline had a certain behavior and see that magnified at full scale.

RE: making it long to maximize lwl...I am building her to 17' which will give me a lwl of a little over 15'. The Gartside boat, BOB, a double ender, has the same lwl with a foot less overall length. So when I drew the boat I began to get away from the sweet overhangs as I tried to plumb up the ends. So, I compromised. I felt that going much longer than 17' would add weight and windage on the water for a solo-fixed seat boat.

I do want a good turn of speed but I also want to feel safe in the boat in open water. I will make some flotation that I can easily add to the underside of the rangs at the end of the boat and a bag under the middle thwart. When racing it sounds like I would have to compare my times with the other non-rigged boats if I get put in the rigged class. Are you absolutely sure about this b/c I may change my mind on this basis. Do you mean I would go off with the sliding seat boats? I am thinking of the Blackburn, Essex R race, and others.

Have you done the Southport, ME race (around the island put in by the YMCA)

Thanks.

Cheers,
Clint