Catamaran Rowboat

New member. I am building a 13 foot catamaran rowboat. I am wondering if anyone has done something similar. I am familiar with materials and have a good design. I was wondering how people with a similar small boat feel about it's stability, safety, and handling.

 

Have you worked out the oar arrangement including oar length and where the oarlocks will be located?

 

Look on Duckworks, there is a guy with two plans.
There are several threads here or on Woodenboat that show at least 1/2 dozen including mine.
There is a commercially offered rotamolded plastic one.

It's not real unless there are pictures - please.

 

Yes. I feel confident about the oar arrangement.

 

I saw your pictures. My boat will be 13 ft long and about 5 feet wide. The pontoons will be 8 inches wide.
Does your wife like the multihull rowboat?
Is it stable?
Can it handle being rowed in a chop or in the surf?
I will post pictures in about a week.
Thank you for steering me towards Duckworks and Woodenboat.

 

Hi Richard, great to see people exploring the catamaran for rowing. There has been surprisingly little development in this area, indeed in displacement style catamaran dinghys at all. I have designed a range of dinghys that are primarily aimed at the tender role for larger vessels however there has been a great deal of interest from the boating community in general in this concept. I am surprised given the amount of interest in these dinghys that there is not more designs of this type available. Like everything else in boats there are compromises to be made however after nearly 9 years using the magic carpet 3.5 I could not go back to the old style mono dinghy, even though it has both its merits and afficionados in spades, I find my dinghy meets all my needs fairly well with little need for any compromise whatsoever. Goodluck with your build I hope you enjoy as much success in your endeavours as i have. I have attached a link to my design, maybe there is some design inspiration there for you.
Cheers Craig

 

Craig,that is impressive!

 

The boat is very stable.
However, it was rowed on a lake, never in heavy waves, and I doubt it would work well since it has so little freeboard, including the height of the heels and butt above water.
Initially, the first one had completely round bottom hulls, with the stems just coming down to the water. It was uncontrollabe, it would turn left or right randomly after 2 or 3 strokes.
I put a fixed skeg hanging off the stern. That made it go straight, but then it was hard to turn.
Then I cut down the size of the skeg until it held course, but could still be turned.
After that it was a pleasure to row. Even too heavy (50 #) it was very easy to get to speed, carried the speed between strokes, and showed an extremely small wake. Which you could see since you are facing backwards.
I did design my wifes boat to have about 1 1/2" of the stem in the water, fore and aft. This made it good for course keeping, easy to turn, and removed the skeg which was a pain for launching and retrieving.
The only problem is that there is a relatively narrow total weight which will keep the stems immersed correctly. Too little weight and they have less immersion. If it's too little you could get where it won't hold course.
The 4" freeboard means someone heavier sinks it too much. My wife is 125#. My son at 185# sinks it to the decks, making it submarine with any waves. It also was difficult to turn with my son. I can't get on it.

I suggest you make a fixed skeg, which is retractable for transport.

The boat does not get used much because the "racer" type seating is not comfortable. There is no place to rest your feet, except where you push on the "rigger". No back rest to take a break. No place to carry anything, like a drink. Not very "practical" for anything besides going down the lake at a good clip.

 

I second that, in case you haven't seen it, look at The Glider offered at duckworksbbs.com.