Sean Crowley's "FINN AGAIN" a £2,000 Atlantic Row Boat

MarkOHara · Apr 8, 2025

There is for an up and coming documentary about the great life and tragic end of Sean Crowley.
He rowed the Atlantic twice, east to west with company, and then in 1988 he successfully did it alone in a boat he designed and made himself for the approximate sum of £2,000 and became the youngest person at that time to do so.

In 2021 his life was cut tragically short by a DUI hit and run in Sheffield, England.

I have been asked if I could update and digitize his plans for the sake of the documentary and I was sent copies of his original drawings on graph paper and some of his build photographs.

I for one am not familiar with his boat building method, is that some form of a flexible foam core he's laying down?

Also it looks like the introduction of a chine into the build, post design, as the chine in the build photos are not evident on his drawings. Why the change do you think?

I post them here out of interest, and I would certainly love to hear your opinions?

Also there is a model to be made, they'll be needing it by mid-May for a memorial plaque laying ceremony.
If you know of anyone in the UK or Ireland that can undertake that task please let me know.

MarkOHara · Apr 10, 2025

The progress so far...

Skip Johnson · Apr 10, 2025

It looks like the foam is airex and was popular at the time as it was slightly flexible which purportedly made for a more forgiving hull when impacted. I've no personal experience with airex but that's what I've read.

I do have some experience with not building exactly what I've designed both yours truly and clients ;-) I can't speak for my clients but I've deviated from original plans for a couple of reasons. First is things aren't going together exactly as I thought and something has to change to get things to fit together. Second is something comes to mind after starting construction. I can't speak for Sean but do notice that the bottom is flattened out a bit from from the original elliptical shape. That plus the 'knuckle' at about the waterline suggest some concern about stability.

You might check with the AYRS regarding someone to make a model.

Best wishes and look forward to seeing the documentary.

MarkOHara · Apr 11, 2025

Skip Johnson said:
It looks like the foam is airex and was popular at the time as it was slightly flexible which purportedly made for a more forgiving hull when impacted. I've no personal experience with airex but that's what I've read.

Thanks Skip!
I have looked up Airex and it looks as rigid as the rest of the PU and PVC foams I see in mainstream boat building today. But the foam type in these photographs looks a lot more flexible almost like an insulating foam rather than a structural foam. That is of course unless that is the type of foam that was used when foam core was in it's infancy? I rarely get to say this these days, but that was a bit before my time!

With regards to the soft chine I take what you say onboard, similar to cross section design in sea kayaks. Round bilge rides over the swells easily but are quite tippy. hard chines are pretty solid and don't tip so much but take a pounding. It looks like Sean introduced a modification of a soft chine to acquire the characteristics of both.

MarkOHara · Apr 11, 2025

On the other end:
An amature designer and boat builder accomplished something the Titanic did not, crossing the Atlantic.
It's a shame he didn't get to write the book he spoke of.
RTE interview archive: Londoner Rows Atlantic https://www.rte.ie/archives/collections/news/21289740-londoner-rows-atlantic/

montero · Apr 12, 2025

It looks like some kind of glass fibre. Maybe someone will recognize exactly what it was. It probably wasn't intended for boat building. By cutting costs you can find alternative materials.

Sean Crowley's "FINN AGAIN" a £2,000 Atlantic Row Boat

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