New member here interested in rowboats

If I can get the data, I might as well analyze it. I've got to shave off a few tenths of a second so I can enter the senior Olymic rowing events.

Here is a screen capture from a video I took of Monday morning's rowing adventure. I enjoy this shot because you can see the splash from the bow wave just visible over the gunwale.

 

That bow wave height is a typical sign that you're just on the cusp of getting her up onto planing mode, just require a little more effort in the power stroke.

 

I think that MythBusters did a piece on towing a water skier with an 8 man rowing shell.

There's a lot of good information on this website, but I'm skeptical about planing rowboats.

Perhaps if you demonstrate, I could follow your technique.
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Hi Don

I row quite a bit in my 13.5ft rowboat. Generally I travel about walking pace (or a fraction more) of people on the bank of the river. I guess I am doing 5km per hour, roughly 3.5mph or a fraction slower than you. Please note that my boat is flat bottommed and unrefined, but I like it, it goes well, is seaworthy, setup time is short. In all it is a great success. I have wheels on mine, makes it easier to get onto the car, move it up beaches etc.

There are heaps and heaps of other rowboats out there than are great successes too. Looks like yours in definately one of them. I see you have low freeboard which means that your boat is less affected by windage. I had an 18ft rowboat earlier, with high sides and windage was a massive issue. I just could not control it in high winds. I would add 100kg of water just to lower it, and it was still not enough. Great boat for 2 people in open ocean, a bad rowboat for the solo rower.

Make sure you have some floatation and a good bailer with a lanyard and tie it to the boat, just in case you get a little waves coming over the sides (just bail it out). Your freeboard seems a fraction low (though still fine), so you may just might get a little water in at times. Rowing in rough weather takes more energy and I find that you tend to go via feel, sometimes you just have to trust the boat, the water outside looks rough and scary, but the boat goes well.

Probably woodenboat.com forum has more information about rowers and their boats, than here.

Planing,,, thats a joke right? I find that I can row for hours after hour after hour. Things like comfortable handgrips (i wrap cloth around mine as they are a fraction too small), protection from the sun, a good comfortable seat (not too narrow), correct angle of rowlocks, correct rowlock to rowlock distance, good oars, lubricated rowlocks, good leathers, correct thwart height etc etc.

I have found that all these things make a big difference, I have found things like waterline length a foot longer so that you travel 3 percent faster dont do a lot for me. Yes I would prefer a nice boat like you have, to the rough boat that I have, but mine goes very well. I have taken mine on 3 day trips, been on rough water at 1am and boat handled conditions very well. I have found oar weight balance very important (having enough weight inboard), I have found narrow oar blades work better in rough weather. Since you bought from a professional I assue you already have all these good features. I like a boat with a narrow bow that cuts through the waves, also I prefer a relatively narrow bottom (though 6cm wider than the first boat I built from plans)

Looks as though you have a nice boat and nice oars there. Seems your setup is pretty good (probably because you bought from a professional, as opposed to me where I did my own thing and had to learn from my mistakes)

My guess is you should be able to undertake some really long and challenging trips in a boat like that.

My point is, that your setup looks pretty good as it is. Your average speed looks good, yes getting up to hull speed is nice, but I find that easing off a bit and going at a sustainable speed that I can keep up for hours does it for me.

Unfortuantley there is no single website devoted to the hundreds of great rowboats out there. Very few websites that have articles on what features make a good rowboat. Designers who are also rowers learn these things and add them to their designs. Because you have bought off a professional you have obtained a vessel that has a lot of great features

 

Remember good seating and a foot cleat. Fine tune these. I prefer to sit with may *** on the very edge of the thwart and feet planted flat on the foot cleat.

A nice bilge pump set up is a Whale footpump imbedded into center of the foot cleat. Pump with your foot.
http://

 

I have trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time. Rowing and foot pumping at the same time could end up in disaster.

I went for a short "test row" on the lake this afternoon. Lots of wind and waves. Only 0.6 miles of rowing. It was mostly showing off to make a video clip of my "new to me" rowboat.



You can view the video clip at:

http://youtu.be/01ID8koRG20
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How long are your oars ?


Look a bit stubby to me

 

The builder supplied the oars. The pair I'm using are 8 feet long.
He supplied another pair that are 7' 6" long for the second rowing position.

I get the feeling if the oars were any longer, I would need to have outriggers like a Whitehall Tango 17.

 

nice video

gee your boat sure is long and low, definately means more speed, but would not want to take it out in too big waves, you could get some water coming in over the side

8ft is a nice length for your oars, your rowlock to rowlock distance is a bit shorter than mine (based on beam of 45 inches from website) so you cant really use longer oars. But I have to say, am impressed by how fast it goes, definately faster than my boat. I hope you have some inbuilt air or foam buoayancy, nice boat, but choose your weather window carefully, not much freeboard there. Nice boat. I like mine as I think it can deal with rougher weather, but yours is definately faster.

 

Don the video suggests that you might want to explore oarlock to seat of pants distance as well as seat height. As an ME you will surely be cognizant of such intricate but meaningful details. Long armed and tall trunked people need a different layout than smaller oarsmen.....or somewhere in between. Boat builders usually go for the middle ground which is not necessarily the best for differing physiques.

VIking North, our crusty and respected old sea dog, may have some wisdom in this regard. Also you may be able to find a pro rowing coach in your area. A bit of advice from them may be worth the time if you have any aspirations for competitive rowing.

I have not seen posts from Nordvin for quite some time but he and his partners may have some sage advice because they have been there, done that.

 

gee, I hope you do not consider those conditions rough, they look pretty tame to me, my smaller boat can handle much much much rougher conditions than that

I think my rowlock to rowlock distance is 50 inches, I like them to be a fraction further apart than possibly some other boats, my oars are about 7ft 10 inches. I have a lot of weight inboard on my oars (wood and steel), means that I dont have to expend energy balancing the weight, my energy goes into the oar stroke. Yes I am tall, (6ft 2), so I need 3ft from back of thwart to front to rear seat where I put my feet

 

I've only had the boat 5 days and I'm still learning. There is a lot of good information on this website. I just have to find it, read it, implement it, test it, etc. Thank goodness I'm retired and have nothing better to do with my time.

With respect to rough conditions, this photo was taken in my backyard on Feb. 25 of this year.



Not the best time to go for a row!

Amateur custom built wooden boats can vary from the specifications of the designer. In the case of my boat, I measured the rowlock to rowlock distance and it is 49". That is significantly greater than the 45" in the designer's specifications. The builder told me the oars were 8' long. I measured them at 7' 11- 3/4", so that checks out within 1/4" tolerance.

At 6' 4", I am in your height range. The rowing seat for single rower is fixed. The location of the oarlocks can be easily moved. They "clamp" on to the gunwale. I think the builder designed this. I'm not real happy with it because of all the wood screws. I've only rowed the boat 14 miles over the past 5 days and I've had to tighten the oarlock screws at least 4 times. That seems like a lot of maintenance. Maybe some stainless steel through bolts with ny-lock nuts for clamping would be better.



Or maybe I'm just rowing too hard.

 

I'm appreciating all the good input. I know that my boat needs to be fine tuned for my rowing style and taller than average build.
I make the easy changes first and try them out. Other things like changing the location of the rower's seat, are beyond the limits of what I want to do.

My goal is not competitive rowing in the true sense of the term. I always enjoy a challange, but I'm not planning on hiring a pro rowing coach. I want to upgrade from my previous rowing which was definitely non-competitive.



That would be the one on the right. But the inflatable dinghy is a lot more stable than my Mandarin 17.

For a good laugh, check out my dinghy rowing video clip:

http://youtu.be/tI3H7hObJv4

The fine bow entry in that inflatable dinghy is really impressive.

 

OK, yeah that looks rough to me

my boat i think could just survive it (maybe), but dont think i would make progress anywhere, cant be certain i would make it, and in no way would I choose to go out in that. I have been out in whitecaps, but nothing that rough, mine goes good in rough weather because it has heaps and heaps of flare. Just enough bottom panel width to make it relaxed and stressfree to move around, bottom panel is 6cm wider than my first boat, i think your mandarin skiff would have more waterline width, thus more stable and relaxed.

My rowlock fittings are screwed into a small piece of wood which is in turn screwed onto the gunnel, in hence it is fixed. What I do, is move my 'rear' about until I feel comfortable, but I have a very wide thwart at 13 inches, allows me to move back and forth, i am a bit embarrassed to mention it, but i sometimes get small sores on my 'rear' nothing serious, but if i row for three days or so i get them, i need padding. Sometimes after hours and hours and hours i kinda get into a zone, and dont feel anything, very few things to worry about, just keep moving, nice and steady, its a nice therapeutic feeling that is hard to describe. You may notice that i am a little paraniod about safety thus the large amount of air buoyancy compartments. Good for saftey, bad for storage space. However i just chuck all my junk in front of the thwart and forget about it. I can sleep in my boat if conditions are flat, though i have to bend my knees, sleep like a baby, the wheels work very well

my ugly unrefined rowboat,, want to swap,
http://www.tacking-outrigger.com/q7.html
despite it being unrefined,, i really like it, i have built new oars since, with more curved blades, and much more wood inboard, the wood tapers so as the oars fit in the rowlocks and dont slide out, one less thing to worry about, i use lard (animal fat) on my oar leathers, I used bricklayers string to tighten the leathers

 

"Or maybe I'm just rowing too hard. "

it is what it is ...
I found there is always that comfort zone of when your rowing a comfortable (somewhat effortless) speed. obviously weather conditions and such change things a bit. but its that happy relationship with all the conditions, ie: boat/oars/weather.
I consider it finding the "trim"/"glide ratio" of the boat.
when you find it ... its a smooth/effortless glide. not too slow and not too fast.
every boat is different. but when we find that happy pace, we know it.
I'm sure you already know this, and there's always room for the fine tuning,
but I think when it comes to rowing 'it is what it is".

enjoy