Finally – it’s done. The past many months have been dedicated to designing and building the first coastal cruising rowboat that’s truly practical.
Row hard, drop your anchor, and relax through the night
It’s not easy by any means. The problem is a human only generates a fraction of a horsepower. If you make a big heavy boat with large cabins and abundant wetted area it will be unwieldy and unseaworthy. The unseaworthiness is attributed to the fact that it is quickly overpowered by sudden strong winds and can be blown into a lee shore. Additionally, rowing progress will be poor in all but calm conditions or tailwinds.
What about ocean rowboats, you may wonder? Don’t people cross oceans in big heavy bulbous vessels? Actually, ocean rowboats make extremely dangerous coastal cruisers. They are only safe when out at sea, far away from any hazards of land. And from a performance perspective, they only do well in calm conditions or with tail winds. This is why every ocean rowing route is chosen to go with prevailing winds and currents. With coastal rowing however, we have to deal with rocks, contrary winds, and restrictive waterways.
To make a rowing boat that could have the comfort of a small cruising sailboat, yet offer the performance of a small sleek sea kayak (in all kinds of weather conditions), we really had to focus on miniaturization. The cabin had to be low, the boat light, and the camping accessories small and stowable.
The goal was to have a boat that could row well, yet be a comfortable home when anchored. It needed to be seaworthy enough to voyage in gale-force conditions, be unsinkable, and still be pretty. After taking the boat on her maiden camping voyage last week, we were pleased that it performed just as we’d hoped.
The boat is 19’ long, 175 lbs fully rigged.
You can check out the pics here: Camper rowboat pics
Currently we’re going full steam ahead with our expedition planning (three projects this summer) so we won’t have plans available until the winter of 2011.
For those inquiring about the wherry , we’ve created the basic hull, but won’t have time to finish it until getting back from our expeditions. Again, it should be ready in the winter of 2011 with plans available shortly after.
Tags: 18 Comments
Absolutely beautiful boat. Great now I’m gonna have to decide which one to build ! Do you by chance happen to include a build dvd with your kits?
Great looking design that looks to be well thought out and very functional. Look forward seeing the plans when they become available.
Well, I can’t seem to get on the forum to thank you for answering my question about cruising rowboat information so I shall do it here.
I must say that It looks absolutely great. There are so many details to drink in I don’t even have any questions yet!
This cruising rowboat is a brilliant idea. It has caught my fancy because one day I would like to mimic my grandfather who, in 1928, went from Detroit, Michigan to New Orleans, Louisiana with his brother in a 19′ canoe. I can see that this cruising rowboat could serve in that capacity quite nicely.
Nice idea and execution. How does she sit on the flats at low tide ? Here on Cape Cod, we have 10′ + tides, and sandy bottom, so a boat that sits upright when the tide goes out is a big plus.
She settles quite nicely on the flat. The bottom in V-d but it flattens out almost completely in the middle. If you have the pontoons out on either side, it will definitely stay level.
very nice. plans next winter. perfect!!
Exactly the boat i dreamed about. let me know when the plans are for sale.
I realy like this boat, I will be ordering plans once your store is reopened. Good luck in all your adventures
Look forward to seeing the plans as I would like to build one. Meantime would like to know what the beam of the boat is.
I’ll be watching your store for when the plans/kits are available. I will build and live on this boat as soon as it’s ready.
Wow, wonderful. It looks like I finally found my dream boat….
Where would I store extra oars? The ocean boats have them on the sides – and that also helps to stay in if the knocked by the wave. Is that correct?
Also, what was the roughest condition tested?
What would happen if she does capsize while I am sleeping inside? If she can’t right herself, then what?
Thanks! keep up awesome work. Can’t wait to see your wherry….
This is a magnificent achievement – designing and building it yourself, I mean. I bought a pack of 500 plans from this site: http://boatplansv.com, hoping to build a seagoing rowboat, but the pack had nothing like this. Well done & good luck!
A wonderful design for wandering the shores of the Great Lakes. Finished bright topsides it would make the plastic boat captains more than a bit envious. I am looking forward to the plans.
Wonder who will be first to cross an ocean solo in one! Great design.
Very interesting boat! It’s suprisingly similar to an 18′ LOA, 42″ beam sailing/rowing/cruising boat I’m currently (slowly) building. I’ll send you drawings if I can figure out how to do so. I suspect mine will row rather similarly to your cruiser,. I know Colin is also a sailor. Have you considered incorporating that? Mine should be a fast and fun sailboat as well as rowing cruiser. The hull shape is quite similar to the IC 10 racing canoes. I’m making mine of composite sandwich with CoreCell core, so it should be lighter.
Wow – what a beautiful design. Are there any semi-completed boats available for purchase? (Or at least the hull?) I would love to modify one of your designs for a project I am undertaking (please see the attached website) that is looking for a new hull design. I would love to turn one of these into the base for my pedal-powered expedition boat (with full credit to Angus Rowboats for the design, of course). Send me an email with your thoughts…
We have been looking forward to viewing the plans for the sleeper rower. Please provide an update on progress of market ready plans.