Fast rowboat inspired by Monument River Wherry and the Drake Rowboats

[Clinton B Chase]

I have been burning mid night oil working on a personal project - a new fixed seat rowboat that is a hybrid of Jon Aborn's Monument River Wherry and my Drake rowboats.
I have a great series in the Drake line up, why design another boat?
My requirement is a fast, dedicated fixed seater with just enough capacity for one rower and a bit of gear for spirited rowing and some day long adventures, particularly island circumnavigations here on the coast of Maine and some river exploring inland.
A couple key specs were: max 16' waterline but narrow (she is sitting at 27.5" waterline beam on DWL which is set for 285lbs). Enough flare to keep the chop out; narrow flat bottom for standing up on a beach; very light - this should be no more than 68 lbs but hopefully 65 or less with careful use of materials. It will likely be built over two bulkheads and a midship frame of 6mm ply laminated x2 and the rest molds. The bottom will be 6mm Okoume and first two planks 4mm and they will be tacked and taped with 6oz glass cut on a the bias. The sheer is 4mm and will have a lapped joint. Beam to outside of plank is 44.5". Should allow 8.5' oars with some hand overlap. A public thank you to Jon Aborn for his involvement. I'm pumped.
Here is bow perspective of model

And stern: the sharp exit should help her track well


(edited to add: of course I will be modeling everything else: this is just version 9 - possibly the final hull model....maybe)

[David G]

Re: Fast rowboat inspired by Monument River Wherry and the Drake Rowboats

Maybe. <G>

What are you seeing that might be improved? Given your design brief, it looks like you're there... but I haven't stared at it, or seen the rest of the renderings.

Not even a vestigial keel for tracking purposes? What looks like a fairly flat bottom will take care of that, you reckon?

[rgthom]

Re: Fast rowboat inspired by Monument River Wherry and the Drake Rowboats

Looks lovely Clint. I still have the Raceboat plans and that would be my choice for the mission. Slide seat is the only way I personally can maintain day long rows, my legs are stronger than my injured back. A couple feel longer than 16 should be quicker, no? For light, narrow, low freeboard boats taken offshore I have had a couple of incidents, and would really be comfortable these days only if there was a way to keep the water out (fabric decks?) or drain it fast (open transom).
- Rick

[john welsford]

Re: Fast rowboat inspired by Monument River Wherry and the Drake Rowboats

I have been burning mid night oil working on a personal project - a new fixed seat rowboat that is a hybrid of Jon Aborn's Monument River Wherry and my Drake rowboats.
I have a great series in the Drake line up, why design another boat?
My requirement is a fast, dedicated fixed seater with just enough capacity for one rower and a bit of gear for spirited rowing and some day long adventures, particularly island circumnavigations here on the coast of Maine and some river exploring inland.
A couple key specs were: max 16' waterline but narrow (she is sitting at 27.5" waterline beam on DWL which is set for 285lbs). Enough flare to keep the chop out; narrow flat bottom for standing up on a beach; very light - this should be no more than 68 lbs but hopefully 65 or less with careful use of materials. It will likely be built over two bulkheads and a midship frame of 6mm ply laminated x2 and the rest molds. The bottom will be 6mm Okoume and first two planks 4mm and they will be tacked and taped with 6oz glass cut on a the bias. The sheer is 4mm and will have a lapped joint. Beam to outside of plank is 44.5". Should allow 8.5' oars with some hand overlap. A public thank you to Jon Aborn for his involvement. I'm pumped.
Here is bow perspective of model

And stern: the sharp exit should help her track well


(edited to add: of course I will be modeling everything else: this is just version 9 - possibly the final hull model....maybe)

That looks very sweet, having moved back ashore, and by a lake ( actually a whole series of Lakes, check out the area around Rotorua New Zealand) I decided to sell my very well worn SEI, I'd left her sat upside down on sawhorses in a boatyard which had given me a promise to look after her. I went back a few months later to find her badly damaged, so much so, and I was so annoyed that I accepted an offer that covered the replacement cost of the rig, the fittings and the oars.
So, being close to some very nice lakes, I'm keen to get back rowing, and my next build, once the current one is finished will be a rowing boat. I'm thinking of a classic 6 or 7 planks a side wherry with a transom and a little bit of rocker in the bottom to make her easier to steer in waves ( when I take her over to the salty stuff an hour away).

Very nice to see that others are wanting to get out rowing in a nice boat that will slide along easily.

John Welsford

[Clinton B Chase]

Re: Fast rowboat inspired by Monument River Wherry and the Drake Rowboats

Thank you John - I am excited about it - dreaming of all the islands to row around here in Maine and lakes to traverse. Sorry to here about your SEI - really frustrating when yards don't treat their customer's boats like they are their own. I've always felt that is the only way to run a yard and I feel the same when I ship a boat - it's kitted just like I would want to build my own and the customer experience has to be positive otherwise why do it. Will you draw yourself a wherry? I assume so...incidentally Jon A. called his double ender a Wherry. I am not sure what to call this boat, yet. A similar boat, the Atlantic 17, is a nice name because they don't attach a type to it, like 'dory' or 'wherry' etc. It is nice to see people want to get out an row, fixed- or sliding-seat. We are wrapping up a project on another 14'4 rowing skiff that is going to go really nice. good luck!

[Clinton B Chase]

Re: Fast rowboat inspired by Monument River Wherry and the Drake Rowboats

Looks lovely Clint. I still have the Raceboat plans and that would be my choice for the mission. Slide seat is the only way I personally can maintain day long rows, my legs are stronger than my injured back. A couple feel longer than 16 should be quicker, no? For light, narrow, low freeboard boats taken offshore I have had a couple of incidents, and would really be comfortable these days only if there was a way to keep the water out (fabric decks?) or drain it fast (open transom).
- Rick

Thanks Rick - the Drake raceboat will work well...forget if you have the 18 or 20 but with a foredeck they will take care of you. This one I think will have decks on the ends made from 3mm ply coming back to bulkheads. Longer is faster but also require a bit more power but you will be on a slide so you can move a light 18 or 20 along fine. Nice thing about the DRB's is that you sit in the boat rather than "on" it - there is a shell around you and you can move around in it and it keeps the sea outside th eboat.

[Clinton B Chase]

Re: Fast rowboat inspired by Monument River Wherry and the Drake Rowboats

Maybe. <G>

What are you seeing that might be improved? Given your design brief, it looks like you're there... but I haven't stared at it, or seen the rest of the renderings.

Not even a vestigial keel for tracking purposes? What looks like a fairly flat bottom will take care of that, you reckon?

David - at this point I am looking at the hydrostatics and making decisions based on those data to finalize hull form. It looks right so it probably is right.
These flat bottoms are tricky - they tend to drift a bit if not trimmed correctly. The Herreshoff-Gardner Rowboat was notorious for this - one minute you're cooking along as fast as you have ever rowed and the next second the aft end starts drifting off track. One thing I am looking at on this is the shape of the bottom aft and the dynamics of the water as it exits the hull...if I get it right I may not need a skeg. But one can always be added on the basis of sea trials.

[John hartmann]

Re: Fast rowboat inspired by Monument River Wherry and the Drake Rowboats

Clint, that is a very pretty boat. I was unfamiliar with the Monument River wherry, so went looking around and found an image of one built a decade or so ago. It shows the end decks you mentioned:
F1DE7EA3-60FB-44BF-B6CA-5BED7C87EF66.jpg
and your lovely Drake, in case any readers are unfamiliar with her:
B75619EC-BAE7-40F0-A081-4E57429C14CF.jpg
Keeping the new boat light will make her an easy keeper, in terms of car topping. Your fusion looks likely to be a formidable performer. I agree with David on your design progress. I’m excited to see her on the way, and look forward to hearing your impressions with sea trials. Well done!

[rbgarr]

Re: Fast rowboat inspired by Monument River Wherry and the Drake Rowboats

Gartside has something similar in mind built in tortured plywood as an option: https://store.gartsideboats.com/coll...iff-design-268

[adktripper]

Re: Fast rowboat inspired by Monument River Wherry and the Drake Rowboats

Following

[john welsford]

Re: Fast rowboat inspired by Monument River Wherry and the Drake Rowboats

David - at this point I am looking at the hydrostatics and making decisions based on those data to finalize hull form. It looks right so it probably is right.
These flat bottoms are tricky - they tend to drift a bit if not trimmed correctly. The Herreshoff-Gardner Rowboat was notorious for this - one minute you're cooking along as fast as you have ever rowed and the next second the aft end starts drifting off track. One thing I am looking at on this is the shape of the bottom aft and the dynamics of the water as it exits the hull...if I get it right I may not need a skeg. But one can always be added on the basis of sea trials.

I've done two flat bottomed double enders, both combination sail and oar boats. The first one was fairly symmetrical in her shape, and needed a lot more skeg area than I liked in order to get her to track straight but in order to create something that would do better, the second one was markedly more full in the bottom panel aft, and finer forward, and the lowest point of the rocker moved aft some, and she tracked like she was on rails, even in a following sea. The shorter slightly steeper run seemed to help a lot, and surprisingly the second boat made a flatter wake which suggests less energy lost.

John Welsford

[Yeadon]

Re: Fast rowboat inspired by Monument River Wherry and the Drake Rowboats

Thread drift alert ... I would be interested building one of the burlier Drakes as a truck-topping SOF fixed seat camp cruiser.

[heimlaga]

Re: Fast rowboat inspired by Monument River Wherry and the Drake Rowboats

I've done two flat bottomed double enders, both combination sail and oar boats. The first one was fairly symmetrical in her shape, and needed a lot more skeg area than I liked in order to get her to track straight but in order to create something that would do better, the second one was markedly more full in the bottom panel aft, and finer forward, and the lowest point of the rocker moved aft some, and she tracked like she was on rails, even in a following sea. The shorter slightly steeper run seemed to help a lot, and surprisingly the second boat made a flatter wake which suggests less energy lost.

John Welsford

Around here (western coast of Finland and northern half of the east coast of sweden) it has for centuries been rekoned that a doubleender whose stern is a wee bit thinner than her bow tracks better in a seaway and isn't driven under with the bow as easily at a symmetrical boat or a boat with finer bow. This concerns boats built with a normal T-shaped keel. A boat with a thin bow and full stern is easily driven under and sinks.
You are a boat designer which I am not so I would just want to know how this ties in with what you wrote. I am trying to understand.

[Ben Fuller]

Re: Fast rowboat inspired by Monument River Wherry and the Drake Rowboats

I've been spending a bunch of time in Adirondack guideboat land. Flat bottom, check, 16' check, 60 lbs check. But they are round sided with a bunch of flare to keep the water out. With modern materials, they get built as strippers, some with laminated frames some without. Paul Neill decimated the troops for years in the Blackburn. They use the skeg effect of the stems to keep things on a straight line. You do need stern down trim. I'd use unpinned oars for open water. You didn't spec you wanted to plywood plank the boat....... There are plans for 4 or 5 available and there are some kits......

[john welsford]

Re: Fast rowboat inspired by Monument River Wherry and the Drake Rowboats

Around here (western coast of Finland and northern half of the east coast of sweden) it has for centuries been rekoned that a doubleender whose stern is a wee bit thinner than her bow tracks better in a seaway and isn't driven under with the bow as easily at a symmetrical boat or a boat with finer bow. This concerns boats built with a normal T-shaped keel. A boat with a thin bow and full stern is easily driven under and sinks.
You are a boat designer which I am not so I would just want to know how this ties in with what you wrote. I am trying to understand.

I think the main difference is that I put the deepest part of the rocker further aft, that makes the boat squat slightly at speed which also tends to lift the bow a little. It also makes the boat less prone to pitching, particularly under sail.
The other benefit is that I can get a higher prismatic C/f which makes the boat able to run at a higher speed length ratio, albiet at the expense of slightly more resistance at lower speeds, which is not an issue as the resistance curve there is pretty low anyway.

John Welsford