Purpose built sliding seat lightweight open water rowboat for 70/48 – 2019.
I designed and built it between December 2018 and April 2019. All the woodwork was done in the freezing cold of Dec/Jan under a covered roof structure at home. Joe Greenly of Redfish Kayaks allowed me to use his heated workshop to do all the glass/epoxy work Feb/Mar/Apr thankfully! The build process took a little over 300 hours. Then I had to build a trailer to transport it!
Construction method stitch & glue hard chine 3mm marine ply covered with 6oz cloth/epoxy exterior, 4oz cloth/epoxy inside.
Rowing station and oar wing my own design constructed from 19mm marine ply and covered with 6oz cloth/epoxy. Foot stretchers home made design plus plastic hinge plates from Concept 2.
Carbon fiber sliding seat and rails from Pocock shells Everett, carbon fiber oars from Concept 2.
I weighed the boat complete as described above, before launch, at 105 lbs.
Launch date April 7th 2019. I logged about 115 miles of rowing training for 70/48 with my longest stint of 31 miles. I also practiced during all kinds of weather, sea state and tide conditions. The hull proved itself by keeping me safe and never took a drop of water over the gunwhales. Seems like I finally got something right!