Can anyone recommend a design?

I want to build a boat my wife and I can row with our whole family aboard.
It is a large family - 2 adults, 5 children (ranging from new-born twins to
8 years) and 2 dogs of 20kg each. So we need a rowing boat carrying almost
300kg of biomass plus lunch, drinks, spare clothes, towels, rain coats,
toys, outboard, first aid kit, flares, fuel, sun umbrellas, anchor, chain,
etc, etc ... That is a lot of weight but it is also a lot of feet, knees,
elbows and paws - which add up to a lot of space.

It will be a ply sharpie. I like the flat bottom for initial stability and
the ability to put a window in it (I have visions of the toddlers peering
delightedly through it at the teaming marine life below. I like the
relatively narrow waterline for efficient rowing and the avoidance of
excessive heal induced by beam seas. I like the single side-plank for ease
of construction. We don't plan to be out in bad weather but getting caught
happens to the best. The boat needs to be able to handle estuary and
coastal conditions.

John Welsford's Mollyhawk
(http://www.jwboatdesigns.co.nz/plans...index.htm#mlhk) is attractive
but, I suspect a bit small. I have Carlson's design software and could
build a boat from the offsets it produces and would do if I felt capable of
getting the design compromises right. In particular the compromise of
initial stability vs excessive, sudden wave-induced heal vs efficiency under
oars needs an experienced designer's eye to my thinking and I have never
built a boat to my own design before. John thought his Walkabout design
would be perfect and he is probably right. However, the multichine
construction is more complex than I have in mind. Furthermore, as a decked
sailing and rowing design the plans are more complex (and therefore
expensive) than I need. It seams a pity to pay for the design of a
sophisticated camp-cruiser then build it without decks, centrecase, rig,
tent etc. etc.

So I am open to suggestions for a basic flat-bottomed, single sideplank
rowing sharpie, probably about 20' long.

Paul.

Gee for that size crowd you might think of a Whitehall

"Paul Squire" ) writes:

So I am open to suggestions for a basic flat-bottomed, single sideplank
rowing sharpie, probably about 20' long.

If you have Basic on your computer you can copy a free program from my
website to try different dimensions of flat bottom sharpie skiff. Go to
www.ncf.ca/~ag384/Boats.htm and scroll down until you see the skiff
program. There are two files to copy, a text file of instructions, and a
text file containing the Basic program.

Another option is to down load the Carlson Hull program, load up one of
the sharpie examples, and use the scaling feature to play with the length
and width until you get a boat that will carry your load with sufficently
shallow draft. Its at www.carlsondesign.com.

But note in the instructions to my program what Chapelle wrote about the
underwater shape of a shrarpie skiff to keep rowing from being "heavy".

I hope some of those kids are old enough to pull on an oar.
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I usually think of a sharpie as a sailing design.
I built a 19 ft one years ago and it sailed fast but
was hard to row. It also tended to pound quite a bit in a chop.
For rowing a big boat, and one that was flat bottomed and simple to
build, I'd lean toward a dory. Though the initial stability may be a bit
less then seems comfortable, you'd be hard pressed to roll one of these
over in most conditions.
Here are links to two photos of heavy work dories.

http://www.geocities.com/boats2build2003/300dories.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/boats2build2003/300dories2.jpg

One guy who has successfully used another type of dory for rowing is
Mick Bird. If fact he has rowed across a couple of oceans with his.
I realise that his boat is custom designed for a very specific purpose,
but it may bea starting place for ideas.
http://www.goals.com/transrow/

Mabey you can find a stretched out version of a dory in plywood
somewhere like from John Gardner or somebody. Then again, why not build
a real one using planks instead of plywood? The real ones are still
being made from white pine.
Of course anything as large as you are looking for would have to
be trailered rather than car topped. As soon as you get big enough to
trailer, the weight becomes somewhat less of an issue and my thought
would be to go toward beefy rather than light weight.


SteveJ

Paul Squire wrote:
Can anyone recommend a design?

I want to build a boat my wife and I can row with our whole family aboard.
It is a large family - 2 adults, 5 children (ranging from new-born twins to
8 years) and 2 dogs of 20kg each. So we need a rowing boat carrying almost
300kg of biomass plus lunch, drinks, spare clothes, towels, rain coats,
toys, outboard, first aid kit, flares, fuel, sun umbrellas, anchor, chain,
etc, etc ... That is a lot of weight but it is also a lot of feet, knees,
elbows and paws - which add up to a lot of space.

It will be a ply sharpie. I like the flat bottom for initial stability and
the ability to put a window in it (I have visions of the toddlers peering
delightedly through it at the teaming marine life below. I like the
relatively narrow waterline for efficient rowing and the avoidance of
excessive heal induced by beam seas. I like the single side-plank for ease
of construction. We don't plan to be out in bad weather but getting caught
happens to the best. The boat needs to be able to handle estuary and
coastal conditions.

John Welsford's Mollyhawk
(http://www.jwboatdesigns.co.nz/plans...index.htm#mlhk) is attractive
but, I suspect a bit small. I have Carlson's design software and could
build a boat from the offsets it produces and would do if I felt capable of
getting the design compromises right. In particular the compromise of
initial stability vs excessive, sudden wave-induced heal vs efficiency under
oars needs an experienced designer's eye to my thinking and I have never
built a boat to my own design before. John thought his Walkabout design
would be perfect and he is probably right. However, the multichine
construction is more complex than I have in mind. Furthermore, as a decked
sailing and rowing design the plans are more complex (and therefore
expensive) than I need. It seams a pity to pay for the design of a
sophisticated camp-cruiser then build it without decks, centrecase, rig,
tent etc. etc.

So I am open to suggestions for a basic flat-bottomed, single sideplank
rowing sharpie, probably about 20' long.

Paul.

let me get this straight... you're planning to row a boat that's carrying
300kg of people plus their gear?

may i suggest you reconsider and look at getting a nice little outboard or
at least an electric trolling motor..

hugh


"Paul Squire" wrote in message
...
Can anyone recommend a design?

I want to build a boat my wife and I can row with our whole family aboard.
It is a large family - 2 adults, 5 children (ranging from new-born twins
to
8 years) and 2 dogs of 20kg each. So we need a rowing boat carrying
almost
300kg of biomass plus lunch, drinks, spare clothes, towels, rain coats,
toys, outboard, first aid kit, flares, fuel, sun umbrellas, anchor, chain,
etc, etc ... That is a lot of weight but it is also a lot of feet, knees,
elbows and paws - which add up to a lot of space.

It will be a ply sharpie. I like the flat bottom for initial stability
and
the ability to put a window in it (I have visions of the toddlers peering
delightedly through it at the teaming marine life below. I like the
relatively narrow waterline for efficient rowing and the avoidance of
excessive heal induced by beam seas. I like the single side-plank for
ease
of construction. We don't plan to be out in bad weather but getting
caught
happens to the best. The boat needs to be able to handle estuary and
coastal conditions.

John Welsford's Mollyhawk
(http://www.jwboatdesigns.co.nz/plans...index.htm#mlhk) is
attractive
but, I suspect a bit small. I have Carlson's design software and could
build a boat from the offsets it produces and would do if I felt capable
of
getting the design compromises right. In particular the compromise of
initial stability vs excessive, sudden wave-induced heal vs efficiency
under
oars needs an experienced designer's eye to my thinking and I have never
built a boat to my own design before. John thought his Walkabout design
would be perfect and he is probably right. However, the multichine
construction is more complex than I have in mind. Furthermore, as a
decked
sailing and rowing design the plans are more complex (and therefore
expensive) than I need. It seams a pity to pay for the design of a
sophisticated camp-cruiser then build it without decks, centrecase, rig,
tent etc. etc.

So I am open to suggestions for a basic flat-bottomed, single sideplank
rowing sharpie, probably about 20' long.

Paul.

hugh says:

let me get this straight... you're planning to row a boat that's carrying
300kg of people plus their gear?

That's only 3 reasonable adults plus soakage. ;-)
Not that painful with a good Whitehall-style boat beneath you. With a
flattie.....

Almost half of that weight will be rowing (i.e.; both adults). I'm certain
it's feasible in the right boat.

"hugh" wrote in message
...
let me get this straight... you're planning to row a boat that's carrying
300kg of people plus their gear?

may i suggest you reconsider and look at getting a nice little outboard or
at least an electric trolling motor..

hugh

Too complex to build.

"Brian Combs" wrote in message
news
Gee for that size crowd you might think of a Whitehall

Are unreasonable adults heavier or lighter?
;-)

"Stephen Baker" wrote
hugh says:
let me get this straight... you're planning to row a boat that's carrying
300kg of people plus their gear?

That's only 3 reasonable adults plus soakage. ;-)
Not that painful with a good Whitehall-style boat beneath you. With a
flattie.....

No... it's 2 adults, 5 kids, two dogs, plus a long list of gear. that's what
he said in the original post. there's no way in the world that will all fit
in a 17' whitehall style rowboat. to have a narrow boat carry that lot
you'd need 20+ feet, or a shorter boat with a big beam. in either case,
rowing is going to be a LOT of work, especially since he wants a boat that
can deal with potentially rough coastal conditions. you're not getting me
off any coast i know with 7 people and 2 dogs and a bunch of gear in any
whitehall style boat i've ever seen.....

hugh


"Stephen Baker" wrote in message
...
hugh says:

let me get this straight... you're planning to row a boat that's carrying
300kg of people plus their gear?

That's only 3 reasonable adults plus soakage. ;-)
Not that painful with a good Whitehall-style boat beneath you. With a
flattie.....