Watercraft Rowing - What Makes A Good Rowboat

What Makes A Good Rowboat

Many considerations go into selecting a good rowboat. A well designed rowboat will perform well in trying conditions. The classic shapes of rowboats reflect an evolution of hundreds of years of trial and error to get a good shape. Some factors to be considered are waterline length, speed, carrying capacity, stability, windage, weight, seaworthiness, cost, waterline beam, the fullness or fineness of the ends and trim .

Design details are a compromise between competing factors. If the waterline beam (width) is too narrow the boat will be tender and the occupant at risk of falling out, if the beam is too wide the boat will be slow and have more resistance to waves. If the freeboard (height of the gunwhale above the waterline) is too high then windage will be high and as a result the boat will be caught by the wind and the rower will not be able to control the boat in high winds. If the freeboard is too low, water will enter the boat through waves. If the boat is designed for one person then only a single rowing position is required. If the rower is to carry a passenger at the stern then the boat will be stern heavy and trim will be incorrect. To correct this a weight can be added in the bow, alternatively the boat can supply a second rowing position further forward for this purpose. For a boat to have three separate thwarts and have adequate space for each occupant then the boat has to be of a certain minimum size. An 8feet pram dinghy can carry 4 passengers on 3 thwarts in flat seas. The ideal size of a good row boat intended for distance rowing is 5 m (15–16 ft).

Overall beam (width) is important. If the rowlocks are too close together the oars will be difficult to use. If the rowlocks are too far apart then the boat will be overly large and rowing will be inefficient, wasting a rower's effort. Sometimes on narrow, faster rowboats for protected waters outriggers are added to increase rowlock separation. Many traditional rowboats have a beam of about 135 cm (4.5 ft). The Finnish Savonian type rowboat is very narrow and fast, having very sharp bow and stern, with beam around 110 cm (3.6 ft), but also dangerously tender and prone to capsize easily in unexperienced hands.

Many old rowboats have very full ends (blunt ends), these may appear at first glance to be bad design as it looks slow, not fast. However a full ended rowboat will rise to a sea and not dig in as a finer hulled boat might do, thus a compromise needs to be made between the factors of speed and of seaworthiness. This style of rowboat was designed to carry a bigger load and the full sections gave far more displacement. Also older boats were often very heavily constructed compared to their modern counterpart, hence weighed far more. A rowboat designed as a tender carrying occupants to a boat on a mooring might tend to be short, whilst a rowboat for use on rivers and to travel long distances might be long and narrow.