The wherry is finished (perhaps)

This is my wherry just finished, or maybe not finished yet. I started planning this boat about a year ago, and in the mean time built an oxford shell (recreational rowing skiff) to get some practice and a north bay kayak (to give me a boat to use while setting up the wherry and the skiff). If you are interested in these other boats, here they are : Flickr: ArronsBoats' Photostream .

Construction details are stitch and glue hull. Self design (with ideas liberally stolen from everywhere). 4mm meranti marine ply for hull and 12mm marine ply transom and bulkheads. Hull is fully glassed with 3oz cloth, then painted. Interior is epoxy coated then marine varnish. I was on a pretty strict cost, weight and time budget for this boat. Cost worked out to be a little under $500 and weight is 22.5kg. Length is 16.5 ft.

Its designed to allow sliding seat rowing for one person, fixed seat rowing for one person on a seat that runs between the two thrawts, or fixed seat rowing for 2 people.

On the water, it’s a gem. I’ve had it out a couple of times and I’m delighted with it. It’s the perfect combination of stability with enough responsiveness to make it fun. Its fast, but not nearly as fast as the oxford shell, which I think is a good thing. The truth is I don’t really like using the oxford shell much. I only have a narrow waterway on which to use it, and it covers the ground so quickly that I never get more then about 5 full strokes before I find myself careening towards a sandbank or an oyster rack or a panicky canoeist. Either it or me doesn’t seem to have a low gear, I’m not sure which it is.

more in the next post ...

Sorry to carry on a bit but this is the important bit.
Now the boat may not be finished yet. The original design (in my head) called for internal gunwhale strips (terminology ???) – the type with two layers of timber, the inner one distcontinuous and the outer one continuous. This, I felt, would provide greater rigidity by tying those bulkheads together. It would also tie the bulkheads together aesthetically by carrying the slightly high-techish, drilled-for-lightness look along the boat and deal with the rather odd look of those bulkheads just terminating in space. The other thing to be added was a small deck, 750mm long , with a small spray dodger 30mm high. I felt this would go a long way towards repelling any water that came over the bow, plus there would be a ply bulkhead from the end of the deck down to the keel giving me a small compartment for the very important storage of keys, phone etc. The problem is that due to previous tendon damage in my arms there was a strict weight budget, and 22kg is about the max I can manage to get up onto the roofracks singlehanded. I have the white oak and decking ply shaped and ready to be added, but all up it would add (guessing here) another 3kg to the boat. So I took it out for row in its current form a couple of times and it seems that though the additions would be an enhancement, there is no real compelling case for them as it seems quite rigid and dry as it is. Now I cant decide. Thoughts anyone ???

That’s my home-made drop-in rowing rig in the shot below.

cheers
Arron

Hi Arron nice boat and looks good.

I'd probably use it a bit first to work out if you need the extras- they can always be added later on. Wood is good like that. Extra weight once added seems to stay around for ever, even when its not needed.

Inwales add stiffness and also strength, drilled or not. It depends on your outwale dimensions. I suggest as a test, grab your boat at the widest point and see how far you can flex it sideways in and out.


Bill P

Well the decision called for a compromise. I added the inwhales, but using treated pine (stained) for lightness. The small deck and spray dodger I'll make as a removable version, using largely canvas.

In the unlikely event that anyone is interested, photos will be in the Woodworking Pics forum - I'll put them there so I can make my point that every woodworker should try boat building, at least once in their life.

cheers
Arron