Skin-on-frame row/sail canoe version 2, impressions:.
For those who haven’t been following along this project was an attempt to make a small row/sailboat using my super easy canoe building system. I was curious how far a free bent system would scale up and how the shaping formula would perform at larger scales. The boat is 15’4” long, 39 inches wide and 14.5 inches deep.
Overall it ended up being about an 85lb , 85 hour, 1400 dollar project but only 60% of each of those numbers is the actual boat. This is my biggest gripe about little SOF sailers, the rig pushes it from a fast light, elegant project into a cumbersome hassle and there is almost no way around it. The essence of the experience I try to provide to people is a boat you can knock out in a couple weeks for a few hundred dollars, throw on the car by yourself, and go boating. That’s a kayak, that’s a canoe, that’s a small rowboat, that MIGHT be a canoe with a really simple sail. But I’m not sure you can get there with oars AND a sail, which is really frustrating because I love to row and sail.
How does this one handle though? It’s a decent little rower, more stable than a guideboat and barely slower. Big enough for two people and camping gear in protected waters. I put a lot of work into the rowing geometry and can really feel the difference of having everything just right.
It sails well enough that if I put the time in to work out the leeboard and put a rudder on it it would actually be a decent little sailing canoe if you like sailing canoes. With two people and a 12 mph wind, it slips along nicely at 5mph. I generally get annoyed in tiny boats with all the sail trappings and this one is no different.
Conclusion: a decent little 60lb rowboat with a bulletproof 12oz skin and VHMW skid rails for dragging down boat ramps. Not my personal taste in things that sail but it does sail well. This boat is for sale for $1500 just because I can’t have boats piling up while I work out designs. (SOLD.) Will post details and more photos tomorrow.
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