Skin-on-frame rowboat
If I had the ability (and workshop space) to build a boat, I might build one like this: the skin-on-frame Adirondack guide boat. Doesn’t it look fantastic? It would be perfect for puttering about in the waters around Gabriola.
Filed in boating,Gabriola Island 2 Comments so far
2 Responses to “Skin-on-frame rowboat”
cheryl on 30 Aug 2010 at 6:41 am #
I don’t like how low in the water is sits one good wave and you’d be swamped. though it looks a lot lighter to carry then our big green canoe. That boat would be ok on a glass smooth lake. But on our waters when you never know what the swells will like around the next point.. no thanks. Oh and also it you were to hit a dead head in the water or if you weren’t paying attention a sharp rock would be a disaster. Sorry if there are too many negatives on this one. Oh yah and looking at the pic again what about life jackets and the fact they are wearing heavy sweaters they’d sink like stink. I guess they don’t plan to go to far. Seams like a lot of work on a boat if they don’t plan on really using it for a major or serious outing.
Andrea on 30 Aug 2010 at 4:55 pm #
The boats themselves, both the frames and the way the light shines through, are very pretty. The shape of them reminds me of the elven boats in the Lord of the Rings movie, you know the part where Frodo and the fellowship of the ring are paddling that river?
Also made me think of this exhibit on Gabriola last year…
http://karencurry.ca/Vessels/vessels.html
But – um, I think I might be with Cheryl on this one as far as the practicality of the hull design and the materials. I’m easily distracted – and with a moment of inattention and some bad luck you could be sinking fast in one of those boats. And yet, lots of cultures around the world have used skin boats. Maybe the threat of destroying the hull focuses the mind? Or maybe they just sank a lot of boats. Years ago I once used a canvas canoe which my friend who owned it considered to be a great lake canoe (despite several patches so obviously his mind wasn’t sufficiently focused on preserving his hull from danger; on the other hand I don’t think he’d ever actually *sunk* it). Is canvas comparable to skin in toughness? What about birch bark, another traditional canoe material?