I found this cool 25’ Cruising Row Boat on Craigslist in Nordland (near Port Townsend, WA).

This beautiful cruising row boat was designed & built by Heath Snows in 1992 on Marrowstone Is. She has been rowed over 3,000 miles (a round trip from Port Townsend to Glacier Bay plus another shorter trip). This is not a daily knock-about boat. She can carry 6 months supplies & has a 30 gallon (approx) bilge water tank. It doesn’t have a sail. The hull is in very good condition but the exterior needs new fiberglass, the old glass has been removed, the hull & deck sanded clean & smooth & fully coated with epoxy. The floors need replacing & reconfiguring to your personal needs. The hull is fully symmetrical, i.e. all four quarters are identical.

Specs:
LOA; 25’ / LWL; 25’ / Draft; 6”+ / Beam @ water line; 3’ 6” / Beam @ deck; 4’ 6” / Hull depth; 18”
Hull: 5/16” Western Red Cedar bead & cove strip planked
Deck: 1/4” Western Red Cedar bead & cove strip planked
Piantedosi RowWing drop-in rowing system w / 2 pairs carbonfiber oars.
There is also a sunbrella tent that fits over the cockpit (not for use while rowing)

Other possibilities;
It would make an excellent proa or trimaran and it could be a great base for an all electric solar & battery system. If you are interested in the hull only I will negotiate on the price.

Note: “the hull is fully symmetrical”. This baby is just begging to be turned into a cool little adventure cruising proa! The imagination runs wild. I’m picturing a hybrid rowing/sailing craft - “Sail when you can, paddle when you must” would be the mantra.

What would YOU do with such excellent raw material?

That is a sweet looking shape.  It looks a bit low in the bow, and broad of beam for a proa.  But so does the Wetta Trimaran, and people are digging that.  Its all about how you set it up.  And there’s still winter left for winter projects.

It has to be worth whatever he’s asking for it.

Thanks Michael for the link!

chris

What a great find! I do like the provenance. This craft has proven itself as seaworthy.

Looks and sounds bit heavy for a proa, though. He’d want a big ama, capable of taking on a lot of ballast, and the ability to fly some sail, but still, that cargo carrying capacity is nothing to be sneered at.

With regard to the ends, I’ve never been a fan of high bows. I know that many disagree, but high bows add weight to the ends, extra windage, and finally, when the bows plunge—which they do anyway, regardless of anything—they sluff water back rather than drop it to the side.

You don’t see stuff like this on Craigslist in Fresno, CA. Heh. Must be nice to live in WA. Maybe I should move there when school’s out.

Cheers,
Rick

I’ve been inspired by the Marrowstone row boat on Craigslist. This is taking a riff on it, seeing where it could go. I agree that the BOA is a bit much for an outrigger, we don’t need hull beam for stability, only load carrying, so I cut it down from 4.5’ to 3’, with a 2’ beam waterline. Much slipperier.

This design is a 24’ row/sail, long-range adventure cruiser. It’s suitable for one or two crew. The basic idea is a muscle/sail power craft that would do well in the generally calm - but not always - Salish Sea of the Pacific Northwest. There is one rowing station - this lets one crew rest, navigate or make sandwiches, while the other rows - alternating - all the way up to Alaska and back.

Optimizing the boat for human and/or wind power raises some fun issues. Like maybe it doesn’t need to have much windward ability? If you’ve ever raced a kayak dead to windward in a Laser, you know how fast they can be - a beeline course makes up for a lot of high speed zigging and zagging. That said, an outrigger still makes good sense, providing immense stability with a very slippery hull. I wonder where the crossover windspeed would be, where sailing to windward is faster than rowing?

Details: Strip-plank hull and ama, plywood decks. BOA: 12’. Self-draining cockpit, room to sleep two, end to end. Piantedosi RowWing sliding seat unit. A pair of carbon windsurfer masts, but with easily reefed and furled sails, SA: 130 sq. ft. Newick/Brown dagger rudders. Waddya think?

Note: updated drawing on 1/13/12

Very cool, as usual.  I’m trying to think of a way to cut a chunk out of the Craig’s list boat, without shortening it too much—without luck.

Maybe your design is a good candidate for the sliding oarlocks approach of Rocat. 

The idea is that by keeping your center of mass fairly stationary, the fore and aft pitching of the boat, which is a huge source of drag, is reduced.  Instead of sliding your mass back and forth, you slide the oarlocks back and forth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQANneII82E&feature=related

Best,
Chris

Thanks Chris. I was looking at those sliding riggers. That Rowcat is something! I’ve posted this design in the new Designs and Concepts category, so please add any further comments there, thanks!