Over the last few months I have been rowing my Acorn 15 regularly because I enjoy it and I need the exercise. My Acorn 15 rowing boat has a fixed rowing position and I decided that it would be a good idea to try rowing with a sliding seat to get a more complete workout. One option would have been to modify the Acorn 15 by fitting a sliding seat. I wasn't keen on doing this because I didn't want to spoil the look of the Acorn 15. It would also have been a compromise solution.

While these ideas were going round in my head I came across the photo below taken by my friend and fellow member of the Wooden Boat Association of Queensland Ian Primrose.

The photo is of a Classic Derwent Skiff designed by Allan Witt of a company called Row and Sail based in Tasmania.

I liked the appearance of this boat which is configured with a sliding seat as shown. The rowing position can be moved forward and an additional seat added for a passenger if desired.

This version of the Derwent Skiff is 5.5 metres (18 feet) long and should weigh around 38 kg. This is less than half the weight of my Acorn 15.




Sunday 15 April 2018

Sealer On The Inside

With the cross supports fitted under the well decks the final cleaning up of the compartments was a fiddly job because power sanders couldn't be used effectively. Hand sanding did the job.


Here is the aft compartment looking much better with epoxy fillets reinforcing the inside corners.


The compartments were given 3 coats of Wattyl SeaPro TP80 sealer. This is a 2 part sealer witha relatively long pot life and it is quite easy to apply. The first coat was thinned with 50% Wattyl L760 thinners. The warnings on the labels say "good ventilation" and I needed it; for the first time ever the fumes from this stuff made me feel quite woozy. I opened the window and fetched a big pedestal fan!

The decks were glued in place after the sealer dried. Here is a photo of the hull ready for sealing. This is after a LOT of sanding and finishing work - shaping the inwales and adding the breasthook and quarter knees.


Two coats of sealer this time. Again the first coat was thinned 50% and the wood really soaks it up. I will need to buy another 2L kit of the sealer to do the outside of the hull.

Applying the sealer under the breasthook would have been difficult with a straight paintbrush so I modified one. It worked very well.



 Photo of the hull with the 2 coats of sealer. It looks quite good and I think it will look better when it is varnished.


Over the past few weeks I made contact with one of the school rowing clubs as I walked past their premises on the Brisbane River. At the end of the season (about now) the clubs check all their equipment and work out what needs to be replaced, repaired, etc. The result is a number of oars which have reached the end of their life as far as competitive rowing is concerned. The upshot of all this is that I now have two sets of oars, one 2880 long and the other 2850 long. They have carbon fibre shafts and are very light. The only downside to this is that my oars were used by a girls crew and have pink blades and handgrips - easily fixed!


I'm off for a few days R&R with the local wooden boat guys tomorrow and I reaaly feel the need for a rest after all the sanding!
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