Two More SOF Oar Cruiser Candidates

In the May 15, 2016 post in the Oar Cruising blog, we presented two Dave Gentry Skin On Frame designs that could be converted into ‘oar cruisers’. We present two more designs here…

Further correspondence with Dave Gentry of Gentry Custom Boats Gentry Custom Boats...

(Dave) “The Shenandoah Whitehall is actually my best all-around rowboat, by far. Good stability, good capacity, good freeboard and she's a lot better in waves than Ruth (one of them has actually been used to play in the surf along a beach)” 

Dave Gentry's Shenandoah Whitehall...

...and the framework for the Shenandoah Whitehall

(Tom) “I understand your concern about Ruth (too low for open waters). To convert it to a ‘row cruiser’, I would see doing what you’ve done with the Chuckanut 15… This would, I believe, make a very fast, yet safe boat for open waters, with much less windage. Given this change (adding deck as in Chuckanut), would you see any problem of Ruth being a row cruiser?” 

The Chuckanut 15

...and the framework for the Chuckanut 15

(Dave) “Ruth with fore and aft decks - I'd make them of fabric, as you say - would help. Side decks, like the C15, would add some safety and reserve buoyancy, at the expense of cockpit space. Might work fine, though I still think the sides are too low amidships." 

(Dave) "The C15 itself would make a nice rowboat.”

For flotation, I’d use a set of empty screw-top plastic bottles in a net bag at each end.

The advantages of these SOF oar cruisers are their:

• Light weight (easy to car-top)… 
• Less expensive to build than the same boat in, for example, Ocume… 
• Easy to change the length of the boat when building (but check with Dave first!)… 
• Beautiful lines.