Enterprise Sailing Dinghy to Rowing Boat

[paulhirons]

Has anyone ever converted an old Enterprise sailing Dinghy to a Rowing/Small Outboard Boat. I bought one on eBay and found the hull centreboard had been repaired and some of the hull was rotten.
I have decided to abandon the idea of using it for sailing but would love to use it to potter about in fishing off the beach. Has anyone used an old enterprise sailing Dinghy as a rowing boat before. If so how did they get on with it?
Thanks. Paul /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif paulhirons@aol.com

 

[snowleopard]

A lot of wooden Enterprises had rowlocks fitted. If it hasn't you should fit them by drilling into the inwale (the strip in the angle between the topsides and the deck). Find the best place by sitting on the centre thwart and resting the oars on the gunwale.

Like most sailing dinghies it won't have much directional stability because it has a lot of keel rocker and only a small skeg. You can overcome this by keeping the centreboard and lowering it about 6" when rowing, or by fittling a false keel.

 

[paulhirons]

Thank you, I have the centreboard and will try that. I thought about strengthening the transom by fitting a transom pad. Someone has fitted one in the past to the right hand side of the transom, off centre, to clear the rudder.

 

[dickh]

From memory, if you have to row from the centre thwart, the centre board has to be lowered otherwise it can be very painful! If you are not going to sail, I would remove the centreboard, filling the pivot hole, and fit a removable 'filler piece' for the centreboard slot. And fit a skeg to get directional stability. Should be fine with a small outboard but strengthen the transom with a piece of hardwood as the ply is only ¼" thick.

 

[Egmonster]

How would one add rowlocks to a glass Enterprise? This 2005 discussion only mentioned wood.

We need a rowboat. We have a leaky secondhand GRP (glass-fibre reinforced plastic, a.k.a. fibreglass, fiberglass) Enterprise sailing dinghy without mast or sails and with damage to some of the sailing fittings (for instance, track at stern used as carrying handle once). After removing shroud plates, hubby drilled the outermost screw holes big enough to insert oarlocks down through the gunwales, laid a board across so he could sit against the bulkhead which used to support the mast, and went rowing today. It makes a nice skiff which glides and tracks well enough, but I'd like to get ideas on durability of this modification before we add a second rowing position aft.