Family rowing dinghy

[Picniclubber]

I’ve an embarrassingly basic question about a basic boat that I hoped you’d have the patience to answer. I’ve seen lots about tenders but hope this isn’t too much of a repeat.

I currently own a very heavy, leaky 15’ row boat which we use on the gentle river across the road. It now needs a lot of work, and isn’t really what we want anyway. Biggest problems (other than the rotten wood) is the size, weight, and it needs a fair depth to float in.

River has a strong flow, but no waves or wakes. Boat will be generally used by 2 adults and one child. Don’t want to motor, so needs to row well, be lightweight, maintenance free (or close), and reasonably stable (don’t want to frighten child, so should feel safe as well as actually being safe).

Boat will be left tied to a tree for the summer, hauled up the top of the bank the rest of the time, (so needs to be reasonably light, to relaunch by myself), no realistic risk of theft.

From what I’ve read, the WB8 is rated for two relatively light adults (150kg, per the spec sheets) and becomes wobbly and unpredictable if overloaded. So that’s out. The WB 10..? We’d be well within weight limits, so would’ve thought the inflatable collars are unnecessary, and it does look like it would row well. I like the idea of adding the sail kit “one day” but thats no more a factor than “glossy marketing”!

Bic 245 seems like it would fit the bill, but I’d need some convincing to get past the miserable ugliness. Same for the “funyak” boats and the “plastimo” boats ( which apparently don’t row well..?).

Manufacturers like Highland boats, Heyland Marine, etc all seem way more expensive. However I’m keen to buy the right thing once.

Would anyone like to help me decide?

 

[Keith 66]

Might be worth looking out for a Salter 14 or 16, they often come up for sale secondhand.

 

[SimonKNZ]

We had a WB8 for messing around on the Yealm river, never felt unstable with two lightish adults and a 15kg dog. Certainly robust and maintenance free

 

[James_Calvert]

No outboard, fast flowing river and two passengers?

I would be looking for something that above all rows well, and has two rowing positions so you can use one or the other for best boat trim. You won't make fast progress if there's just one central position and your passengers are sitting in the stern. And the rower needs enough space around them to put in a bit of effort.

To my mind that means something between 10 and 12 ft.

But if it's mainly just you, pretty much anything from 8 ft upwards would do the job.

 

[doug748]

A friend had a smaller Walker Bay did not like the stability and soon disposed of it.

Good rowing boats rarely come up, I have been watching Ebay for a while. Generally, knock about dinghies have pretty fat sterns to accommodate outboards and often flat bottoms. These may be worth a look:

10ft clinker,rowing boat,tender,fishing boat,dinghy, hand made in UK£76 delivery | eBay

My ideal would be a Shaldon Regatta, here is a link:

MARINERS WEIGH - REGATTA in Devon, South West | Boats and Outboards

Probabaly over £1500 now and, again, rarely come up secondhand.

 

[Aeolus]

I have a Bic 245. It's pretty easy to row, incredibly stable, shallow draft, will fit 2 adullts and a child, light and easy to move (has built in wheels), unsinkable, can be left ashore or on the water with the drain plug out so doesn't fill with rainwater. If you can overcome your preconceptions of what a boat should look like, you'll not regret buying one.

 

[Picniclubber]

Thanks all! I’ve not seen any reasonable second hand ones come up, wondered if it was just me. The Yak 245 does seem like it would do everything we need for cheaper than the WB10. Hmmm.... dilemma!

 

[mickywillis]

Keep your eyes open for a Pioner 10 They do a 13 ft version but maybe too big?
The 10 is polypropylene plastic in a grey, green or red finish, very light (for a 10ft) can easily be rowed, very stable and will take a OB up to about 9 HP.
They have a high freeboard, good buoyancy and take knocks with ease.
Pioner 10 Classic | Pioner - Easy Boating

We have an earlier version in grey and its great!

 

[Jamie Dundee]

I've got a Bic 245 I use to get out to my boat. The only downsides to be aware of are that the seating is very low for anyone not too nimble and the supplied plastic rowlocks snap if much rowing oomph is applied. I replaced mine with galvanised steel rowlocks which do the job.

 

[Picniclubber]

Pioneer 10 looks great, but reflected in a big jump in price: will keep looking for second hand but so few small rowing boats comes up and often still pretty expensive.
BIC 245 seems like it could work well.

 

[mickywillis]

Plastimo Dinghy PRS 245 | eBay

 

[jdc]

I think almost any of the Fyne rowing boat plans would fit the bill. Beautiful too.

Northeaster Dory - Fyne Boat Kits

 

[William_H]

Aluminium dinghies are very popular in Oz. Unfortunately almsot all are made for a small outbord motor ie a planing hull shape so not so good for rowing. I use a 10ft ali (known as a "tinnie" in Oz) it is very light can carry 5 adults but is pretty hard to row with that load. Quite a pleasure to row with just 1 person on board. But a bit susceptible to wind being high free board. I would think GRP would be too heavy. I did build a sabot sailing dinghy just set up for rowing. Nice shaped hull under water but only 8 ft long however I reckon the plans could be extrapolated to a larger size. ol'will

 

[langstonelayabout]

Keep your eyes open for a Pioner 10 They do a 13 ft version but maybe too big?
The 10 is polypropylene plastic in a grey, green or red finish, very light (for a 10ft) can easily be rowed, very stable and will take a OB up to about 9 HP.
They have a high freeboard, good buoyancy and take knocks with ease.
Pioner 10 Classic | Pioner - Easy Boating

We have an earlier version in grey and its great!

Having tried to row one of these (well, a grey one) with 'normal' length oars I can confirm its outboard or nothing. Wicormarine has a fleet of Pioner dinghies of differing designs, these included.

It goes well with my Suzuki 2.2 but certainly isn't a rowing boat. I'd look elsewhere.

 

[Daydream believer]

Go to the nearest marina & ask if they have any abandoned dinghies, which they intend to scrap. I tipped off a friend of mine that our marina had collected about 18 dinghies dumped by departing owners over the years. The marina owner was happy that he saved the cost of disposal & that they were being recycled. He bought 12 for £100-00 & has nearly sold them all now, having refurbished them in his spare time.
You do not have to do much to clean & tidy a GRP dinghy & having tried one you know what you want. You already have the rowlocks & oars. Just need a couple of weekends to tidy up. It is going to look tatty tied to a tree after a while anyway & less likely to get nicked.

 

[howardclark]

I had the problem that as I got older dinghys seem to get heavier! In the end bit the bullet and made one in cedar which is very light. Disadvantage- not cheap but as a project interesting to do and required time rather than much skill; advantage - it’s exactly the right size for what we need and rows beautifully. Every three or four years have to tart it up a bit.

 

[lw395]

I’ve an embarrassingly basic question about a basic boat that I hoped you’d have the patience to answer. I’ve seen lots about tenders but hope this isn’t too much of a repeat.

I currently own a very heavy, leaky 15’ row boat which we use on the gentle river across the road. It now needs a lot of work, and isn’t really what we want anyway. Biggest problems (other than the rotten wood) is the size, weight, and it needs a fair depth to float in.

River has a strong flow, but no waves or wakes. Boat will be generally used by 2 adults and one child. Don’t want to motor, so needs to row well, be lightweight, maintenance free (or close), and reasonably stable (don’t want to frighten child, so should feel safe as well as actually being safe).

Boat will be left tied to a tree for the summer, hauled up the top of the bank the rest of the time, (so needs to be reasonably light, to relaunch by myself), no realistic risk of theft.

From what I’ve read, the WB8 is rated for two relatively light adults (150kg, per the spec sheets) and becomes wobbly and unpredictable if overloaded. So that’s out. The WB 10..? We’d be well within weight limits, so would’ve thought the inflatable collars are unnecessary, and it does look like it would row well. I like the idea of adding the sail kit “one day” but thats no more a factor than “glossy marketing”!

Bic 245 seems like it would fit the bill, but I’d need some convincing to get past the miserable ugliness. Same for the “funyak” boats and the “plastimo” boats ( which apparently don’t row well..?).

Manufacturers like Highland boats, Heyland Marine, etc all seem way more expensive. However I’m keen to buy the right thing once.

Would anyone like to help me decide?

If you want to row against any current at all, you are up against the 'hull speed' of the boat, roughly the square root of twice its waterline length in feet is the hull speed in knots. Unless the hull is very slender, it will be very hard work to go faster than this.
So your 15ft boat is a far better bet than any 8ft boat.
Also you need to keep the transom out of the water.
For low drag it needs to be reasonably narrow on the waterline, a compromise with stability.
To support two adults, it needs volume under the water, so again longer is better.

There are plenty of generic 12ft or so GRP dinghies sold as yacht tenders which wouldn't be too bad a choice and can often be picked up quite cheaply. Often fixer=upper projects are auctioned by harbour authorities as has been mentioned.

I reckon this would row well, but be on the tippy side?:
12ft GRP dingy / tender fishing | eBay

I'd suggest trying before you buy if you can.

 

[James_Calvert]

The two pictures show what's wrong with just one rowing position, the boat needs trimming to get the transom out of the water.

As to speed, I think square root of just once the waterline length is more realistic for a tubby rowing boat.

So about 3 knots for an overall 10 footer?

With a bit of effort!

 

[lw395]

The two pictures show what's wrong with just one rowing position, the boat needs trimming to get the transom out of the water.

As to speed, I think square root of just once the waterline length is more realistic for a tubby rowing boat.

So about 3 knots for an overall 10 footer?

With a bit of effort!

You may be right about the 3 knots.
As the boat gets shorter for the same payload, it becomes more of a tub. At the other end of the scale, a sculling skiff will be narrow enough to achieve a higher multiple, making much less bow wave.
IMHO, the two pictures show what's wrong with pastiches of traditional designs scaled out of proportion.

'Family Rowing Boat' seems to be a neglected genre of boats? Plenty of family banjo-carrying canoes and sit-ons. Pretty small niche market I'd guess.

 

[Praxinoscope]

I have a Bic 245, certainly can recomend , easy to row and very stable. The plastic Rowlocks are rubbish and break, so have bought some aluminium ones as replacements.