More on rowing canoes

One of the great things about the internet is you never know who is reading. Jake Millar was surprised to find two of his own creations featured in the recent post on adapting canoes for rowing. He writes with more information:

Hi Chris,

I was checking out your Rowing For Pleasure page earlier. I was surprised to see my friend Rob's rowing canoe included and then as I scrolled a bit further down my own Barnegat Light Skiff, "Flaie".

I'm the builder of both of these boats - Rob's boat was a 12'8" "fisherman's canoe" extra beamy - I had intended to fix it up to use as a fishing skiff on a local pond at our vacation cabin in the Catskill Mts. - then I realized I had (once again) acquired too many boats - so I offered it to Rob and we slapped together a nice little skiff in short order. The seat that you admired (same seat used in my BLS) is called a "tractor seat" available from the Wenonah Canoe Company, they also make a fitted gel pad seat cover that is super comfortable.

My Barnegat Light Skiff is not a canoe - actually a turn of the century Norwegian rowing skiff reproduced in fiberglass. The drop in rig you mentioned was adapted from a set of plans available from Glen-L boat plans. The rig per their plans was intended to be a sliding seat rig but I adapted it to fixed seat rowing. The riggers are not laminated wood but rather hand laid fiberglass. My thought was that it would make them stronger and stiffer (no flex), unfortunately they'd load up and flex a bit. This was solved by installing oarlock sockets on the gunnel directly under the rigger, I drilled a hole through the rigger above the socked and using stainless steel threaded rod and nuts / washers braced the riggers to the hull. Now, five years of steady use later I can say that it has worked perfectly. The fixed seat rig and riggers remain rock solid and a joy to row. I should also mention that my fixed seat rig fits on the same footprint as my Piantedosi Row Wing unit, making them interchangeable as my intended use dictates.

I enjoy your web site very much - keep up the great work you're doing.

Best,

Jake Millar

PS - I agree with you that the rowing rig in the canoe (bottom photo on you rowing canoes piece) is beautiful!

Great to hear from you, Jake. Please keep us up to date with future boatbuilding projects!