Saturday 12 November 2011

Outriggers

Rowed up the Hamble in Bembridge with Langstone Cutters today and it was fab - the trees are taking on their autumn golds and russets, the water was flat calm, the sun was warm and the beer was cool.
At the hard at Swanwick we met Bernard with his Selway Fisher-designed skiff. He wanted removable outriggers, especially as he transports the boat on his car roof. I know from bitter experience how scratchy outriggers are on a car roof.
Bernard developed a simple and elegant removable outrigger to solve the problem. One end fits in a hole in the thwart and the middle slots into a fitting on the gunwale, secured by a grub screw. He sawed aluminium tube to fit and got a local welder to weld it up.
Judging by the speed Bernard got from the Horse and Jockey back to the hard at Swanwick, this is a very egronomic arrangement.

3 comments:

Bursledon Blogger said...

Shame you went on saturday - I've been in Mexico all week and a row up to the H&J is just what I could do with today!

Jake Millar said...

oWhat a clever, clean and simple solution to the outrigger issue. It looks as though you could simply "lift and turn" to get the rigger inboard when coming alongside a dock. Smart!

Anonymous said...

What design is your SF designed Skiff? Also what it's car toppable weight?