Wooden Row Boat Kit - HarborCruiser 18

The HarborCruiser 18 fills the need for an efficient doubles touring row boat, with salt-water styling and capability.  It also makes a nice single.

We offer this wooden row boat as a kit.  We can also arrange to have them built to order.  This row boat is featured in our DVD movie Rowboats for Touring, which you can order online.

Kit includes all wooden parts needed to build the boat.  Building manual includes instructions and list of non-wood materials needed to complete the boat.  You will need to buy fiberglass cloth, epoxy resin, paint and some other supplies.  Plank pieces and decking pre-cut from BS-1088 marine plywood, gunwale and frame parts are pre-cut from hardwood.  See price list for pricing.  Building is a sequence of easy steps with overnight drying periods, taking a few hours a day over a period of 18 days.

For efficiency in a touring row boat, a narrow beam is desirable.  With a lower seating position than a typical canoe, the HarborCruiser 18 needs less waterline beam than a canoe for stability.  And the v-sided cross section gives it lots of flair above the waterline, for great "secondary" stability.  So the efficient 30-1/2" waterline beam feels like a much wider boat.  The dory-like flat-bottomed hard-chine design gives lateral grip, minimizing side-slip in crosswinds.

Above the waterline, the HarborCruiser 18 has sufficient freeboard to handle the chop, wakes, and winds that we have come to expect in our home waters of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island.   As a double, we have rowed this boat the entire length of Narragansett Bay from Newport to Providence (a distance of about 37 miles), and it easily handled all of the conditions we encountered. 

The boat is very fast at the power level two rowers can generate over long periods of time.  Two rowers can cruise at 5-½ mph without breathing hard.  With a little more effort the boat will move at its hull speed (6-½ mph), and it can sprint at 7-½ mph.

Specifications:

Designer:  Ron Rantilla
Length overall:18'-2"
Max. beam:35-1/2"
Center depth: 12-1/2"
Bow height: 26"
Hull weight: about 80 pounds
Dimensions @ 500 lb. displacement:
     Waterline length: 17'-7"
     Waterline beam: 30-1/2"
     Draft: 4.1"
     Hull speed: 6.5 mph
     Prismatic coefficient: 0.63

Additional notes on design:

The tumblehome angle of the sheer planks reduces the beam at the gunnels while the maximum beam above the waterline is maintained.

It has a narrow flat bottom with v sides at the waterline.  This gives the same stability as a v-bottomed boat (the most stable form) with less wetted surface area and shallower draft.

The straight bottom profile has no rocker.  This gives better tracking than a rocker bottom and eliminates the need for a keel, skeg, or rudder.  It also moves the bow and stern waves apart, making the boat more efficient and faster.

The nearly plumb bow increases waterline length over the same length boat with a raked bow, giving it a faster hull speed.  It also gives the boat early lift in oncoming waves.

The fine bow entry makes for low resistance and low bow spray at higher speeds.

The sides come together under water at the stern, making it a double-ender for efficient underwater flow at displacement speeds.  The stern then rises to a reverse transom above the surface.  The above water transom gives more space, increases buoyancy aft, and increases secondary stability.

1.7 cubic feet of poured foam flotation provides 102 pounds of buoyancy and adds structural strength to the hull.  Dry storage compartments provide convenient storage and double as additional floatation chambers.

For those who want to experience building their own boat, the HarborCruiser 18 rowing boat is suitable for first time builders.

A big part of boat building with the stitch-and-glue method is waiting for the glue to dry.  Careful thought has been put into the combination of steps before each overnight drying period, as well as when the boat should be turned over and the order in which paint and varnish should be applied.  Assembly and finishing  is a sequence of 21 steps that allows you to complete the boat in an easy and unhurried manner.

The HC-18 kit includes innovations such as our signature “sine wave” joint, which we believe is the strongest and easiest way to join thin plywood panels together end-to-end.  The planks shown at right are only 4mm thick (about 1/8") and over 18 feet long.  The pre-cut sine wave pattern is self aligning, easier to assemble, and stronger than a conventional scarf joint.

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Date this page was last edited 02/05/2008