Wooden Rowing Boat Construction

Wooden rowing boats can be constructed using a number of different boatbuilding methods and construction techniques. The simplest way is to use the popular stitch and glue approach. Plywood is cut to shape and then literally stitched together using copper wire to hold the 'seams' together. The seam line is then covered with glassfibre woven cloth and resin on both sides. Lengths of shaped timber or 'stringers' add rigidity as do the gunwales. The two most common traditional rowing boat building methods are clinker and carvel planking. Put simply, carvel built boats have planks that butt up to each other, whereas clinker boats have planks ( or strakes ) that overlap along their length and are riveted through with copper rivets. Both types are commonly round bilged and the steaming of ribs, bending them to shape over a moulding frame and planking up of the boat are all tasks requiring a level of skill that is far more advanced than the simple stitch and glue plywood method. Clinker and carvel boats, built from timber planking, are naturally heavier and generally tougher than their lightweight plywood counterparts.