Types of Rowing Boats

Rowing? All that's really needed to take part are two oars and a roughly bath-shaped vessel to sit it. However, there's a bit more to it than that! If we want to define the term 'rowing' it could be said that it's the action of propelling the boat forward by the movement of the oars through the water. Not to be confused with paddling a canoe or kayak.......... that's only one paddle, even when it does have a blade at each end. The other difference, of course, is that in a canoe or kayak the paddle is positioned only by the hands and arms of the person in the vessel whereas oars are held in position by a device attached to the boat, for example rowlocks.

When one thinks of rowing boats the park lake boat is often the first idea that springs to mind. These are usually of a heavy, clinker built design with one or two sets of oars and a double seat in the stern from which a rudder can be used to steer it. These boats are strong, heavy and durable, constructed to stand up to years of hard and constant use. This type of boat construction can also be seen on much larger lakes, for example on Windermere or on rivers, for example the Thames at Henley.

Rowing boats can fall into a number of categories; there are those whose function is to service a larger boat on a mooring buoy; there are rowing boats purely for recreation and leisure that can be hired on ornamental lakes, rivers or natural inland waters. Others are rowed competitively in races, whilst still more are used for fishing in waters too deep to stand in. It's actually possible to row without water, now, and a trip to the nearest fitness gym will provide the opportunity! The seemingly humble and simple rowing boat appears to have a lot to offer.

As can be seen in the drawings above, rowing boats come in a host of different shapes and using various construction processes. The simple pram dinghy is one of the easiest boats to build, and consequently one of the most common home-build projects. A blunted bow and chine make this a relatively easy plywood 'stitch-and-glass' exercise. In contrast, the stem dinghy has a standard style bow and comes in both 'with chine' and chineless ( round bilge ) construction. The traditional lake boat shown here uses a far more complex construction technique, that of of 'clinker built', involving planks and ribs, a task that isn't for the fainthearted DIY boatbuilder.

Clinker built and glassfibre rowing boats are usually built in boatyards by skilled labour but the plywood rowing boat can be built by enthusiastic amateurs in sheds and garages or even in the back garden under a tarpaulin. It is possible to obtain plans and building instructions for building a plywood rowing boat, or even a kit with the parts ready cut with plans and instructions for putting it together.