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Light Trow
design by Gavin Atkin
Length - 15' 4" Beam
- 4' 4"
It's cheeky, really, to call this a trow. Along
the South Coast of England, a trow is either a heavy barge, or
a heavily-built rocker-less flat-bottomed rowing boat traditionally
used on the Fleet, the protected stretch of water behind Chesil
bank.
This lightly-built rowing/sailing skiff is not very much like
either of these, but its shape does owe something to the Fleet
trow. Drawings of the traditional Fleet trow seen in the
classic text 'Working Boats of England' by Eric McKee provided
the inspiration for a craft formed of flat panel materials that
would be almost double-ended, but for a small triangular-shaped
transom, as seen in some trows
 .
The intention here is a light and elegant rowing craft with the
advantages of a fairly long and narrow waterline. However, the
hull flares to the knuckle sufficiently to allow it to stand up
to a small sail, albeit at a fairly steep heel.
The lower part of the hull is designed to be built in the same
way as a conventional flat-bottomed; builders might even consider
external chine logs, but the upper part is intended to be assembled
by tack and tape. I haven't seen this composite approach anywhere
else, but I can't see much against it.
Another fairly novel idea is that extra removable thwarts may
be used for camping purposes. The principle is that the
thwarts are stowed in the bilges and held in place using elastic
cords. Incidentally, the thwarts are intended to be supported
by an inwale fastened to the upper edge of the lower chine and
planed flat to accommodate them before the upper chine is assembled
into place.
At least two versions are envisaged: an open
rowing skiff, and a half-decked version for sailing, much like
a sailing canoe. I'm also contemplating drawing up a smaller version
for people with small areas for boat building, such as the typical
British garage.
A free a zip file containing all the drawings and a table of offsets
can be found here additionally, there
is a zipped file of sailing rig details here.
I should warn potential builders that, although I forsee no particular
difficulties in building this boat, to my knowledge no-one has
built it yet. If any of you do build it, however, do please let
me know how you got on with it and send me a picture!
I'm happy to discuss the design. My email address is gmatkin@clara.net
.
Gavin Atkin, Tunbridge Wells, England, September, 2000
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