Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Rowing Cruiser

I have always been fascinated with human powered craft of all kinds. Several years ago I became obsessed with the idea of using pedal-power to drive a boat and dove into research and design of a pedal driven propeller drive. About that time Hobie introduced the Mirage Drive for their Adventure kayaks. I abandoned the propeller scheme and set about figuring a way to mount the Mirage Drive, which is designed for a sit-on-top kayak, in my Mill Creek kayak/trimaran. The result was something like a daggerboard trunk that was wide enough to drop the Mirage into. I have used it on quite a few outings and have been delighted with the results.

My Mill Creek 16.5 Kayak Trimaran

Mirage Drive Mounted in the Mill Creek

Lately I find myself thinking more and more about rowing, especially as I'm reading Colin Angus' book Beyond the Horizon and following the development of his and his wife Julie's expedition rowboats. I work out on a Water Rower on the mornings that I don't commute on my bike. It's great exercise. I enjoy rowing on the water too, although I feel like I have a lot to learn about it. I'm not certain, but it seems like I can generate more power rowing than pedaling. The problem is that I have never been entirely comfortable moving forward while facing backward.

One of the things I have found most frustrating in my love affair with small sailboats has been my dependence on the fickle winds of the desert and mountain lakes where I sail. I watch beautiful breezy days come and go and then when I finally get out on the water only to be disappointed by dead air. I have used outboard motors but I consider the noise, exhaust and gasoline fumes antithetical to an otherwise serene experience. And I don't really trust outboards. They're like the prospector's mule in the old westerns, they always seem to falter just when you need them most. Maybe it's time to consider shifting the energy source from wind and gasoline and back to muscle power.

I recently encountered three boats on the internet that have really fueled my imagination. They are all streamlined human powered cruising craft with small sleeping compartments. Two of them, Colin Angus' Rowing Yacht and Wayland Marine's Merry Expedition are sliding seat rowboats. The other is Paul Gartside's pedal-powered Blue Skies, a pedal/propeller craft which has also been adapted for the Mirage Drive. There are several things that I find exciting about these boats. First is that they are muscle powered. Second is that they are designed for extreme conditions, unsinkable and generally self-bailing, at least in the case of the two rowboats. Third is that they provide an ideal cruising feature - the ability to anchor out or drop a parachute anchor and sleep in a secure weatherproof cabin. All in a lightweight , maneuverable package designed to be handled easily by one man.

Angus Rowboats' Rowing Yacht

Scale model of Wayland Marine's Merry Expedition

Paul Gartside's Blue Skies modified for Mirage Drive pedaling

While studying these three boats I had a sort of epiphany. It would be very easy to add a Mirage Drive trunk to either the Angus or Wayland boat, which would allow for sliding seat rowing for powering across open water and forward-looking pedaling for shoreline exploration. In addition, you could add a small, collapsible sailing rig for running and reaching when the conditions are just right. The more I thought about it the more the concept grew on me. This was obviously a direction that would be worth exploring. But there would be a significant time and money investment before I could be certain whether it was the solution I was looking for? Should I build a simpler boat as a test bed? It would have to accommodate sliding seat rowing, pedaling, sleeping and limited sailing.

The obvious answer was right under my nose, sitting there on my boat trailer: the XCR. Since the amas are out of action for the time being anyway, I could add a sliding seat rig and Mirage trunk to the main hull, which was designed to serve as a stand-alone expedition canoe anyway. I already own a Mirage Drive and a beautiful pair of 9-foot carbon fiber hatchet oars. There's plenty of room to stretch out and sleep and I could easily adapt the tiny balanced lug sailing rig from the inflatable trimaran I designed for the Texas 200. The sail would be quickly collapsible and easily stowable. It would be an accessory, as this would be primarily a rowboat with optional sailing as occasional auxiliary power.

Sailing my inflatable Fugu in Texas

My first concern was whether the XCR hull would be stable enough for sliding seat rowing. I needed to have an answer to that question before I rolled up my sleeves and went to work, which meant I needed to know before the weather turned too cold to risk a capsize. I kludged together a rowing rig from bits and pieces laying around the shop and took it out for a test row on Utah Lake. I was surprised and relieved at how stable the hull felt under oar while sitting on a seat that was about 8 inches above the floor. And it moved fast. I wish I knew how fast, but I forgot to bring along my GPS. I would say the XCR hull is ideal for rowing except that it felt like it would benefit from a skeg. I think next time I will try it with a fixed rudder. Or maybe I will add a small skeg.

This will be an ideal winter project. By spring I will be ready to test the row/pedal/sail/sleep concept in a boat with the general parameters of the boats that I have been ogling online for the past few weeks.

XCR first rowing test on Utah Lake

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Cracks!

After the winter of 2009 I noticed that cracks had begun to appear along the edges of the XCR's ama decks. I assumed that it must have been the result of stress from letting the kids ride on the amas at the last Lake Powell Messabout.

I wasn't sure I could access the interiors well enough to repair the cracks, but once I removed the inspection ports I found that I could reach in far enough inside to trace the cracks with my fingers. Since the cracks were limited to the region between the bulkheads, I was able to repair them with fiberglass tape and fillets applied from the inside.




Then, over the winter of 2010 the cracks returned with a vengeance. This time they showed up in various places along all of the ama panel seams, including spots that would only be accessible by completely removing the decks. Over time they continued to get worse until I had ugly gashes running along the decks and chines. I was completely stymied as was Chris who suggested that it might have something to do with expansion and contraction from seasonal hot and cold. I can see how this might cause some cracking but I don't think it explains why the cracks continued to grow. I'm wondering now if it could be some kind of failure of the epoxy.

This looks like a serious repair job made worse by the fact that I don't know what caused the cracks in the first place. Eventually I will repair the amas. But in the meantime I am hatching a new scheme to take the XCR a radical new direction.