Exhibition - Design Centre of Tasmania

In the background of the photo, you may be able to pick out some sculptures designed by Peter Adams and crafted by Paul Mineur. This profound piece of work is a moving social comment on boat people arriving in Australia as refugees. It highlights the depth of the exhibition that has a recreational rowing boat (available in kit form) sitting beside such a powerful piece of sculpture.
The Design Centre can be accessed via www.designcentre.com.au

The river launch is designed for up to four people to enjoy a weekend or a week on waterways like southern Tasmania’s playground that extends from New Norfolk, through the Channel and up to Huonville. This, of course, could be any number of wonderful places from the Murray to Pitwater to the Clarence River and so on.

The generous live-aboard space has full headroom throughout due to the cabin profile that also satisfies the need for a generous area of high efficiency solar panels. The cabin has two separate living spaces with a marvellous amount of light and vision. Importantly, the forward living space includes the helm position so that whoever is stearing does not miss out on being part of the group.

Allan is collaborating with a naval architect so that the boat can meet survey requirements – making it ideally suited to the hire market with low operational costs and excellent manouverability – courtesy of the bow thruster. The design references classic river launches but will be built using current technology for lightness, strength, durability and low maintenance. It will be locally built and fitted out to a very high standard.
Allan and shipwright Anthony Croome are available to discuss the design, build plans, and any custom options.

Enquiries are welcome. Would you like a boat like this for private use? Maybe you would like to have access to an elegant launch like this and have a hire operator lease and look after it for the times you are not using it. Whatever your reason, Allan can be contacted using the contact details at the bottom of this page or on 03 6273 0254.

Quiet and comfortable

ABC website screenshot 5June11

Australian Wooden Boat Festival Featured on ABC Collectors

On Friday the 3rd of June, ABC’s Tasmanian based Collectors program featured the recent Australian Wooden Boat Festival (AWBF).

It showed off a selection of images from the AWBF 2011 interspersed with stories about collectors with a nautical theme.  It touched on some traditional wooden boat building and did not overlook the fun of the ‘Quick and Dirty’ build and race event.

Don’t worry if you didn’t catch it, you can view it online on the ABC Collectors website here

Robert built ‘Andrew B’ with great care and finish in the Witt Design /  Row and Sail workshop with my supervision.  He did a great job as is testified by the following images taken in the workshop and at the Festival.

'Andrew B' bow on with proud family

'Andrew B' Stern on at Aus Wooden Boat Festival

Some early starts and late nights preceeded exhibiting at the Australian Wooden Boat Festival – but it was worth it!

Tired but happy builder

Robert has just returned home from long service leave.  His goal was to have the experience building a boat.  It is now time to find a home for this beautifully built recreational rowing boat where it will be thoroughly well used.  It is fit for the purpose it was designed for, and is finished in a way that makes it an added delight to row.  Robert included the well deck additional buoyancy tanks fore and aft.

‘Andrew B’ comes complete with a brand new set of Croker Oars and is available ex Hobart for $9,500.  You can contact Robert on 03 6228 2600 or by email at altaego@netspace.net.au  We an help with interstate transport arrangements if necessary.

Detail of laminated rigger, seat and foot stretcher

The outer laminations on the rigger, gunwale and keel trim are all Celery Top Pine.  The hull is made from premium Joubert marine ply (light-weight Gaboon).  The finish is two coats of epoxy wood preserver followed by multiple coats of Tas Paints 40 South spar varnish.

Derwent Raider Test Sail

‘Albuera’ (a Derwent Raider) passed her sailing trials with ease on a mild, sunny afternoon on the Derwent River in Hobart, Tasmania April 2011).  The new Derwent Raider was named by the younger boys in the Travers family before they went to live on mainland Australia.  Their dad Tristram and older brother Clancy built the boat in the Witt Design / Row and Sail workshop as their time permitted over several months.  They had supervision and support from Allan.

She is well balanced and tracks beautifully.  The boat is easily driven and points well.  The balance remains stable through different angles of heel and the sail area is just right for a narrow easily driven hull.  While the boat is slow to go about because of the skeg that is needed for rowing, it goes about reliably.  The Derwent Raider heels freely to start with but the hull’s stability rapidly increases as it heels and finds a comfortable ‘groove’ to suit the wind.  This is in keeping with a hull form that permits great rowing with a sliding seat.

Here are some more features that were confirmed in the sailing trial:

• The centre-board locating mechanism works really well.  It is held in place by a hinged board that has closed cell foam attached to it.   This simultaneously seals the top of the centre-case, holds the centre-board in position and allows the centre-board to rotate aft without damaging the boat if it hits something like a rock or log.  The self draining cockpit drains through the centre-case slot because its sides do not extend above the floor.  This means that there is no obstruction to moving across the boat and nothing to get in the way of the sliding seat.  It is a great resolution to an age old annoyance in small sailing craft.
• The vertical sliding rudder is convenient and is much easier than a swinging one.  This concept was drawn from racing dinghys.  It is particularly valuable in the case of the Derwent Raider where the person sailing sits in the middle of the boat and well forward of the stern.  It is not hard though to reach back and lift the rudder.  It would be much more difficult to reach over the stern to encourage up a pivoting rudder blade.  The alternative of control lines for a pivoting rudder blade are removed.  Simplicity is usually the best.
• The mast is really light and handled easily by one person.  It was beautifully made by Croker Oars with reinforcing where the side forestays attach.  Again there was a bit of Witt innovation involved with the stays being attached to a fitted stainless steel collar which avoided the need for any internal bracing.  It also permitted using a light-weight and flexible PVC extruded sail track from C-Tech in New Zealand.  The mast is raked well aft so that the sail sheets almost like a jib.  The mast flexes under load, flattening the sail when needed.
• The 5 square metre sail has no boom.  This has some great advantages.  The sail is set quite low and is simply sheeted like a jib with the mainsheet running to a sheeve that slides across a rope hause.  There is no boom to belt your head and there is no clutter from a boom, wishbone or sprit.  What is very satisfying is that this rig balances really well on all points of sailing.  You would typically expect the centre of effort on the sail to move more forward more rapidly on this rig compared with a sail with a boom, sprit or wishbone.  The net result could be increased weather helm as the boat comes ‘off the wind’ (moves away from pointing or being close haued).  But this is not the experience in this boat and is probably due to the skeg that is there for rowing. 

All in all, the trials demonstrated that the Derwent Raider’s sailing capabilities have met our expectations.  The rig in reefed form has yet to be trialled in windy conditions.

Derwent Raider Test Sail - stern quarter

The building process was a father/son effort where they have joked about ‘the son getting the experience and father getting to keep the boat.’ We think that Tristram got a fair bit of experience too!

As a further note: Visitors to the Australian Wooden Boat Festival in February 2011 agreed that the new Derwent Raider has a very satisfying look.  Many really enjoyed seeing the concept of a boat that rows and sails well.  The Derwent Raider mold with a partially built boat was on display at the Festival so that people could see how they are built.

I had my little heart rate monitor strapped to my chest. When I go jogging up the hills behind our home in Hobart, I walk when the heart-rate gets above 140 beats per minute, and start running again when it gets below 130 bpm. I was very interested to see what happens on the water.

I found a strong correlation between heart-rate and strokes per minute. But I could also increase or slow down the heart-rate by changing the effort in each stroke. When we were just paddling around, looking at boats and boat projects, my heart-rate was 90 -110. I found it quite easy to keep my heart-rate in the mid-130s when we were rowing steadily.  Interestingly, at no time was I sweating as much as I do running uphill at about the same heart-rate.  I think it may be because rowing spreads the load to include stomach, arms, shoulders, as well as legs.

The summary of statistics on my heart-rate wristwatch monitor was:

Duration: 1 hour 38.35 minutes

Calories: 847 kCal  (3546 KJoules)

Heart-rate: Average 113bpm  Max 147 bpm (whoops!)

Fatburn: 39 mins  Fitness: 59 mins

The max bpm was probably when we were rowing back, and there was a bit of rivalry happening!

Not a bad workout while you are having fun.

Julian's solo loading set-up which works really well for Derwent Skiffs.

• 

  Julian with his boat: Joy - Have I got everything?

• 

  It can not be that complicated!

• 

  Food! We are going to eat our way to Hobart!

• 

  Morning briefing at Dover

• 

  Close to leaving Dover

• 

  Taking Proto to the water

• 

  Easy does it. Check out the temporary buoyancy to make an open boat relatively serviceable in open water.

• 

  Last minute check

• 

  Warming up

• 

  Better get hold of the oar I suppose!

• 

  Final call home. Over and out.

• 

  Forgotten something. What was it...

• 

  The wonders of an old hand-operated sewing machine. Great for sewing the temporary canvas cover on Proto.

Rhys and I joined the Tawe Nunnagah on the fifth day at Dover, and we spent the next four days rowing for four to five hours each day. The weather suited the boats that rowed more than sailed, and our two skiffs plus a sliding seat rowing boat were well ahead of the fleet each day.

On the first day our destination was Cygnet, the second day Alonnah on Bruny Island, the third day was Oyster Cover, and on the final day we rowed to Hobart. Each evening we would set up our tents at the designated campsite, and a wholesome and tasty meal was provided, followed most evenings by some musical entertainment.

There were about 40 people on the raid. It was such a welcoming community, and the organizers went to every length to ensure everyone. Rhys and I got very fit!

"stuff"

I picked up a small box of “stuff” from the freight depot. Doesn’t look like much – but there’s lots of bits.

After unpacking and wondering, I quickly assembled the building jig – the wrong way. It only goes together the right way, but with bad eyes and failing light, I decided one of the tabs was wrong – so fixed it.

My first exchange with Allan was like, “Allan, the jig’s wrong”. He very nicely replied with the pdf which I hadn’t read and the suggestion it was a one-way assembly.

I scarfed the pine stringers into long lengths straight off the sawbench with only a couple requiring a cleanup. It was a bit of a surprise they came out so nicely with just the right amount of epoxy.

I've painted the notches with some unthickened epoxy to give the MDF a bit of “body”

Now, before the stringers are attached, there’s some bottom business to be attended to. The internal keel and stem need to be assembled and glued up. I did the flat and easy bits on the workbench, then glued up the rest on the jig. The stem bits can be done in one go if there’s a bit of prep work done. Having all the clamps in one place helps a lot.

Stem Laminated

I ensured the completed assembly wasn’t actually attached to the jig before proceeding.

The stringers are cleaned up and attached to the jig and we are nearly in business. I set it up on top of a long building table – which had a solid ply bottom – and this had the effect of being unable to see or manipulate anything under the planks later.

Stringers on, internal keel partly shaped

I ran fine saw cuts as a continuation of the section template into the internal keel. This gives a ready reference on every frame. I’ve been collecting a set of old Stanley planes for an occasion like this – and now was the time to learn to love sharpening. It’s a real treat If you’ve the body strength to heft a nice sharp #6 through the plywood layers. Otherwise hack it as best you can and run up a sweat with the sandpaper tool.

Those Japanese saws are fantastic. And they'll draw blood with little provocation. Bit like my grumpy rooster really. Go easy too, there's a tendency to slightly overcut.

There’s nothing particularly difficult about any of this so far, but I was never happy with the way this joint came together. The stars not aligned perhaps? More likely I rushed it. I was always encouraged by the general quality of the material supplied and the way it fit precisely.

Keel

The transom needs to be attached to the internal keel with care. I managed to ignore the instructions again and ran a screw through the transom into the keel from the transom – not skewed into the transom via the the keel. I also managed to get a couple of temporary planking screws skewed so they ran through the MDF into the WRC. I’ve just bogged these with sawdust in epoxy and they will be marked as FTBFUs (First Time Builder *&^% Up).

The long edge of the plane helps confirm the depth of cut and angle. Just be patient, keep the blade sharp and keep it crisp.

So we’ve got the building jig assembled – that takes as long as it takes because it’s got to be straight, true and robust.

The stringers look nice and flow all the way without any bumps or ripples.

The internal keel, stem and transom are now a single integrated and quite sturdy unit. Be pedantic about not attaching your boat to your jig. Keep an eye out for anything that looks wrong. Complain to Allan.

My only real panic was from glue dripping through the temporary screw holes in the keel onto the plastic covered frames. Force was required.

The stem, keel,transom will be screwed back on to the jig ready for the first plank!

Anyway, there was a lot of interest in this shorter boat which suits lighter people – particularly women.  So one of the follow up jobs after the Festival was to specify this shorter Derwent Skiff and start preparing for it to be ready in kit form.  We will load the new study plan onto a new product section.

One of the things we have been particularly conscious of is keeping the weight so that lighter people can easily car-top this boat.  Because it only has one rowing position it is easy to have the fore and aft decks in fabric as in a racing scull.  This makes the boat light and able to shed lots of water effortlessly in rough conditions.  The foot well only needs a venturi. These work really well in Derwent Skiffs.

DS 4.7 Study Plan

What’s in a name?

But what to call these two boats.   5.5 m is 18 feet and 4.7 m is 15 feet 5 inches – say 15 feet for convenience.  So the boats could be labelled Derwent Skiff 5.5 and Derwent Skiff 4.7.  Alternatively they could be labelled Derwent Skiff 18 and Derwent Skiff 15.  These options could even be DS18 and DS15.

What do you think.  You might have other thoughts too.  We would be grateful if you leave a comment below.

Prototype Derwent Skiff

Although the row commenced in September 08, the journey started in January 07, when I saw the prototype of the Derwent Skiff at the Australian Wooden Boat Festival. The skiff had such elegant lines – and looked like it would be a real pleasure to row.

A good barrel motor jigsaw

It took about a couple of hundred hours to build the boat, over a few months, and cost a bit under $3 000 . I just had the plans, no booklet of instructions, and my woodworking skills are pretty average. I went to Queenstown to buy a 5.5 long piece of King Billy pine for the keel plate and gunwales. The transom is Huon, and the lapstrakes are 6mm Gaboon ply. I bought a good barrel jigsaw, and cut out every part, using a magnifying glass for accuracy. Now you can purchase a complete kit of parts, accurate to one hundredth of a centimetre! I added buoyancy at both ends of the boat, and it took me a while to get the painting up to a decent standard. But I ended up with a beautiful boat, (it certainly attracts attention) and much improved woodworking and finishing skills.

Joy being fitted out

And when Joy was launched in February 08, I found that it was indeed a pleasure to row. I like making journeys in a boat. On a few occasions I have rowed from New Town Bay to Berriedale, about 8km, to visit a couple of friends who live by the water. I started longer journeys, such as from New Town Bay to Taroona, and then from New Town Bay to Kettering, a distance of 33km, which I completed in just over five hours. I was pretty tired when I got there, but I was quite surprised at the distances that could be achieved in a skiff like Joy, ie, a boat is that heavier although more seaworthy than a scull, but is long and thin, and has a sliding seat and carbon fibre oars. These thoughts lead to a crazy idea – why not try and row around Bruny Island! The plan wouldn’t go away, so I emailed a friend, Keith Wells, and asked him if he would be a support boat in his yacht, Windrush. To my delightful surprise he agreed, and he even persuaded another friend to come along as crew!

Filling the spaces with foam

The most important part of the preparation of Joy for the trip was to fill the open areas with layers of foam. Together with the buoyancy tanks I figured I could now row the boat even if it was swamped. I haven’t tested that theory yet! My son who knows about endurance activities gave me a long lecture on the phone from Fiji on eating lots of carbohydrates (Julian ‘carbing up’ became a joke on Windrush!), drinking vast quantities of fluid, including Powerade, stretching exercises, etc.

We left Kettering early one morning, and I soon started peeling off the layers of clothing, but I was very excited and quite apprehensive about achieving the goal of Partridge Island, a distance of about 26km. It usually takes me about half an hour to get into a rowing rhythm. I try to row efficiently, and in calm water I cruise along at about 3.5 – 4 knots. I row for 50 minutes, and stop for ten, if I’m not being blown backwards.

The journey at this stage went pretty much according plan. I had made a mental note of where I reckoned we should be by the end of each hour, and we were keeping up well. Truly there were moments of bliss, as I rowed along, thinking that the D’Entrecasteux Channel is one of the most beautiful waterways. Dare I suggest that rowing can be a meditative activity? I certainly found that practicing mindfulness was very helpful when I got distracted into thinking how much further we had to go.

Partrige Island

We got to Partridge before midday, as planned, but we had all decided, independently, that since the weather was good we should keep going. But it was the first day, and I needed a rest. I climbed very gingerly out of Joy and onto Windrush, and, after doing the prescribed stretching exercises (very helpful) I collapsed onto a seat in the saloon, and soon fell asleep! It was hard climbing back into Joy a Filling the spaces with foam Partridge Island couple of hours later, and I was a bit concerned I had pulled some muscles in my lower legs, but after a while things settled down. A couple of hours later we rounded the bottom end of Bruny, and really began to feel the effects of the ocean swell – moments at the top of the swell when the whole ocean was visible, and then down into the trough where I could not be seen by Windrush. I rowed passed the lighthouse and into Cloudy Bay, and then into Mabel Bay, where we planned to anchor for the night. But, to my disappointment (to put it mildly!), the anchorage was too swell exposed for comfort, and it was another hour’s row across to Cloudy Corner, a delightful anchorage in the right weather. I was so relieved when Windrush dropped its anchor, at about 6pm. I needed to be helped out of the boat! But I had such a sense of satisfaction – about 59 kilometres in 10 hours of rowing – that is a good pace.

Cape Conella, East Bruny

Well, I did sleep well, despite some painful blisters on my hands, and lots of aches and pains in the body. I was surprised how refreshed I was in the morning. Another six am start. I was expecting this day would be more difficult than the previous day – and it was. Going through the Friars at the SE corner of Bruny was quite an experience – very confused sloppy waves. But from what I could see Windrush was bouncing around much more than I was – but perhaps they thought the same of Joy! She took in quite a bit of water, requiring me to stop rowing and bail out.

It took nearly eight hours to get to the southern end of Adventure Bay from Cloudy Corner, with quite a few stops to bail out the water in the boat, and not much opportunity to stop and rest, because the boat would be blown backwards, and I was very loath to give up hard won ground. But we were still ahead on time compared to the original plan, so we decided to keep going, and by 4pm we had got to Moorina Bay, at the northern end of Adventure Bay, where Windrush anchored in company with some cray fishing boats. It is a picturesque and calm anchorage, in northerly wind conditions.

"Carbing Up"

Another good night’s sleep, plenty of ‘carbing up’, washed down with red wine. The next morning was not looking good, but we set off anyway. Soon after round Cape Queen Elizabeth, it became clear that the northerly winds of 15 knots Cape Conella, East Bruny plus the seas was making progress very slow. I decided not to proceed, and struggled to get the boat back behind the shelter of the Cape. I know that rowing down wind in waves the boat can surf easily, and I have the least control. I kept the head to wind and allowed the boat to drift back, until I was able to row at a suitable angle to get inside the Cape and have the head to the wind and waves. I was very appreciative of having the support vessel on standby.

Early Start

Back to the anchorage in Maroona Bay to review the situation. We decided to wait for the next weather forecast. It wasn’t good, with N and NW winds of 15-25 knots, and an embedded cold front coming through during the night. Added to which one of the crew was not well. The decision was made to end the attempt to row around Bruny, and we towed Joy to the southern end of Adventure Bay, where she was left with some residents to be picked up later. We returned to Moorina, spent a second night there, and set off early next morning. The embedded front didn’t come through, but the rest did, with a vengeance, and the decision to end the circumnavigation was the correct call. Another time! Perhaps in company?

Without the support of Keith and Leo I would not have attempted this journey. I am very appreciative of their company. Travelling at 3 knots through sloppy water is a lot less comfortable than at 6 knots, but it was very comforting to know that they were not far away. Their attention to my needs when on the boat made me feel very privileged.

I have learned a few important lessons from the trip:

1. Practice capsizing and swamping the boat before making the journey. Neither of these happened to me, but I would like to have known the consequences of both.
2. Wear gloves, unless your hands have hardened up
3. Rowing is a very efficient technique of water travel, despite having to go backwards all the time. I was surprised at the distances that I covered, and I am not a particularly fit person.
4. Drinking large quantities of fluids, eating lots of carbohydrate, stretching down, and not jarring tired muscles all contribute to achieving long distances.
5. The design of Joy is excellent for rowing in protected waters. The boat rows beautifully, and has the right balance between a scull and a dinghy, Early start between speed and stability. We were all impressed with the way in which the boat handled rough water.
6. Having plenty of time to wait out bad weather gives the best chance of success, especially during September in Tasmania.

If anyone is interested in building or buying a Derwent Skiff, visit the website
of the designer, Allan Witt. www.wittdesignwoodenboats.com.au
And if anyone is interested in coastal rowing, I would like to talk with them!
Contact me at julian@rowandsail.com.au
Julian Robertson