Jackie Witt had her 4.7 m boat “Fancy Free” at the Australian Wooden Boat Festival. It was the original boat from which the Derwent Skiff at 5.5 m was generated. Jackie had sanded and revarnished her boat so that it looked fantastic – Cedar ply and King Billy Pine.
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.
I think that in keeping with modern usage metric measurements should be used. DS4.7 and DS5.5 are very succinct titles, although a bit booring. The object is to inform not entertain, so maybe they are the way to go?
would the 4.7 skiff be suitable for an 84kg person?
Hi Steve. While the 4.7 m boat will carry you, I don’t recommend it. The smaller boat with 84 kg will drag the stern a bit at the catch. It will also dip the bow a bit at the finish. My wifes 4.7 m boat suits her really well and I (94 kg) use it to have a row too, but the 5.5 m Derwent Skiff runs much better with my weight.
If you have access to Hobart, you are welcome to try both.
Allan