Towing a rowboat

SailorDon · Apr 2, 2014

When planning road trips with my travel trailer, I like to include rowing my rowboat.
That means campgrounds with launching ramps nearby.
I'm working on a rack system for carrying my 17' rowboat on top of my pickup truck.
Until then I have been limiting my trips to states that allow double trailers.
You can see my towing setup behind my travel trailer as well as displaying my boat at the Madisonville Wooden Boat Festival and me rowing my boat in the attached photos.

kjansen · Apr 2, 2014

Stay away from Minnesota. You can only tow the 2nd trailer if the 1st one is a 5er.

Jim Godward · Apr 2, 2014

kjansen said:
Stay away from Minnesota. You can only tow the 2nd trailer if the 1st one is a 5er.

This is the usual requirement. Some states like California require a commercial CDL with a double endorsement.

Be sure to check with the proper authority in each state you plan to visit.

Punomatic · Apr 3, 2014

What a wonderful boat. I have wanted to build such a craft for some time, but alas, I have neither the time nor the space for the project. I envy you. "Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing?absolute nothing?half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats..." (The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame)

SailorDon · Apr 4, 2014

kjansen said:
Stay away from Minnesota. You can only tow the 2nd trailer if the 1st one is a 5er.

Correct! My rig is illegal in 27 states. Right now I'm limiting my traveling (with boat) to Texas and Louisiana, so I'm OK that way.
I'm planning a trip to New Jersey, but all east coast states are "off limits" for double towing. That's why I'm working on a rack system for the rowboat.
Attached is a photoshop concept of how it's going to work.
The boat weighs 120 pounds, and I'm hoping I will be able to lift it onto the racks by myself.

SailorDon · Apr 4, 2014

Punomatic said:
What a wonderful boat. I have wanted to build such a craft for some time, but alas, I have neither the time nor the space for the project. I envy you. "Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing?absolute nothing?half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats..." (The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame)

Thank you for the compliment on my wooden rowboat. I did not build the boat. I do not have the boat building skill required to build a boat like that.
I bought my boat from the builder who is a retired cabinet maker who builds wooden boats and canoes as a hobby. My boat is his 8th build.

I downloaded a reading of "The Wind in the Willows" and listened to it on my MP3 player while rowing on Lake Livingston, TX (my home port). Ratty and Mole sure had some good adventures with Mr. Toad, including Toad's caravan. Just like our travel trailers.

Rowboat Details:
Design is a Selway-Fisher Mandarin 17
Reduced scale version of a Thames Rowing Skiff from the 1800's. Sort of a like a "replicar" only this is a "repliboat".

Built in 2011 in Sugarland, Texas
Hull is 4mm Okume Lloyds BS-1088 inspected planks, lapstrake design
Keel is oak
Seat, ribs, transom are African mahogany
Floorboards are sinker cypress
Oars are 8 ft curved blade white pine with cherry wood inlays. (made by Shaw & Tenney)
The boat has won awards for best in class at 3 different wooden boat shows.
I have rowed my boat over 800 miles in the year that I have owned it. (purchased April 5, 2013)

I have posted several video clips of me rowing my boat on youTube under the user name SailorDon01
Sample:
http://youtu.be/9-RVC47R4dw
http://youtu.be/XSbR3qtXLgY

Punomatic · Apr 4, 2014

Thanks for the details and the links to the videos of the boat in action. I owned many boats of different sizes and varieties for many years. Currently, I am a reluctant landlubber, looking for something I can throw on top of the truck camper.

Towing a rowboat

SailorDon

Member

Attachments

kjansen

Well-known member

Jim Godward

Well-known member

Punomatic

Well-known member

SailorDon

Member

Attachments

SailorDon

Member

Punomatic

Well-known member

Latest posts

Members online

Forum statistics