Stretch Chester Yawl, tandem sliding seat rowing

Subject says it ...I see the standard 15' Chester Yawl works very nicely for a single sliding seat, but while we love the boat ...my wife and I would prefer to row together, preferably with sliding seats.  I think you'd have to stretch the yawl to 17' to 19' for this... Has anyone done this?  Assuming no (since it's a kit) ...what 'other' boat would you recommend to us?  We very much like wineglass transoms, double-ender waterlines, lapstrake style - and perhaps a bit of extra capacity.  We care less about maneuverability, so straight tracking and extra length (to gain the capacity) is OK with us.  Whitehalls, certain wherries (the Annapolis Wherry is too small for us), etcetera ...you get the idea.

Anyone?

Brian :& Carol


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RE: Stretch Chester Yawl, tandem sliding seat rowing


> "[T]he Annapolis Wherry is too small for us."


What is it about the theoretical 19' stretched Ches Yawl that is appealing to you which the 19'10" Annapolis Wherry Double fails to provide? Just checking that you did see that there is a Double...? http://www.clcboats.com/shop/boats/rowboats/wherry_rc/annapolis-wherry-tandem-rowboat.html

Why is it too small? Not enough freeboard? Not enough beam? Not right for your home waters? Other whitehalls and wherries will probably be similar in those dimensions. I think answers to these kind of questions will help you find a boat you like. I'm a fan of the Ches Yawl myself. Maybe one day...

RE: Stretch Chester Yawl, tandem sliding seat rowing

 

The Annapolis Wherry Tandem is optimized for two sliding seats, but it's a wherry:  low-sided and almost shell-like.  A Chester Yawl stretched to the same length would have more than twice the volume and displacement.

Were this the year 1975, the Chester Yawl would be a boat built over a jig with "station molds."  If you wanted a longer one, you'd just space the station molds further apart. You needed advanced boatbuilding skills to build a boat that way, but the geometry was flexible.

In 2014, the Chester Yawl is a giant computer-cut jigsaw puzzle.  There's no jig, no station molds, and nothing that can be scaled easily, in the computer or otherwise.  Change one part and every other part must be redrawn.  The upshot is that the modern boat is light-years easier to build (especially the current-generation kit, which has been out for about a year). But the trade-off is that major hull modifications are more or less impossible without a complete redesign.

Not that a big Chester Yawl wouldn't be a fun and useful boat.  It's just not on the short list of new projects, alas.  

A non-sailing version of the Northeaster Dory, with its 800-pound payload, can take two sliding seats and would be a terrific open-water rower.  Fast, safe, and burdensome.

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