| Bruce Conklin A 15' 6" Rowing (Pulling) Boat By William Atkin |
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| A Many Purpose Craft | |
| In 1943 William Atkin designed the pulling boat Bruce Conklin and wrote at the time, "This boat was designed with a view to producing a useful craft at summer camps, fishing places, mountain lakes, rivers, and the great salt seas -- any place where an easily rowed and burdensome small boat is needed for business or pleasure purposes. Bruce Conklin was designed especially for rowing, but I will have no quarrel with those who wish to propel the boat with an outboard motor of modest horsepower. However, do not use a big motor; three horsepower is ample for speeds up to seven miles an hour. Above this the stern will settle badly, because it is sharp and the after buttock lines rise abruptly. The form is perfect for rowing and for speeds under seven miles an hour. | |
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| "It will be especially noticed that the keel is straight for its entire length. Also that it projects below the garboard planks 1 inch. The purpose of the long, straight keel is to keep the boat on a true course while under way with oars, and to prevent it from walking all over the place when at anchor. This is exactly the opposite performance one looks for in a small tender or dinghy, which only goes to show that one type of boat cannot serve every purpose. A boat like Bruce Conklin will be difficult to tow because it will yaw badly and end up by capsizing if towed fast in rough water. And by the same token it will be unhandy as a dinghy because it will not turn sharply and quickly. | |
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"Bruce Conklin is a boat that will be easily pulled by oars and easily kept on its course in smooth or rough water, with, across, or against the wind and sea. The body plan shows firm, strong bilges along the middle sections, which means the boat will not flop this way and that when weights are shifted off the centerline. The bow and stern will take to the sea kindly. Coupled with the fact that the boat will be easily rowed by one man, she should be ideal for trolling for fish. This, in fact, is the first purpose I had in mind for the boat. Rowing is dreadfully hard work in practically all the boats designed for propulsion with an outboard motor." The boat is 15 feet 6 inches overall by 15 feet on the waterline by 3 feet 9 inches beam. She has a draft of 6 inches. Freeboard at her bow is 1 foot 8 1/4 inches and at the stern 1 foot 3 1/4 inches. The arrangement shows three thwarts without the usual stern sheets. For trolling fish with two, the man with the fishing rod sits aft, the oarsman sits forward. With two fishing, the third man sits amidships. Alone, one rows from the center thwart. So the hull is always in good balance. | |
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| Plans for Bruce Conklin are $45 Study Plans are available for $15 (Refunded when full plans are purchased) Please Use Our PRINT-OUT ORDER FORM To Request Boat Plans | |
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