Customer Reviews

Rip, Strip, & Row: A Builders Guide to the Cosine Wherry

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I found the book an excellent source that guides you through building a wherry. You just need basic woodworking skills and patience and the book takes you through the entire process including what tools and supplies you will need. The only shortcomings that I found was it was not clear how to attach and finish the planking to the forward stem (which isn't a huge deal). It also focuses on using System Three Resins, which are certainly fine, but West System Resins are just as easy to use and much easier to obtain out of the NorthWest. By the way, a complete or partial kit of pre-milled lumber is available from Flounder Bay Boat Company in Anacortes, Washington, where they have completed several Cosine Wherry's and are an excellent source of materials and advice (and they are great people). If you have always wanted to build a small boat by the "strip" method this is a great book.

I built my wherry using the book, and I found the same errors other builders did in the stern area. Perhaps its time for an update, or perhaps a "tips and techniques" page on the Flounder Bay site? The instructions for getting to a competed, but bare, hull are great. Detail and patterns are fantastic. The numerous layers of fiberglass and epoxy are WAY overdone, adding weight and little usable strength (it is a rowing shell, after all, not a ski boat or a one-design). After that, though, the quality of instruction drops sharply. There is far too little guidance regarding fitting out - gunwales, seats, decks, etc. I got the sense that the authors rushed through the last few chapters - there are fewer photos, fewer suggestions for work methods, and fewer details on the potential problems. The basic trimming out details suggested in the book are crude - I didn't use a single suggestion or idea for my boat. That being said, I wouldn't have a Wherry myself unless the book had been written. The front cover photo alone was enough to keep me going! I recommend buying this book AND Canoecraft, then merging the two techniques. Canoecraft's photos and sketches of trim and details are inspirational and the bead-and-cove approach is superior. Together, they're all you need for a great and satisfying project.

I am currently in the middle of my Wherry. J.D. Brown's description of the boat and the building techniques are informative and slightly humoruos. It has been a big project, but one that any handyman motivated by rowing his own hand made craft can handle. Great photo illustrations.

Bought the book from Flounder Bay Boat Lumber in Anacortes, Wa. Built the boat with lumber off the shelf at the home center. The instructions were clear and easily followed, but I had to call Flounder Bay Boat Lumber about a problem with one of the stern stations (they had a good and correct answer). The finished boat was beautiful and rowed like a dream. I always gathered a crowd at the launching ramp. I'll build another one soon.

The Cosine Wherry resembles a traditional rowboat and was based on years of rowing and studying traditional designs. However, she is lofted from mathematics based on the "Curve-of-Areas". "Cosine" comes from this curve. "Wherry" comes from the old navy wherry in which I learned to row.