Veloce'
The world's first quick, easy and quite inexpensively built racing scull.
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Veloce'
The world's first
quick, easy and quite inexpensively built racing scull.
Three different lengths for different sized
rowers: 24', 26' and 28'/ 7.32m, 7.92m and 8.53m.
Beam is 12" / 30.5cm for all lengths.
Hull weight, before rigging, was 35lbs / 16kgs for the 24' boat.
Sculls are long and extremely narrow, yet have to be very stiff and lightweight to be competitive. So the skill level needed to build one is very high and, for generations, almost every racing shell on the planet has been supplied by professional boat builders. There were exceptions, of course, but for most, the dream of building one's own scull was just that. But I knew that skin-on-frame was the easy solution to build a long, yet light and stiff boat, and I was confident that a SOF racing scull would work. So, for months I researched shells past and present, measured as many different sculls as I could find, and came up with Veloce'.
Veloce' is a rowing shell for racing and
training for flat water, Olympic style rowing events – or
simply for keeping fit*. She is a racing craft, but at the
“club boat” level. Like those, she will not be at all
competitive with a high end sculls, Veloce' is meant for those who
want to row for fitness, for rowers without a local club, or for
those who competed during college or high school, and want to get
back into it without a major outlay of cash. And, sadly, in these
days of social distancing all former group rowers need singles if
they wish to keep training. Veloce' is an easy fix.
Veloce' is
built of 6mm Okoume marine plywood, with cedar stringers and is
covered with lightweight aircraft grade polyester fabric. Plans come
with full size templates for all the frames, so no lofting is
required – just place them over the plywood and saw along the
lines. The well illustrated, step by step instruction guide covers
every facet of construction, and explains everything one needs to
know to build the boat. The guide is, in fact, geared for novice
builders who would rather have a boat than spend their time learning
all about boat building. Plans also include instructions for
building a complete sliding seat rig, as well as for building a pair
of sculls (oars).
Tools needed
to build Veloce' are just a jig saw and a drill (at the very minimum
– a circular saw would also be quite helpful), plus a few hand
tools. Major material costs are a single sheet of plywood, a few
western red cedar boards, the fabric, a small amount of epoxy,
stainless steel/inox screws, two liters of paint and/or varnish and a
few sliding seat components: rails, seat carriage and oarlocks.
Sources for all the hard to find things are included in the building
guide. Ibuilt the prototype in two weeks or so, for about $300USD. You will
very likely take longer, and it will possibly cost more (depending on
your location) . . . but not a lot more.
* For
those of you unsure, Veloce' is 12” / 30.5cm wide, inherently
unstable (as all sculls are), and is not to be confused with
recreational or open ocean style shells.
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