I'm looking for a used sliding seat open-water single with room to carry lunch and maybe some camping gear, in the Southwestern British Columbia (Victoria, Vancouver etc)Canada area. With or without oars.

-- John Garrett (jgarrett@highspeedplus.com), July 20, 2004

Answers

John, I have for sale an open water recreational shell called a Vancouver 21. It was built by Chris Maas,(of Aero fame),when he was still building boats as Vancouver Rowing Co. in the early '80's in Vancouver,B.C. It is actually an early forerunner of the Aero and of the popular Vancouver 21's of the 80's but is a little different from both. For example, it has a fully rounded bottom, whereas the later V- 21's had a soft chine modification. The hull to deck joint is also much more slick with no visible flange showing, racing shell style. This method of joining the hull to deck, although better looking, proved to be to expensive for production and Chris switched to the cheaper,easier,external flange which is still used on the Aeros. The cockpit sides are higher than the later V-21s but there is a reason for this. As Chris himself stated, this boat,(which was made from a mold off the original wood shell), was specifically meant to be rowed in the Vancouver waters, which, as I am sure you know, can have some pretty choppy seas in a blow. The cockpit is also larger than the later boats and makes it great for carrying gear.Some people would surmise that the large spacious cockpit would hold too much water which might come aboard but I have never found this to be a significant problem as the high cockpit sides keep the boat pretty dry in a blow. In fact, when the later V-21s had their side boards lowered,(and completely eliminated in the Aeros), they had to start installing self-draining cockpit bailers in them because of the water they were shipping. I have been out in some utterly nasty weather here on San Francisco Bay and while I don't consider that type of rowing much fun, this boat will always get you back to the dock safely. It is also much prettier than the later plasticky looking boats in that is has a varnished sliding seat, varnished wood stretchers and track supports,and stripping along the outside of the cockpit boards. It has a clear 6" opening port in the aft end of the cockpit and a 4" opening port at the forward end of the cockpit which are great for stowing lunch,air-mat,etc. The oarlocks are Concept II adjustable height type and can be adjusted for spread also. It also has a small compass and includes a set of slings. In my opinion it is a heck of a nice looking boat and only slightly slower than the Aeros by maybe a few tenths of a knot, and a lot cheaper to buy,(about 2/3s cheaper),than an Aero. The asking price w/o oars is $1100 USD. I don't know if you want to go this far afield to purchase a boat. I live in Vallejo, California, about 35 miles NE of San Francisco. You would probably have to drive down one day, pick up the boat, and drive home the next day. The boat car-tops quite nicely. Please let me know if you are interested and need any more information. Mike Huntsinger Vallejo, CA 94590

-- Mike Huntsinger (mikemarylee@aol.com), July 23, 2004.

am forwarding you an email from F2000 plus

they are selling some used Virus singles and doubles that may work for you. as well as some starline rec racers etc.

Mike

-- mike reiner (reiners@silk.net), August 05, 2004.

I got one. Thanks for the information and offers. By responding almost instantaneously to an ad on Row2k I bought a used Water Jogger at quite a reasonable price. It is definitely on the 'racing shell' side of my envelope: lunch will have to go in a dry bag on deck and I can't see how I could carry any camping gear. However it does seem as if it will be fun to row, based a trial spin on flat water. Cheers, John Garrett

-- John Garrett (jgarrett@highspeedplus.com), August 05, 2004.