Hello new member here,
Been interested in building a scull boat for the last couple seasons and have been lurking on the forum looking at designs here and elsewhere and am planning on starting a build in the next couple of weeks. For context, I live in Montana and the river near where I live is relatively calm. It seems like most sculls that i have viewed plans for have a gunwale height (from bottom of hull) of about 9.5 inches to 11.5 inches and an overall height from bottom of hull to coaming of 13+ inches. theoretically from a concealment standpoint, the ideal height would be about 7" "overall" from the coaming to bottom of hull as that would minimize height out of water while still concealing the entire body, of course this doesn't factor in draft, safety or the shape of the boats hull. Was wondering if the measurements in plans are conservative to account for open water conditions or if going below 13 inches overall or 9.5" to gunwale is dangerous even in calm water? In other words, has anyone here experimented with where the sweet spot is with how low profile you can make the boat to improve concealment without having a high risk of capsizing the boat?
Been interested in building a scull boat for the last couple seasons and have been lurking on the forum looking at designs here and elsewhere and am planning on starting a build in the next couple of weeks. For context, I live in Montana and the river near where I live is relatively calm. It seems like most sculls that i have viewed plans for have a gunwale height (from bottom of hull) of about 9.5 inches to 11.5 inches and an overall height from bottom of hull to coaming of 13+ inches. theoretically from a concealment standpoint, the ideal height would be about 7" "overall" from the coaming to bottom of hull as that would minimize height out of water while still concealing the entire body, of course this doesn't factor in draft, safety or the shape of the boats hull. Was wondering if the measurements in plans are conservative to account for open water conditions or if going below 13 inches overall or 9.5" to gunwale is dangerous even in calm water? In other words, has anyone here experimented with where the sweet spot is with how low profile you can make the boat to improve concealment without having a high risk of capsizing the boat?