A 1/4-Scale Skin-on-frame Peapod Rowboat Model

A little over two years ago, I decided to build a 1/4 scale model of a 14' rowing peapod. I converted a design from John Gardner's "Building Classic Small Craft" into SoF construction. It was sort of a proof of concept and I thought that if it turned out the way I wanted, I might build a full-sized version later.

Something I found out in the process of building this 42" long partial model is that I don't really want to build the big one after all. I mean I'd love to have one, it'd be great to have a nice rowboat in the fleet, I just don't want to be the guy putting it together. It has over 250 individual lashings along the frame structure and it was incredibly tedious to tie together. I'd have to build a steam box for the ribs of a large version, these were bent using a form and a heat gun. I could potentially build a fuselage constructed version, but in all honesty, what rowboat I might have time for in the near future will probably just be a variation on a plywood flatiron skiff.

Click the pic at the top to see it larger.