I'm a US national living in India at the moment. I want to design and make a rowboat, preferably out of wood, and row from India to America sometime next year. I have a very good working knowledge of math and physics because of my education and I am also excellent with tools and construction(woodworking included) because of my work. However, I have never worked on anything related to watercraft.
Regardless, towards the aforementioned end, I have found that Principles of Naval Architecture from SNAME might be a good resource. I would like you all to comment on the feasibility of the idea, and if there is anything of note that I might miss or that might not be included in the book, which I plan on ordering soon.
I also have a few questions, namely, what is the maximum weight an adult male in his late 20's with a height of 6 foot and weighing about 80 kg(176 lbs) who is reasonably fit can row for a long period of time? What is a sustainable speed at this maximum weight and what weight would be required to maintain a speed of 2 knots? I really like the look of wood, but it might not be feasible, so what is the best material for this boat? Also, how frequently are fish caught in the ocean with a sea rod?
Thanks in advance for reading through my preposterous plans and taking the time to answer.
There are many problems to solve before trying to make the trip India USA rowing...
1- The problem is the planned material: wood. Because there is a big problem of weight.
With what technique?
Classic wood forget it. It will be so heavy that you'll die of exhaustion before the first storm.
Cold molded wood, epoxy glued. Also too heavy.
Strip plank? Maybe, if using a very light wood (less than 350 kg/m3 ) as core, a careful design, outstanding engineering, and first rate building, to last enough before being totally worn.
2- Design of the row boat. Several oceanic row boats have been made, mainly to two rowers. A very few for one rower. The majority of the trips were crossing the Atlantic.
There many elements of the design to take in account, a very good naval architect is needed unless you are already one. And that will end with composite rowing boat.
3- Length of the travel. Counting on 1.5 knot mean speed that will take a very, but very long time. It's a first very rough estimation more than 9000 nautical miles, 6000 hours rowing, 250 days no stop, largely a year with the stopovers.
4- Choice of route. East or West.
West; Difficult to make with Africa in the middle unless the Suez Canal and meeting the Somali pirates around Yemen.
East; A first glance if I remember well it's India, Thailand, Indonesia, Polynesia. In fact the route of the Polynesian migrations. Good luck for the immigration and custom papers and authorizations of crossing these national waters with a rowboat as mean of transportation. Some pirates also. And there is a very big piece in the Pacific without any island, fare more than the Atlantic.
5- Choice of the period of the year and direction of winds, currents, and fetches of the waves during the travel. There is no hope to row against the prevalent winds and sea, so you have to choose carefully the period and that will be maybe problematic. I'm maybe wrong but I guess that will need finally two years to get the right conditions on every part of the journey.
Maybe you could cheat with a sail as auxiliary power.
Are you always wishing to row from India to the USA?
