Marksbark Plans PDF

This long narrow boat was designed a long time ago for Mark Bustemonte who thought it might be possible to have a boat for fast sliding seat rowing, for slower fixed seat rowing with a passenger, and maybe for use as a canoe by kids.

I agreed with the idea. I had already once rigged Toto with outriggers and oars. Toto is too short to take a sliding seat. She was a bit faster under oars than with paddle - you can get lots more muscle behind oars and I think the oars are less tiring. But the low slung oars were a problem in rough water and I suspect that is a problem with all low sided rowboats. Also I didn't think the extra speed made up for the extra gear involved and having to watch my own wake instead of seeing what's up ahead. For sneaking up on wildlife and such, the double paddle or kayak has it all over any type except for maybe an electric. Anyway, with the extra length of Marksbark, I think she'll hit 6 mph in good conditions and cruise forever at 4 mph.

It will be interesting to see if Marksbark is stable enough for normal kid rough housing used as a canoe. She's already wide for a sliding seat boat.

Marksbark was drawn well before I put a simple straight plug in the middle of Toto to get a Larsboat. Today I would suggest simply putting a 5' straight plug in the middle of Toto to get the length of Marksbark, long enough for a sliding seat. Instead back then I stretched out the Toto which will probably look more elegant but the prototype builder will have to keep a close eye out to see if the pieces all fit since all this was done before I figured out how to use a PC to give the shapes of the expanded panels. He ought to do what I did with the original Toto - stick it all together except for the bilge panels and then trace the shape of the bilge panel hole onto cardboard and transfer to plywood. The Marksbark plans do give the shape of the bilge panel but as with all multichine shapes it pays to cut that bilge panel well oversized and trial fit to see if the lines are correct. The thing is the last piece of the puzzle catches all the previous mistakes of the builder (and designer!) and a trial fit before cutting to the line is always a good idea.

Marksbark needs four sheets of 1/4" plywood with taped seam construction. No jigs or lofting required.

FAST ROWBOAT, 18' X 3', 90 POUNDS EMPTY