The Annapolis Wherry offers thoroughbred performance on the water combined with breathtaking grace. The Annapolis Wherry has been turning heads since 1997, with hundreds and hundreds built all over the world.
Solid stability, sea kindly lines, excellent tracking, a buoyant bow, and ample flare make the Wherry a natural choice for rowing in choppy conditions. The open design allows for plenty of sprawling and a picnic basket when beach cruising. Stability is strong for a performance rowing boat: you can step into the boat from a dock and even stand up. However, the narrow waterline means that the Annapolis Wherry is as fast as many “rec” shells, sprinting at 7 knots and cruising at 4-5 knots. At this speed you could cover 30 or 40 miles in a day. We hear of Wherries being used for camping and fishing expeditions.
The Annapolis Wherry is at its best with a sliding seat. From the beginning the interior was designed around a Piantedosi Row Wing, the nicest sliding seat unit on the market. Used with a sliding seat, the Wherry might be unsurpassed as a rowing trainer, exercise boat, long-distance cruiser, or even for open water racing.
Construction uses Chesapeake Light Craft’s exclusive LapStitch™ process. This results in a true lapstrake hull with long, elegant lines that is stiff and light. The doubling of plank thickness where each plank overlaps the next creates a longitudinal “stringer,” which is why CLC’s LapStitch™ boats don’t require as much messy fiberglass work as multi-chine hulls. The Wherry is built of 6mm okoume BS1088 plywood, epoxy encapsulated throughout. Fiberglass cloth is applied to the bottom panels inside and out for extra stiffness and to resist beach abrasion. 9mm okoume frames, thwarts, and flotation tanks ensure stiffness. The outwales, breasthook, and quarter knees are solid mahogany.
| Build this boat in a week! |
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2024:
- April 15-20: Annapolis, MD
- June 16-22: Brooklin, ME
- Sept 1-7: Brooklin, ME
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See what Boat Design Quarterly said when they reviewed the Annapolis Wherry and its LapStitch™ construction method.
The Annapolis Wherry’s payload is 350 pounds. A typical load is an adult rower with a small child or pet sitting in back. Many have been rigged as tandem sliding seat boats, but the combined weight of sliding seat units and crew should not exceed 350 pounds. The Annapolis Wherry Tandem is just the thing for larger loads or two rowers!
Many builders have used the Annapolis Wherry for fixed seat rowing, with traditional oars and oarlocks mounted on the rails. Because of the sleek lines and low freeboard, we do not recommend fixed seat rowing for folks taller than 5’4”. Taller rowers desiring a fixed-seat rowing boat should consider the Chester Yawl kit.
Build this boat if:
- You're looking for a fast, comfortable one-person sliding seat boat.
- You want a speedy sliding seat boat that's suitable for choppy waters.
- A rowing shell is too tippy, but you don't want to give up too much speed, either.
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