row2k Features
Rower Tricks
The Single Storer
October 24, 2012
row2k hackers

Snug as a ... boat in a big tube!

Found a spot to row that is perfect but lacks a boathouse? If your favorite spot to take strokes is sans shell storage but otherwise ideal, we've heard of a hack for that, too: the Single Storer.

Rowing Hack reader Deb Klingaman wrote in from Iowa to suggest this pretty clever solution: 

"I row on a 1k pond in central Iowa and needed protection for my 1x. My 'boathouse' is made from three 10 foot sections of corrugated PVC used for culvert drainage, 30 inches in diameter. It is cut in half horizontally, with the top sections cut in half, with handles for ease of lifting; the tops are secured to base with tarp straps or bungee cords. It withstood derecho winds last summer of over 100 miles per hour in which hundreds of trees were toppled nearby, so the boathouse-building effort seemed worth it.

She says this design does mean that she has to de-rig the boat to fit it in the tube, but we are betting that a bit of extra hacking--and hack-sawing--could make the Single Storer rigger-friendly, too. She also tells us that her  neighbors "were curious about the purpose of the black 'tube!'"--we bet they were!  

So if you have this problem--your own boat, plus a nice lake or placid bay, but no boathouse right at that perfect spot--you might want to get to your local culvert pipe supply store and, like Klingaman, you can start skipping the hassles of car-topping your shell (and the worries of leaving your boat out in the elements) and spend your time sculling instead.  

Have a clever way to make getting out on your water easier? Share your tips--and hacks--in the comments below.

Do you have a great rowing hack to suggest for future inclusion here? Send it to us!

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