Decked vs. Open Boats

So, Im looking to start another build. The boat that I previously built was a Rouge River design that I decked like many Colorado River style dories. I do like how much stuff it can hold, and boy does it hold a lot! For this next build I was thinking of leaving the boat a little more open. Maybe doing dry storage in the front and transom sections of the boat, as well as capt'ns boxs on the side of the rowing compartment.

 

My big question is what is the major advantage of decking vs. a more open boat? I understand that the decking for all that dry space creates a lot of room for storage, but I am less concerned about dry space. I have plenty of dry bags and boxs from my rafting side. I like the idea of a more simple open boat, plus it would be nice to save weight. I think I would run an electric bilge pump through bigger rapid sections rather then using a raised floor and bailing hole like on decked boats.

 

I noticed that the boats people run on rivers like the middle fork of the Salmon have no dry storage to displace water and seem to be fine running class IV. I understand that on a section like the Grand you would want the decking to prevent the boat from filling with the huge waves. But it seems like for everything but the Grand a more simple open boat would be just fine. What are your guys thoughts?

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Permalink Reply by lhedrick on July 23, 2011 at 5:32pm

The only reason to deck over a boat is if you will be running water where there is the possibility the boat could swamp and get pinned or sink.

 

This is a photo of a run through Lava falls.  All I remember was that the run went just fine.  I don't remember the deck being under water.  All the water went out the self bailing holes and it was if it never happened.

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Ben Kittell on July 23, 2011 at 7:21pm

Nice pic. The last time I was there my raft was on its way over.

 

Im just wondering if it would be safe for me to do less decking, like just the front and back so the boat would not sink.

 

So I guess the question is how much water do you really take on, and could an electric bilge pump handel the water that gets taken on? I would not want to take this boat down the Grand, but more for rivers in the North West like the Rouge and the Salmon...

Permalink Reply by lhedrick on July 23, 2011 at 9:43pm

A 50 gallon barrel of water is 400 pounds.  You would need to look at how much open area you want.  A high capacity pump would be 500 gallons an hour or 8 gallons a minute.  A few years ago I rowed a 16 foot bucket boat down the Grand.  I was solo much of the time so I used a pump which was about 200 gallons per hour.  After some rapids it took 20 minutes for the pump to do it's job.  I had something like a 160 amp hour battery and it ran almost all the way to the lake on a 21 day trip and I used the pump every day.  The battery was dead by the time we got to lake Mead.

 

I ran an open fly fishing setup down the Main Salmon last year at about 4000 CFS.  For the rapids on the Main an open boat seemed fine.

 

I have also run an open boat down Deso at 7000.  With the way Joe Hutch Rapid is today I wouldn't do it again and certainly not in spring when it's running 30,000.  If all goes well you would be fine but one big hit could fill it to the top.

Permalink Reply by Randy Dersham on July 24, 2011 at 5:25pm

Ben, I agree with Larry.

 

The main reason for decking on a dory is to keep the water out of the boat and the boat on top of the water.

Drift boats without decking are designed to sink.  That is why the Coast Guard will give us an exemption to run motors on them without floatation.  If they are filled with water and you and the boat are in the river together then it is more safe for the boat to pin on a rock as you float free. Never get between a rock and a river boat.  Always rely on your PFD and get to the bank.

 

For the big water that is going to  be coming over the sides of the boat you want as little water in the boat as possible for all the reasons Larry mentioned.

Permalink Reply by Kelly Neu on July 25, 2011 at 3:35pm

I think you could get away with your plan if you kept the whitewater to class 3 or you had some skilled boating friends to help drag your water filled boat into an eddy.  Seems like the front, stern hatches + captain's box would keep it "afloat" but the gunwales might be underwater.  Bailing won't work at that point. But I think that would be a rare case maybe something big on the Main Salmon.

 

My Grand Canyon dory is nearly unmanageable when it is fully swamped.  The stern passenger well is a little bigger than most designs.  It filled up in 25 mile on the Grand and the gunwales were just barely above the water.  Granted that was with 4 large passengers and a lot of gear. Here is a pic of that rear passenger well to give you an idea of space. I think if their was a similar space in the front this boat would be in serious danger of being sunk.

-Kelly

Permalink Reply by Randy Dersham on July 25, 2011 at 5:09pm

I agree with Kelly, just want to say that open boats regularly are used all the time in class IV water, and very seldom in class V. The objective becomes running the line that keeps the water out of the boat.  Open boats are not for punching holes.

 

There is no doubt that a decked boat usually survives being swamped while a open boat usually does not.

Permalink Reply by Sandy Pittendrigh on July 27, 2011 at 9:32am

Interesting photo.

I'm new to decked boats. I rowed Larry Hedrick's all Plascore boat on the Green a month or so ago. Damn nice boat.  Light and responsive too--compared to another heavier decked and framed boat that was on that float too.

Like the above photo, Larry's boat a front passenger well that extended all the way down to the floor.  I wonder why you (or anybody) couldn't reduce the size of that trough considerably.

 

What is the smallest area one or two passengers could sit comfortably?

With legs extended slightly forward, instead of straight down, the depth of that well could be reduced a lot. Also, if the passenger seats could be raised up a tad (above the deck level slightly) that too could reduce the depth of the open space where the feet go. Seems to me the total number of gallons of water that could be temporarily swamped could be reduced a lot, for both rower and passengers.  Pushing the seats upward does make the center of gravity higher, which has its limits.  But I have a hunch a lot could be done, in order to reduce the amount of water a decked boat (temporarily) holds. Less onboard water means a more responsive boat. No?

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