We won’t be stuck in the gym forever and maybe after this last wintry blast, spring weather will start to emerge and we can all get back on the water. If you are still thinking of adding to your fleet to do so, I thought I would assemble a little catalogue of Adaptive Sculling boats.
An “Adaptive” boat is essentially determined by two features:
- Safety Pontoons – Rigger design to accommodate safety floats.
- Fixed Seat Option – Often this means that the boat is a little bit wider. Not only does this help with the general stability of the boat, but also it provides the room for accommodating a fixed seat into the well.
The most popular brand of adaptive boats in the UK appears to be the Wintech, but I have seen plenty of Swift boats around (eg. Maidenhead RC). The Resolute model is an enticing option, but is by far the most expensive which is probably why I haven’t seen any in the UK yet (though the USA company does sell and support it here).
The most important thing is to find a make that you will stick with. The interchangeability of parts across manufacturers is nearly non-existent. This is no unusual with sculling boats, but it is becomes even more of a challenge when you have extra parts (namely, pontoons and seats) to consider. These parts are neither cheap nor readily available second-hand (which is a common way to economize on one’s fleet).
|
MODEL |
BOAT |
SEAT WIDTH |
PICTURE |
PRICE |
NOTES |
| Wintech Explorer 21 | 1x | 44 cm |  |
£2,750 | Wintech’s original adaptive scull with a wide design to accommodate fixed seats. |
| Wintech Explorer 24 | 1x | 36 cm |  |
£2,695 | Wintech’s current model adaptive boat with a longer shell which provides a sleeker shaper with a narrower width and still more stability and weight capacity than a standard sleek single. The narrower width, however, means that a number of fixed seats do not fit into it. |
| Wintech Explorer 30 | 2x | 42 cm |  |
£4,750 | |
| Swift Freedom 1x | 1x | 48 cm |  |
£3,038 | |
| Swift Freedom 2x | 2x | 53 cm |  |
£4,219 | |
| Resolute Z1 | 1x | 38 cm |  |
$14,900 | Available in Lightweight and Heavyweight models. Pricing includes resolute Adaptive seat worth $1,400 |
| Resolute Z2 | 2x |  |
$18,900 | Available in Lightweight, Middleweight and Heavyweight models. Pricing includes 1 resolute Adaptive seats worth $1,400 |
One advantage of the Swift Freedom boats is that they come with 2 sets of rails – one for fixed seat attachment and one for conventional sliding seats. Swapping fixed seats for sliding seats is one of the most tedious aspects of adaptive equipment. You have to completely undo and redo the rail attachment which always involves that awkward hand-through-the-hatch blindly turning the nuts. A photo of the Swift set up is here – http://adaptiverowinguk.com/Pix/Swift%20Freedom%201.jpg