Bee

Product Description

Bee is a 16 ft seaworthy rowing boat for two rowers and up to two passengers. Bee has a vee bow which allows her to slice through a choppy sea. The moderate freeboard midships, with reduced windage fore and aft, plus the built in daggerboard case mean that sensible owners can take her out in coastal waters, in addition to inland waterways.

Bee can also be fitted with a simple low rig for offwind sailing or when the crew are feeling lazy. Because of its light weight and easily-driven hull, Bee will surprise with her speed. Bee can easily be rowed for long periods by one or two people, with room for passengers and lots of gear. She is stable, so you don't need to be an expert to handle her.

I am pleased to report that our Bee successfully completed the 21 mile Great River Race down the Thames from Richmond to Cutty Sark in 3 hrs 24 min. Result 111 out of 252. We had cox'n; 2 x scullers and a passenger. Interestingly on the day with four up she was less stable than in practice with only three up, nothing to worry about though.

Bee is truly a delight to row and under sail it performed beyond all my expectations. Thanks for designing such a well thought out functional craft, with such handsome lines – eyes light up when they first see the craft. I'm going to enjoy rowing and sailing this leisure craft for many years to come.

Very few open boats remain stable when full of water, yet photos of stability tests show designer Richard Woods standing in a flooded Bee without capsizing.

Because of her light weight Bee can easily be cartopped, opening up many more cruising grounds. Bee is very easy to build using just 3 sheets of 4 mm (3/16″) and 3 sheets of 6 mm (¼″) plywood, plus some timber and epoxy.

I wanted to thank you and share with you all the enjoyment that building Bee brought me. They were certainly some of the most enjoyable hours I have spent in a long time.

Unfortunately my time spent on Bee was quite unexpectedly cut short. The very day that I launched Bee, [...] I was approached by a father and his young son. [...] Telling him that I had built myself was very satisfying indeed and I offered the use of the boat to them.

The sheer joy and excitement that young boy expressed took me back to my own youthful days, what a great reminder! After about an hour or so, they returned and the father asked if I would sell them the boat. One glance at the son and I knew I could not refuse.

Al

• LOA: 4.86 m (16′)
• Beam: 1.3 m (4′ 3″)
• Hull weight: 49 kg (108 lb)
• Sail area (optional): 3.5 m² (38 sq ft)

Plans and construction manual

The Bee rowing boat plans include detailed specifications for building the boat. The quality and clarity of the plans ease the construction of this boat, though you still need to be confident of your plans-reading ability.

A complete materials list is supplied with the plans. All dimensions are in metric units.

PDF Plans

An electronic version of the plans in PDF format that can be viewed using Adobe Reader. After credit card authorisation the file will be sent to the email address put on the order form.