16’9″ Wherry Pulling/Sailing Boat

The Newfound Wherry is a design we have resurrected from the past. The Wherry owes its classic and graceful lines to the working boats used extensively by New England fishermen. It has a wide inner keelson that provides a flat bottom for dragging the boat on and off the beach, with a moderately deep skeg below a handsomely shaped transom. The hull shape is somewhat of a cross between the Whitehall and the Rangeley’s. The external skeg is like the Whitehall but the hull shape has the distinctive hollow at the keel line similar to the Rangeley.

This spring we will offer the sail package as an option.
This isn’t a high speed, efficient sailboat but rather a great compromise. Have you ever been out in your small sailboat and the wind died? Have you ever had to negotiate a mooring field with your sailboat? Well, the Wherry can be rowed as well as sailed so in either of the above situations it has benefits beyond a dedicated sailboat. This is also probably one of the most beautiful boats you will sail.

We have outfitted the Wherry with a simple sprit rig that allows mast and spar storage inside the boat, along with the oars. This is a compact unit that can be easily transported on an aluminum trailer and towed with a car.

Note that the Wherry is priced as a hull kit.

We will have and an add-on sail package for the sailing materials that would include mast, sprit, sail, rudder, daggerboard, trunk, and hardware.”

About Our Kits

All of our kits are created as we get orders. Please email us ([email protected]) with your name, address, telephone number, and shipping address (if different) and we will email a quote that includes packaging and shipping costs. A “kit” can include everything or just certain items. If you just want strips, email us with the pertinent name and address, the design you are building and we will email a quote. We mill all of our strips here at our facility in New Hampshire to the highest standards after air drying the cedar. If you pick up at our shop, of course there is no shipping charge. We will shrink wrap your materials so that they are impervious to the weather. A kit can be picked up with a vehicle that you would normally use to transport your canoe or kayak.

The Rowboat Pre-Kit Includes:

“Woodstrip Rowing Craft” by Susan Van Leuven, “Cedar Strip Boat Building” DVD, “Applying Fiberglass and Epoxy ” DVD, and Strip Building Notes. This informational package is intended to give you a variety of instructional and reference materials that you will need to build a boat and is an especially good primer if you have never built with cedar strips and fiberglass. You can get the Pre-Kit first and then decide on a specific rowboat design.

The Wherry Kit Includes:

Plans, Construction Notes, Coved and Beaded 6′ to 10′ Northern White Cedar Strips, About 30% Full Length Western Red Cedar Strips, Solid, pre-milled Mahogany Outwales, Scuppered Mahogany Inwales, Spanish Cedar Thwarts and Stern fan seat parts, Seat Hardware, Ash/Spanish cedar Stem Laminations, Deck Material with pre-formed coaming, oar blocks, Spanish Cedar transom materials, Fiberglass, Slow Cure, Low Viscosity, Non-Blushing Epoxy, Epoxy Application Supplies, and Varnish. CNC cut Forms for rowboats are INCLUDED IN THE KIT PRICES. All forms now include Clamping Grooves for Stapleless Construction.

PLEASE NOTE: The Wherry in some of the photos show the sail package upgrade that will be available in the Spring of 2024.

If you have built a strip boat before and are confident in your skills, you could build the complete boat from the kit package without purchasing the Pre-Kit.

E-mail us with your complete address and the design you are interested in and we will quote shipping and packaging costs.

Pre-Kits

If you haven’t built a stripper before and aren’t sure about the process, you may want to get a Pre-Kit first. This includes our “Cedar Strip Building” DVD, “Applying Epoxy and Fiberglass” DVD, and Susan Van Leuven’s book, “Wood Strip Rowing Craft“.