The main hatch in the bulkhead leads to the main accommodation. Solar panels are normally mounted on top of the cabin. By these changes, American Pearl will no longer be a regulation ARR boat for any of The Challenge Business races, but it will be a better design for living on board. The Challenge Business has been very supportive of Tori s activities, and they very kindly emailed me the AutoCad drawings of the Laser cutting patterns for the parts we need to replace. I plotted these shapes onto Mylar sheets and sent them to Tori where her crew is transferring them to the plywood and cutting out the new parts.
Weight is everything in an ocean rowing boat.
The lighter the weight, the faster you ll go, stroke for stroke, over the long haul. In ocean rowing, you go so slow, not more than 2 knots, that wetted surface, friction drag, and hydrodynamics are not important issues. Besides light weight, the one other very important design factor is stability. The ARR design self-rights admirably. American Pearl and Tori Murden after we finished with our cutting tools.