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The Rigger

Affordable Alternative

This is a complete drop-in rowing rigger at only $950 US plus shipping with no other parts to buy.

The wing system is stainless steel and nylon with wood foot brace, the track tubes are aluminum, and the seat is polyethylene for long life and durability.

History of the Sliding Rigger

The sliding rigger is as old as the sliding seat rowing rigger.

The sliding rigger isn't a new invention. The first patent was registered by an English engineer in 1883, not long after the first sliding seat was developed. The idea fell dormant for a half-century or more and was revived after World War II, again by the English. A French prototype emerged about that time as well, though both were abandoned due to mechanical difficulties and the noise of the moving rigger/stretcher. Eventually the problems were solved, and in 1981 the German rower Peter Michael Kolbe won the world sculling championship in a rolling-rigger boat developed by Dr. Volker Notle and built by Empacher. The design was quickly banned from international competition and has rarely been seen since.

In America a few builders, van Dusen and Peinert Boatworks among them offered a boat with a sliding rigger, but within a few years interest died out, and today it's difficult to find a sliding-rigger boat on this side of the Atlantic.

In the late 1980 the French recreational rowing boats manufacturer Virus Boats picked up on the concept that had been “laid to rest by ban”. When faced with the challenge to design and build a recreational scull that would be practical, short like a kayak, easy to handle and last but not the least easy to store, yet accommodate rowers of all weight classes, the time for the sliding rigger had come again.

The sliding rigger works based on a fixed seat. Thus the rower does not move her/his weight mass fore and aft during the stroke/recovery. Hence the calculation that rowers of any weight class could row a relatively short boat equipped with a sliding rigger/fixed seat just as long as the hull would provide for sufficient floatation capacity.

Virus Boats delivered the proof with the smartly designed Turbo II Wing. Due to the fixed seat, the 16’ Turbo II Wing can be rowed by rowers up to and over 250lb and provide an absolute smooth glide. The same Turbo II hull can be outfitted with a sliding seat/fixed rigger making it the Turbo II Classic.

In the late 1980s the French recreational rowing boat manufacturer Virus Boats picked up on the “laid to rest by ban” concept.

When faced with the challenge to design and build a recreational scull that would be practical: short like a kayak, easy to handle and to store, yet accommodating rowers of all weight classes; the time for the sliding rigger had come again.

The sliding rigger is based on a fixed seat. Thus the rower does not move her/his weight mass fore and aft during the stroke/recovery. Hence the result that rowers of any weight class could row a relatively short boat equipped with a sliding rigger/fixed seat just as long as the hull would provide for sufficient floatation capacity.

Virus Boats delivered the proof with the smartly designed Turbo II Wing. Due to the fixed seat, the 16’ Turbo II Wing can be rowed by rowers up to and over 250lb and provide an absolute smooth glide. The same Turbo II hull can be out fitted with a sliding seat/fixed rigger making it the Turbo II Classic.

Excerpts from open-Water Rowing, issue 12, February 1999. Written by David Stookey/Editor and Publisher or Open-Water Rowing.