Drew Harrison Racing Shells
Michel Corbin
Racing Shells. I am seriously considering getting a Mid 1x from Drew
Harrison. I would like to know what your experience has been with
these boats. Please no hearsay. Even at a lower price, it is still a
significant investment. I want it to last.
Thanks.
John Davis
I have seen these boats and talked to average rowers who row the 1x
and 2x. They like them well enough. The Camp Randall Ltwt. Women's
double was being rowed daily and was still real stiff and had no
apparent flaws. Some have even done well internationally.
Stick them with "cheap" and "Chinese" label, and one thinks they are
junk. But if you were to line them up next to a Hudson, Filippi, BBG
or Vespoli, I guess they look OK. The hulls are straight, the paint
is glossy, and they seem stiff and light.
If I were seriously training, I wouldn't buy one, because of the
stigma of rowing one and the question of proven success. But for the
rec racer, the person who really enjoys rowing, or the prep sculler
with limited funds, it might be a real economical choice. I guess if
you don't want the stigma of having a boat under you that was built by
workers making $1.50 a day then you should pay $2-4000 more. Still, I
think it would be a crackup to see someone win the trials in one of
these things.
I think the real questions are durability and longevity. If they prove
to be as good as other boats, then there's no telling how many Drew
can sell.
JD
michel...@yahoo.com (Michel Corbin) wrote in message news:<2277c67c.03091...@posting.google.com>...
Simon
with them. Quality certainly has improved in the past few years
although if you are rowing in salt water you might want to take extra
care with it. Our older ones (Starline vintage) are showing heavy wear
and the metric sized bolts makes it a bit of a mismatch with the other
equipment. (Kaschper/Hudson)
I would suggest getting extra wheels for the seat if you buy the boat.
Drew shoots pretty straight so that helps. They have not sold a lot of
Club level 8+'s but their singles and doubles are doing well.
Again as has been said previously: it depends on ethical issues you
might have, and whether you are going to the Olympics or not. The
hulls are fine, but the rigging needs to be maintained like any boat.
A sport level Hudson goes for about $6200 CAD and we are finding them
easy to maintain (we bought 2 this past year) due to their wing rigger
configuration. That may also be true of the DHRS carbon fibre riggers
but I don't know enough to say what happens to them over time with
rigging and unrigging and whether that would crush it or not.
For the price, it is a good boat. If you are the top of the pack and
plan to do a lot of racing... (insert gallic shrug here)
Simon
VRC
On 20 Sep 2003 09:19:24 -0700, johnn...@yahoo.com (John Davis)
wrote:
TNW
For some reason, I think Drew told me that the Canadian men's speed
order was won by a guy in a DH single.
Simon <spu...@telus.net> wrote in message news:<460cnvkeph7e2csi1...@4ax.com>...
Mike Medland
in one of Drew's singles.
Mike
"TNW" <twa...@utk.edu> wrote in message
news:bf50fe6b.03093...@posting.google.com...
sue t
I chatted with him while he was erging at our club. Our chat must have
distracted him a bit, as he was pulling only 1:31-32 splits.
And that's when he wasn't in training ... he was coaching instead.
"Mike Medland" <mikem...@telus.net> wrote in message
news:vwBkb.6707$i92.4263@clgrps13...
PaulS
While the sychophantic admiration of Darrens skill is appreciated, how
does this address the topic of the thread?
Or possibly I misunderstood the context of your post and you are
saying that the Drew Harrison "Rec Shell" is of high enough quality
and construction as to not be a limitting factor in speed orders, not
that any reasonably good equipment would be.
Of course the context would have been a bit more clear if you would
have said something like, "Darren could win speed orders in a wherry
using snow shovels for blades.", which would have placed sole
responsibility for performance on the oarsman, where it should be.
(Yes, I know that would have been an over-generalized exaggeration,
but given the fact that "major differences" in good equipment only
exist in the marketing copy of that equipment, don't get your knickers
in a twist.)
Oh, and to stay on topic, we've got several recent examples of DH 1x's
in our boathouse and they appear to be of good quality. None are
older than 6 months, but they do see quite a bit of use. They are all
the competitor line (Middle Model of the three Drew sells), but a club
member recently purchased an International (Top Model) 1x and aside
from the custom spacers that were needed to get the rigger squared to
the hull (this was done by the factory, not by us) this shell was
definitely a cut above the Competitor line for stiffness and finish,
the owner seems to be enjoying it so far.
- Paul Smith