Designing a Rowing Tank for Team

[psucrewcronin]

The club I row for does not have an indoor rowing tank. I have been doing research on the topic of possibly using the university's olympic size pool as the tank and putting a removable unit with slides and riggers on the side of the pool or building a removable truss across the width of the pool and mounting slides and riggers to it.

My biggest question is whether or not a rowing tank can be effective without moving water. I know that one can drill holes in the blades or use slotted blades to lessen the drag in the water, but I didn't know if this idea was worthwhile. Knowing Penn State, there would not be the possibility of building a new building for a moving water rowing tank, so I have to move forward with the swimming pool rowing tank or wait until we build a boat house in maybe ten years.

Any advice or experience would be immensely appreciated.

[Matty Quinn]

I used the old tanks at University of Pennsylvania back in the '80's, and if memory serves, there was no "flow" in their tanks. (I don't know if they still use them, or if they have built new ones. The ones I used were in the basement of the stadium.) They simply had hollowed-out blades.

[AndyCARC]

I'm also looking at designing a static rowing boat or structure which can be installed temporarily in our local swimming pool. My first thought was to install it across the width of the pool and wedging it in place. This limits the number of scullers. Another possibility is to make attachments for a WinTech touring quad or other similar sturdy boat, such that the bow forces are resisted at the end of the pool and struts prevent the stern from swinging around. The advantage of the touring type of boat is that it is pretty easy to clamber along without doing any damage. The dilema is whether to design something specifically for the pool, which means a significant investment, or adapt an existing boat.
It would be good to exchange ideas.

[jamesg]

Tanks have been replaced by ergs, with lots of advantages and none of the problems.

[Tinus]

Tanks have been replaced by ergs, with lots of advantages and none of the problems.

Vice versa, the rowing tank has advantages and misses problems of the erg. A rowing erg may relatively have more advantages minus disadvantages but that doesn't mean a rowing tank isn't useful.

[Rockin Roland]

We have a rowing tank at our club. It basically a four with the ends cut off and mounted in a pool. The ends have about a foot of give in them to absorb the forces as well as providing some sensation of sending the boat away at the finish. Most of the force though is dispersed through the holes in the oar blades. Three of the four tank walls are covered with mirrors so that you can see yourself from all angles.

Our tank is frequently used for technique work for all levels of rowing. No erg can match the technical benefits of a well designed rowing tank. However now with the world-wide trend of switching from stationary ergs to dynamic ergs the technical training gap is closing. We are not too far way from the situation where stationary ergs are no longer used for rowing technique training.