I am writing from a newly launched rowing club in the middle of Southern Sweden. Rowing is not a big sport in Sweden with only a handful of clubs and a little over 3 000 registered rowers. This makes sourcing of hardware a bit of a dilemma.I have previously bought a couple of boats from a supplier in the UK and had them shipped. I have also acquired some older boats from a club here. But as every club would say, I need more boats.

I am interested in sourcing second hand boats and feel that the UK gives greater choice with however the complication of transport.

I am aware that purchasing from a supplier can help in having “transport-ready” products. But if I want to buy from a club is there a way of getting a transporter to take care of boats sufficiently? Crates? lifting? unloading?

Or is the only way to drive to the club and pick them up?
How does that work on Ferry/tunnel?
any advice welcome!
regards
Adam Holmes
Norra Vättern Roddklub
Askersund, Sweden

There are some good sources of second hand rowing boats in the UK

The main ones are:

• Sculling Boat Sales 
• Rowing Adverts is a nascent service
• Rowing Service Noticeboard is a classifieds site
• Rowing Classifieds UK
• British Rowing Magazine has a classifieds section but you have to subscribe and there’s no free online edition

Rowing Boat Transport

As far as boat transport goes – most clubs are really keen to help out… many travel to France and Belgium to race.  One regatta, Ghent was 2 weeks ago and some schools travel for training camps too especially to the new rowing course at Gravelines.  I suspect they would take boats to Calais and you could drive to meet them there with your trailer and take them onto Sweden.  Also look for clubs traveling to the UK to race at Henley Royal Regatta and Henley Womens Regatta (a lot of Dutch clubs come over).

John Faulkner [ask us for his details] has coached a lot in Denmark and he may have contacts from the Danish Federation who drive boats to the UK to race.

Eric Sims ES Rowing does a lot of UK boat repairs and is probably a good source of contacts for specific boats (if you told him what you are looking for) and he drives each month around the UK collecting and delivering boats from clubs.  I don’t think he goes abroad though.

Also the international boat builders like Filippi and Empacher do road transport for boats from their factories in Italy/Germay to the UK and they also return (probably with empty trailers).  So again, they could take your boats for a small fee to a meeting place.

I have personally transported my single scull abroad when moving house.  I got Crown Transport to build an individual crate for the boat so it was in a box.  And I paid extra to get it “top loaded” so it was at the very top of the container when it was shipped.

Paul Willis is the UK Filippi Agent – he may be able to advise.  And Sam Wilson is the Vespoli agent for UK and he also works for Rowperfect.

I hope this helps!

Buying Second Hand Rowing Equipment

Mike Davenport has an excellent ebook Buy it Right – a buying guide for rowing equipment 

Previous articles on second hand rowing boats and oars which include links not in the above

• How much do Second Hand Sculling Oars cost?
• Selling Second Hand Rowing Equipment
• How to choose second hand oars
• How much does a second hand single cost?