Classic Whitehall Spirit® Tyee 14 Traditional Fixed Seat Rowboat

For the traditional fixed seat rower, this Classic Whitehall Spirit® Tyee 14 represents a boat that is practical and perfect for rowing in lakes or the ocean and easily handles rough water. It is favored for row fishing and a Custom Row Fishing Model is available.

The Classic Whitehall Spirit® Tyee 14 evolved from the famous Tyee fishing boat designed by local builder Ned Painter way back in 1910. Ned built the originals in wood using oak and red cedar. These rowboats became very popular with local Tyee salmon fishermen. Ned’s boats were renowned for the way they carried a heavy load and comfortably handled the choppy tidal waters around Campbell River. Famous celebrities of the day such as Zane Grey, Bob Hope and John Wayne plus thousands of others enjoyed rowing these boats and fishing for Tyee Salmon near the famous Painters Lodge and the Tyee Club of BC. For the complete history of this famous rowboat see the article: The History of the Tyee 14 Fishing Rowboat – A Century Old and Rowing Strong.

The Tyee 14 features exquisite lapstrake-style planking called ‘clinker built’ back in the day. It has a fuller beam extending along the hull, and the transom is three inches broader than the Whitehall Spirit® 14. The Tyee 14 traditional rowboat has an ‘untucked’ transom rather than the ‘wineglass’ shape of a Whitehall. The fuller hull shape adds buoyancy aft, making the boat suitable for carrying a heavier load and if desired, a small outboard.

Two full-size rowing stations enable tandem rowing or a choice of rowing position depending on the load aboard. With no load aboard, it is usually rowed from the aft position. It can easily be handled by one person. It can also be rowed, although less efficiently, facing forward while sitting in the aft (rear) position using the forward oarlocks. The forward storage locker enables gear such as small gas tanks, tackle boxes, or lifejackets to be left aboard, keeping them dry and secure.

If you require traditional oars we supply the best available. There is a choice of Spruce/Carbon Traditional Oars with Leather collars and pressure cast oarlocks or all Carbon Fiber Traditional Oars with plastic collars and offset oarlocks.

The Tyee 14 is available with the factory option of either a removable solid teak floorboard system or a fully buoyant floor called the Ocean Tender Floor factory option is available. This buoyant floor option adds substantial extra reserve buoyancy, a further safety feature, handy for when the boat is used as a ship’s tender or shore boat. With no one aboard, simply pull the drain plug and the boat self-bails.

This Classic Whitehall Spirit® Tyee 14 is right at home at the cabin, on the deck of a yacht, on a trailer in the garage or parked on a dock. If stored outside exposed to weather perhaps on Dock Bunk, or a Boat Dolly, or a small boat trailer, fitting it out with Lexan battens and a fitted Sunbrella cover are recommended.

Maintenance involves cleaning the teak and applying a coat of exterior teak oil and requires only about three hours per year. See the article on Care, Storage & Maintenance of your Classic Whitehall Spirit® boat.

This boat is custom built by our master craftsmen in our shop in Victoria, BC Canada. It is a rowing boat built to last 100 years or longer providing rowing pleasure for generations of rowers. Our commitment to the highest quality plus superior design makes this the best boat of its type in the marketplace. It is CE certified, Canadian and US Coast Guard approved. Built-in buoyancy makes it virtually unsinkable.

This Classic Whitehall Spirit® Tyee 14 model is often purchased with slide seat sculling gear, as a sailing model or also as a fishing rowboat model. Its possible to have it built as all modes included in the same boat.

Here are links to videos on How to Sail and How to Slide Seat Scull and How to Row Fixed Seat available for those who may want to teach themselves to row sail or scull.

We are happy to offer our assistance either by a voice phone call or by email for explanations or further information. Please also call or email to get a quote for a Classic Whitehall Spirit® and accessories delivered to your driveway or cottage anywhere in southern Canada, the mainland USA, or shipped elsewhere. We offer certified custom crating for offshore boat orders and have shipped worldwide for over 30 years. At present there are thousands of Whitehall Spirit® boat owners located in over 52 countries.

What People Are Saying

Owner Raul Barbarbieri of Milan, Italy, states:

“My Whitehall Spirit® Tyee 14 traditional rowboat is beautiful and her harmonious and classic lines have a fascination that is lacking in modern boats. Looking at her, one can understand the care and love that went into her making: the apparent simplicity of detail denotes careful study to identify simple and perfect solutions, the working, both of the fiberglass and of the wooden parts, a truly amazing finish.”