The Pram

Without question, the pram is about one of the most versatile and adaptable small boat designs available to us. The pram can be built in extremely short sizes for rowing, yet perform amazingly well, making very fast rowing small and easily transportable yet stable little crafts.
The prams lines are also well suited for much larger boats, varying tremendously in their use and application.

Prams built with modern lightweight materials make Excellent car toppers, ideal for sports fishing, weekends at the lake or cottage, can easily be portaged, and row amazingly well for their short lengths. They are very well suited for adaptation to electric trolling motors or light powered outboard motors.

The load carrying capacity of these little boats is very good, with their wide bow transoms, adequate beam, and only slightly narrower stern.

The pram can be found in two basic designs, the flat bottom and the v-bottom models.
The v-bottom pram has become very popular in recent years, as more and more builders turn to the increasingly popular plywood and tack-and-tape, also often referred to as stitch-and-glue techniques. These methods turn out extremely Lightweight little boats, making excellent car toppers, and even hand towed light spoke-wheeled trailers to move these useful little boats around the seashore or lakefront. They are fast and easy to build, require only average skill, and go together very quickly.

The flat bottom pram, is more along the line of the more traditional building styles, usually having planked bottoms of 3/4 inch pine, and thinner side planking, which may be either carvel planking or traditional lapstarke. This latter build, is often carried to it's ultimate, making some of the finest prams built, and used as small tenders for expensive yachts or small cruisers.

The flat bottom pram is a particularly easy boat to row, and despite her short size, one can maintain a very steady pace over a long course of water with these versatile little boats. The V-bottom designs, despite their extra draft by design, also row easily, and both builds are well suited to light trolling motors, the larger sizes fair well with small gas powered outboards.

The pram is an excellent choice for the cottage, lake, or protected bay, and is a wonderful companion for either a days trout fishing, or a weekend camping trip. She'll easily carry two plus gear in moderate sizes, is stable, and can take a reasonable amount of heavy lop or light swell safely. Prams make an Excellent little boat for beginners to learn to row, and this is especially true of the flat bottom models.

The Pram: