Stretchers, rowing shoes and flexfoot
Made from carbon cloth, with PVC foam core, and epoxy resin
cured at high temperature, our stretchers are both lightweight and rigid, and allow the efficient
transfer of power. They are easily adjustable for height, fore and aft positioning, and rake (stretcher angle).
Our singles have the stretcher channels located on the saxboards, taking advantage of the slope of the saxboard to allow for
wider placement of shoes, and further adding to saxboard stiffness.
All boats, regardless of grade are fitted with the same high quality shoes with Velcro straps that have a single, quick release
pull tag. Heel restraints are attached as standard.
There is also the option at time of order to choose the Flexfoot system, instead of rowing shoes. The Flexfoot stretcher
uses parts based on CII's rowing machine, but modified for use in rowing boats. That is, the heel is a rounded shape, and is
closed for safety reasons. A heel restraint is also attached. This system is preferred by some people for recreational
boats, such as our Freedom boats, but can be supplied on racing boats.
There is also the option for adaptive boats, to order a plain wooden stretcher, which allows you to customize it as you like, for example, by screwing just 1 shoe to it, closer to the center than is normal with 2 shoes.
Seats and rails
All Swift boats use the same carbon seat tops to provide excellent stiffness while keeping weight to a minimum. The
undercarriage is made from nylon with the axles made from anodised aluminium. Single action seats have sealed ball bearing
wheels for a smooth movement and are supplied as standard.
We use 3 different lengths of seat rail (820mm, 850mm, 880mm) depending on the average crew weight of the boat. Seats are
painted with clear paint to show the carbon cloth finish. From Spring 2009 seat rails are made from hard anodised aluminium.
From Spring 2009, boats are supplied with bungees to hold seats steady during transport.
Fins and rudders
All Swift boats have easily replaceable anodised aluminium fins, that are secured to the boat with a fin box. There are 4 sizes of fin, one each for 1x, 2x/-, fours and eights.
Rudders are stainless steel, and are available in small (50x80mm plate) for straight course rowing, or large (80 x 100mm plate) for river rower.
The yoke is anodised aluminium, and the rudder wire is stainless steel.
Shoulders
All of our boats, from the cheapest to the most expensive, have carbon laminated shoulders.
Shoulders are the essential "bones" of a boat and maintain the shape of the hull. Together with the riggers
they ensure that all the force applied to the oars is translated efficiently into boat speed, minimizing power
loss through twisting and flexing.
Hatches and bungs
All our hatches and bungs are easily opened, but are secure. There is a hatch on the seat deck between the seat rails, one for each rower. We have 3 sizes of hatch, and use the largest one possible, depending on the boat type, and the hatch position.
From Spring 2009 the stern hatch is positioned over the fin/rudder. Putting the rudder post under the stern canvas deck
will avoid the damage that happens when an exposed rudder post is accidentally knocked. The hatch is positioned over the
rudder so that it is easy to access the rudder to make adjustments, and also makes it easier to carry
out repairs to this area of the boat.
On the bow canvas deck is a small bung for drainage and air circulation.
Oarlocks
Swift boats are supplied with Concept II oarlocks as standard.