Peinert P26 — Hebdon Hammers

“I need a boat for our club’s fleet. Everyone needs to use it, from masters to youth rowers. It needs to be durable, relatively sleek and somewhat easy to set. Oh, and I need to buy a few of them, so they have to be affordable”. Well, I might just have the perfect boat for you…

Looks and “Cool Factor”

To be clear, many of the boats I review are older models, and are sometimes no longer in production. Such is the case for this, an older Peinert 26. So, if you’re going by the photos, you’ll likely note the little bumps, scrapes and oxidation of age. I view this as something of an endorsement, however, as it means that the boat has proven durable enough to hang onto through many years of use.

So, as we look past the crazed stickers and shrinking striping, we can see some really interesting and somewhat unique features to this design. The rigger dips into the bottom of the boat as a continuous piece; it’s a little bit like a wing rigger meets a euro-style. This undoubtedly increases rigidity versus having a euro style. This rigger is held in with a couple of metal loops that pin it tight to the accommodating bulges in the side of the boat. Due to this setup, sternstays are essential to keeping the assembly in place.

The overall shape is tapered in bow and stern, with a somewhat rounded beam (the cross section profile) in the middle by the rower’s station. The more “U” or “V” shaped the hull is, the faster and more efficient it is, but at the cost of stability. What we’re looking at here is a design that is balanced between stability and speed, with a fairly pronounced line running from the bow ball back toward the middle of the bow.

I really like the way the interior of this boat looks. It’s super clean, and the color matched seat and footboard really sets it apart. It all looks (and probably is) very clean. Just look at how tidy that wiring for the stroke coach is!

Stiffness

I noticed a little bit of deflection under hard “power 10” style strokes, but was otherwise pleasantly surprised at how stiff this was, especially considering the age of the boat. This is a boat constructed from 70% carbon fiber and 30% kevlar, although you’d honestly be pressed to notice that unless someone told you. The weight increase from the use of the material isn’t as much as you might expect.

Tapping down at the finish exhibited zero flex, likely thanks to the rigger being a continuous piece from port to starboard. During regular strokes, there was little perceived flex in the rigging. Power strokes felt slightly less efficient than in other shells I’ve reviewed, but it wasn’t distracting by any stretch. I felt confidence to apply full power at the catch, although compared to other shells there was a little less sensation of efficiency.

Handling

This hull was designed by John Peinert, who took the features he liked from various other boats and merged them into one design. It’s pretty cool to know you’re rowing one man’s vision for an ideal racing shell.

In terms of ease of set, this Peinert 26 was somewhere in the middle. I didn’t find it particularly easy or hard, although the pendulum would lean slightly toward easy.

Turning and cornering is fairly average as well, having struck a nice balance between going dead straight and being able to adjust your angle. Spinning it to turn back was a relatively quick affair.

I found it easy enough to back and perform precision maneuvers similar to those needed to back into a starting block. I have a friend whose dock has a nice little cutout between a couple floats, and it makes for good practice to back against the current of the river and keep the stern inside this gap.

Comfort and Features

The seat features a dual-action chassis where the wheels and axles roll in a separate moving assembly. This is pretty common and works fairly well; it definitely has advantages when you row on salt water as wheel bearing can rust out fairly quickly. The seat top itself is reminiscent of a design by Stampfli. In terms of comfort, your mileage may vary. I personally found that the large depression intended to accommodate the tailbone was too large and forced my glutes together, resulting in chafing. I have a tiny butt, so your personal preference may differ from mine.

The foot stretcher in this boat is clog-style. This means there are no shoes installed, and rather a formed panel of fiberglass and velcro. There is a grippy material applied where your feet would touch, although in this particular boat’s case much of the grip has been rounded off. Due largely to this effect I found that it was challenging to apply power during the middle of the stroke. I was able to get around this by driving at the catch harder, although I am sure that a newer boat would not have this same issue. There’s a couple of locations for the velcro strap to weave through the clogs to accommodate different sized feet. I personally found the angle of the clog footboard to be too flat, but I also understand the logic of setting the angle to accommodate those with less ankle flexibility. I went with wearing socks in this case and did enjoy the additional airflow versus shoes. It should be noted that there is a wide range of adjustability fore and aft to accommodate a wide range of leg lengths.

There is a handle down by the calves to make it a little easier to move around, although as mentioned previously I tend to rarely use them. There’s also NK compatible wiring and impeller built into the boat for those that want to use it.

Price

Peinert is aimed squarely at delivering an affordable but high performance racing shell. A lot of the design decisions on display in the 26 are a result of aiming for a boat that can accommodate a wide range of rowers; this is probably one of the best club boats out there. There’s a lot of care and attention to detail that really makes it easy to swap one rower for another, and to ensure this shell can withstand many (millions?) of meters without much change in rigidity or structure. Obviously the boat I reviewed was no spring chicken, bearing the scars of many new rowers or the occasional mishap. That this Peinert 26 can stand within the realm of contemporary counterparts is a fairly strong endorsement for it’s integrity. You can probably find an inexpensive example for sale in the classifieds, but there’s a lot of value here as a brand new boat.

It is noteworthy that Charlotte Hollings of Calm Waters has raced at the Head of the Charles in her Peinert and won; that should speak to the available speed in these boats.

If I were king and my rowing club had the budget, I would absolutely buy a small fleet of Peinerts for member usage. There’s a lot of care and attention to detail in these boats; when I asked Paul at Peinert how many hours go into the construction of each boat, “Too many” came the reply. Personally, I think that I’d be pretty happy with a boat company that spent more than the “allotted” time building my shell, rather than rushing something half-baked out the door. Did I mention these are made in the US, in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts? Couple all that with the low cost of entry, and I think that as a club boat, A Peinert is a no-brainer.

I would like to thank Paul Milde, the owner and head boat builder at Peinert for his time and the great discussion about the history of the design of these boats. Paul is an endless fountain of knowledge and a very busy guy, and spends 90% of his time building boats.