Choosing Equipment for your Van Dusen Racing Shell

RIGGERS, COLORS, SEATS, SHOES and RACKS

We manufacture the equipment and parts for our rowing shells with the same engineering finesse, attention to detail, and quality we use in designing our hulls.

Your Van Dusen racing shell comes equipped with a number of standard options. Alternative equipment options are also available for an additional charge so that you can assemble the optimum rowing package for your size, skill level, and budget.

We designed our carbon fiber wing riggers for the US Olympic Rowing Team. Our wing riggers combine a unique aerofoil shape with a special carbon-fiber laminate.

Although bow-mounted riggers are now popular, we remain convinced that our stern-mounted rigger is lighter, stiffer, more aerodynamic, and easier to set up. The stern rigger also makes it easier to get in and out of your shell at the dock, and to remount after flipping the boat (an important safety issue, especially for older masters rowers). So if you are looking for a shell with bow rigger, you will need to look elsewhere.

In addition to reduced aerodynamic drag and increased speed, our wing rigger offers additional benefits over conventional riggers:

Wing riggers are standard on Advantage singles and doubles. Our aluminum tube wing rigger is interchangeable with the carbon wing rigger and offered a lower cost rigger, but with added weight. Although we no longer offer aluminum riggers, you can find them on some older boats.

Concept-2 oarlocks with titanium pins are standard equipment on all Van Dusen racing shells. We will rig your new racing shell to your specifications before delivery at no charge. We will also be glad to advise you on rigging details after you have begun rowing the new shell.

Brightly-colored Van Dusen racing shells are instantly recognizable on any race course. Although we no longer offer reds and oranges (as explained below), we offer a range of standard and custom colors. Decking tape is optional but can provide a nice highlight and protect the edge of the deck when launching off a dock.

STANDARD COLORS

Colors are draggable for rough idea of combinations, just refresh page to send them back in line. Also visit ScullingFool Photography pages to see different boat colors in action.

TAPE COLORS

ALTERNATE NON-STOCK COLORS

Custom colors are available for an additional charge. Please inquire.
Note that we no longer offer Vivid Red and International Orange due to recent changes in the pigments. (The newer non-toxic pigments are less opaque and require more paint layers to provide sufficient coverage, making the boats too heavy.)

Visit AWLGRIP Color Cards for some sample colors.

OTHER COLOR OPTIONS – TWO TONE AND CUSTOM

Other options include a two tone color scheme (separate colors for hull and deck) and custom paint. For a two-tone color scheme we often recommend a darker deck color (less glaring in sunlight) and lighter hull (better visibility, and reflects sunlight better when stored upside down). Contact us if you have questions.

Dreher seats are standard equipment on all shells. We assemble seats in house according to the customer’s specifications. Standard option is a Dreher seat carriage (high, medium, or low carriage) with Dreher carbon seat top (medium width) and Carl Douglas wheels. We drill extra holes in the carriage to place one axle further towards the bow for more reach at the catch. We offer Croker carbon seat tops with wider seat hole spacing on request. Custom Carl Douglas seats with wooden seat top are available from Carl Douglas to fit our shells.

We offer a selection of mountable rowing shoes. Footboards can be adjusted for your preferred foot angle (forward and back). Shoes are mounted on a shoe plate that can be adjusted for your preferred foot position with a wider toe stance (heels together) or feet more parallel. The shoe plate can also be adjusted vertically on the footboard for further fine tuning. Please call with any questions.