Scow
Encyclopedia
Boat
A boat is a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a...
with a blunt bow, often used to haul bulk freight; cf. barge
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
. The etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
of the word is from the Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
schouwe, meaning such a boat.
Sailing scows
Sailing scows have significant advantages over the traditional deep keelKeel
In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...
sailing vessels that were common at the time the sailing scow was popular. Keelboats, while very stable and capable in open water, were incapable of sailing into shallow bays and rivers, which meant that to ship cargo on a keelboat required a suitable harbor and docking facilities, else the cargo had to be loaded and unloaded with smaller boats. Flat bottomed scows, on the other hand, could navigate shallow waters, and could even be beached for loading and unloading; this made them very useful for moving cargo from inland regions unreachable by keelboat to deeper waters where keelboats could reach. The cost of this shallow water advantage was the loss of the seaworthiness of flat bottomed scow boats in open water and bad weather.
The squared off shape and simple lines of a scow make it a popular choice for simple home-built boats made from plywood
Plywood
Plywood is a type of manufactured timber made from thin sheets of wood veneer. It is one of the most widely used wood products. It is flexible, inexpensive, workable, re-usable, and can usually be locally manufactured...
. Phil Bolger
Phil Bolger
Philip C. Bolger , prolific boat designer, was born and lived in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He began work full time as a draftsman for boat designers Lindsay Lord and then John Hacker in the early 1950s. Bolger also cites being influenced by mentors L.F...
and Jim Michalak, for example, have designed a number of small sailing scows, and the PD Racer is a growing class of home-built sailing scow. Generally these designs are created to minimize waste when using standard 4-foot by 8-foot sheets of plywood.
The scow hull is also the basis for the Shantyboat or, on the Chesapeake, the Ark
Ark (river boat)
An ark was a temporary boat used for river transport in eastern North America before canals and railroads made them obsolete.Arks were built primarily to carry cargo downriver on the spring freshet to carry lumber or logs and agricultural produce to a port city downriver.Upon arrival, the cargo was...
, a cabin houseboat once common on American rivers. The ark was used as portable housing by Chesapeake watermen, who followed, for example, shad runs seasonally.
See also the Thames sailing barge
Thames sailing barge
A Thames sailing barge was a type of commercial sailing boat common on the River Thames in London in the 19th century. The flat-bottomed barges were perfectly adapted to the Thames Estuary, with its shallow waters and narrow rivers....
and the Norfolk wherry
Norfolk wherry
The Norfolk wherry is a type of boat on The Broads in Norfolk, England. Three main types were developed over its life, all featuring the distinctive gaff rig with a single, high-peaked sail and the mast stepped well forward.-Development of the wherry:...
, two British equivalents to the scow schooner. The Thames sailing barges, while used for similar tasks, used significantly different hull shapes and rigging.
Scow schooners
Originally an American design, also used in New Zealand, the schoonerSchooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
rigged scow was widely used for coastal and inland transport, likely from Colonial days through the early 1900s. Scow schooners had a broad, shallow hull, and used centerboards, bilgeboard
Bilgeboard
A bilgeboard is a lifting foil used in a sailboat, which resembles a cross between a centerboard and a leeboard. Bilgeboards are mounted between the centerline of the boat and the sides, and are almost always asymmetric foils mounted at an angle to maximize lateral lift while minimizing drag...
s or leeboard
Leeboard
A leeboard is a lifting foil used by a sailboat, much like a centerboard, but located on the leeward side of the boat. The leeward side is used so that the leeboard isn't lifted from the water when the boat heels, or leans under the force of the wind....
s rather than a deep keel
Keel
In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...
. The broad hull gave them stability, and the retractable foil
Hydrofoil
A hydrofoil is a foil which operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to airfoils.Hydrofoils can be artificial, such as the rudder or keel on a boat, the diving planes on a submarine, a surfboard fin, or occur naturally, as with fish fins, the flippers of aquatic mammals, the...
s allowed them to move even heavy loads of cargo in waters far too shallow for keelboats to enter. The squared off bow and stern allowed the maximum amount of cargo to be carried in the hull. The smallest sailing scows were sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
rigged (making them technically a scow sloop), but otherwise similar in design. The scow sloop eventually evolved into the inland lake scow, a type of fast racing boat.
Sailing scows were popular in the American South for economic reasons, because the pine planks found there were difficult to bend, and because inlets along the Gulf Coast and Florida were often very shallow.
New Zealand trading scows
The American scow design was copied and modified in New Zealand by early immigrant settlers to AucklandAuckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
in the 1870s. In 1873, a sea captain by the name of George Spencer who had once lived and worked on the American Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
and had gained a first-hand knowledge of the practical working capabilities of the sailing barges that plied their trade on the lakes recognised the potential use of similar craft in the protected waters of the Hauraki Gulf
Hauraki Gulf
The Hauraki Gulf is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has a total area of 4000 km², and lies between the Auckland Region, the Hauraki Plains, the Coromandel Peninsula and Great Barrier Island...
. He commissioned a local shipbuilder, one Septimus Meiklejohn to construct a small flat-bottomed sailing barge named the Lake Erie which was built at Omaha
Omaha, New Zealand
Omaha is a small beach town on Omaha Bay in the Rodney District, in the north of New Zealand. It is located 74.7 km north of Auckland. It is on a sandspit that adjoins Tawharanui Peninsula and separates Whangateau Harbour from Omaha Bay. The nearest sizable town is Warkworth which is situated...
, not far from Mahurangi. An account of the launching of this vessel appeared in the Auckland newspaper, "The Daily Southern Cross" on the 26 April 1873 which gave its readers a good idea of the distinctive construction and advantages over other vessels.
The Lake Erie was 60 feet 6 inches in length, seventeen feet 3 inches in breadth and had a draught of three feet 4 inches. It was fitted with lee boards (a type of keel which slotted onto the sides of the vessel), but these were found to be highly impracticable in rough weather on the New Zealand coast, so much so that later scows were designed and constructed with the much safer "centre board" which could be raised and lowered as and when required. This one small craft spawned a fleet of sailing scows that were to become forever associated with the gum trade and the flax and kauri industries of northern New Zealand.
Scows came in all manner of shape and sizes and all manner of sailing rigs, but the "true" sailing scow displayed no fine lines or fancy rigging. They were designed for hard work and heavy haulage and they did their job remarkably well. They took cattle north from the stockyards of Auckland and returned with a cargo of kauri logs, sacks of kauri gum, shingle, firewood, flax
New Zealand flax
New Zealand flax describes common New Zealand perennial plants Phormium tenax and Phormium cookianum, known by the Māori names harakeke and wharariki respectively...
or sand. With their flat bottoms they could be sailed or poled much further up the many tributaries and rivers where the bushmen and bullock teams had the freshly sawn kauri logs amassed, thereby saving a great deal of time and energy on the part of the bushmen. The flat-bottomed scows were also capable of coming right up on to the beach and anchoring; when the tide changed they would be left high and dry, then over the side went duckboards, wheelbarrows and banjo shovels. The crew would then fill the vessel with a cargo of sand, racing against the turn of the tide, and when the tide did turn, back onboard would go the wheelbarrows and equipment and the ship would float off and put to sea. Of course, occasionally an inexperienced skipper would overload the scow; then as the water level against the outside of the hull rose (diminishing the amount of safe "free board"), rapid shovelling by the crew could be observed to reduce the contents in the hold to a safe level.
Logs when hauled were always carried above deck, the space between decks being left empty to give added buoyancy. The logs were taken to Auckland and unloaded into floating "booms" to await breaking down in the sawmills of the Kauri Timber Company and other such mills that operated right on the edge of Auckland Harbour.
The golden age of scows and schooners lasted from the 1890s to the end of the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
when schooners were superseded by steamers and scows were gradually replaced with tugs.
Nate and Hayes
Nate and Hayes, also known as Savage Islands , is a 1983 swashbuckling adventure film set in the South Pacific in the late 19th century...
(starring Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones is an American actor and film director. He has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as Best Supporting Actor for the 1993 thriller film The Fugitive....
and amongst others Kiwi
Kiwi (people)
Kiwi is the nickname used internationally for people from New Zealand, as well as being a relatively common self-reference. The name derives from the kiwi, a flightless bird, which is native to, and the national symbol of, New Zealand...
icon and singer Prince Tui Teka
Prince Tui Teka
Tui Teka , better known by his stage names "Tui Latui" or Prince Tui Teka was a Māori singer/actor. Teka was a member of the Maori Volcanics Showband before having a successful solo career.- Career:Teka was born in Ruatahuna, New Zealand near Te Urewera...
as King Ponapa), was sold to Captain Dave Skyme in the late 1980s and fully restored to its 1924 sea worthiness. Unfortunately the Owhiti was not maintained for a period of time, during which teredo destroyed much of her structure. She remains in a deteriorating condition at Opua. her rig may see use in another scow when restored.
The main differences from American scows were sharper bows and favoring the ketch rig instead of the schooner rig, although a great many schooner and topsail schooner rigged vessels were built.
Some 130 scows were built in the north of New Zealand between 1873 and 1925, they ranged from 45 to 130 ft (14 - 40 m). New Zealand trading scows travelled all around New Zealand as well as to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and to the west coast of America although the majority were based in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand.
Famous sailing scows
The scow schooner AlmaAlma (1891)
The Alma is an 1891 built scow schooner, which is now preserved as a National Historic Landmark at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park in San Francisco, California.- History of the Alma :...
of San Francisco, built in 1891, restored in the 1960s, and designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
(NHL) in 1988, was one of the last scow schooners in operation. She is a small example, 59 feet in length, 22.6 feet in beam, with a draft of 4 feet and a loaded displacement of 41 tons.
Elsie was the last scow sloop operated on the Chesapeake Bay. Although sailing scows were once numerous around the Bay, they are very poorly documented.
The Ted Ashby is a ketch rigged scow built in 1993 and based at the New Zealand National Maritime Museum
National Maritime Museum, New Zealand
The Voyager New Zealand Maritime Museum is New Zealand's premier maritime museum. It is located on Hobson Wharf Auckland, adjacent to Viaduct Harbour...
in Auckland, it regularly sails the Auckland harbour as a tourist attraction. It was named after an old-time New Zealand seafarer and scowman, Ted Ashby, who had the foresight to document much of the history of these coastal work horses in his book Phantom Fleet - The Scows and Scowmen of Auckland, which was published by A. H. & A. W. Reed, Wellington, in 1976.
The Jane Gifford is a ketch-rigged deck scow built in 1908 by Davey Darroch, Big Omaha, New Zealand. The vessel was re-launched at Waiuku on the 28 November 1992, with Captain Basil Subritzky, the son of the late Captain Bert Subritzky and his family as guests of honour. The Jane Gifford then commenced sailings and tours on the Manukau Harbour
Manukau Harbour
Manukau Harbour is the second largest natural harbour in New Zealand by area. It is located to the southwest of the Auckland isthmus, and is an arm of the Tasman Sea.-Geography:...
between Waiuku
Waiuku
Waiuku is a country town in the Franklin District, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located at the southern end of the Waiuku River, which is an estuarial arm of the Manukau Harbour...
and the Onehunga Wharf
Onehunga
Onehunga is a suburb of Auckland City, New Zealand and the location of the Port of Onehunga, the city's small port on the Manukau Harbour. It is eight kilometres south of the city centre, close to the volcanic cone of One Tree Hill, Maungakiekie....
. In 1999 she was pulled out of the water for a rebuild, which commenced at Okahu Bay on the Waitemata Harbour. She then sat rotting until 2005, when she was moved to Warkworth for rebuilding. A full rebuild, using modern materials has been done at Warkworth, and the vessel will be relaunched on 16th of May 2009. She will be the only original New Zealand scow still afloat to carry sail.
The Echo was built in 1905 of Kauri in New Zealand. She is 104 feet (32 m) long, with two masts and topsail rigged. Twin diesel engines were installed in 1920. In 1942-44 she was used by US forces in the Pacific, see USS Echo (IX-95)
USS Echo (IX-95)
USS Echo , an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the nymph Echo. A sailing scow, she was used as a supply ship in the South Pacific from 1942 to 1944.- History :...
. Her story was the basis for the 1960 film with Jack Lemon, The Wackiest Ship in the Army
The Wackiest Ship in the Army (film)
The Wackiest Ship in the Army is a 1960 CinemaScope comedy-drama war film starring Jack Lemmon, Ricky Nelson and Chips Rafferty. It was filmed at Pearl Harbor and Kauai.-Plot summary:...
and the 1965 TV series
The Wackiest Ship in the Army (film)
The Wackiest Ship in the Army is a 1960 CinemaScope comedy-drama war film starring Jack Lemmon, Ricky Nelson and Chips Rafferty. It was filmed at Pearl Harbor and Kauai.-Plot summary:...
. She was nearly broken up in 1990, but is now preserved at Picton, New Zealand
Picton, New Zealand
Picton is a town in the Marlborough region of New Zealand. It is close to the head of Queen Charlotte Sound near the north-east corner of the South Island. The population was 2928 in the 2006 Census, a decrease of 72 from 2001...
Howard I. Chapelle
Howard I. Chapelle
Howard Irving Chapelle was an American naval architect, and curator of maritime history at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.. In addition, he authored many books and articles books on maritime history and marine architecture.-Biography:...
documented a number of scows in his book American Small Sailing Craft.
Racing boats: the inland lake scows
In the early 20th century, smaller sloopSloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
and cat
Catboat
A catboat , or a cat-rigged sailboat, is a sailing vessel characterized by a single mast carried well forward ....
rigged scows became popular sailboats on inland lakes throughout the midwestern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. First popularized by Johnson Boat Works
Johnson Boat Works
Johnson Boat Works was a builder and developer of racing sailboats and scows in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Founded in 1896 by John O. Johnson, an emigrant from Norway, the builder started building A-Scows. As more classes were founded, Johnson moved on to B's, C's, D's, and E's. Johnson was...
in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, these boats were distinguished by their larger sail plans, retractable bilgeboards, and (in some classes) twin rudder
Rudder
A rudder is a device used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft or other conveyance that moves through a medium . On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw and p-factor and is not the primary control used to turn the airplane...
s. There are many active racing classes throughout the Midwest, Western New York, the New Jersey Shore and parts of the South
South
South is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.South is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to east and west.By convention, the bottom side of a map is south....
. These boats are traditionally identified by their class letters:
- AA-ScowIn sailing, the A-Scow is a large sailing scow. It is 38 feet long and with reported top speeds of over 25 knots. With its rules of design, also known as scantlings, first beaten by its father in 1901, the A-Scow has a significant history...
: The largest inland lake scow at 38 feet long, the A normally requires a crew of six or seven. The sail plan includes a mainsailMainsailA mainsail is a sail located behind the main mast of a sailing vessel.On a square rigged vessel, it is the lowest and largest sail on the main mast....
, a jibJibA jib is a triangular staysail set ahead of the foremast of a sailing vessel. Its tack is fixed to the bowsprit, to the bow, or to the deck between the bowsprit and the foremost mast...
, and a large asymmetrical spinnakerSpinnakerA spinnaker is a special type of sail that is designed specifically for sailing off the wind from a reaching course to a downwind, i.e. with the wind 90°–180° off the bow. The spinnaker fills with wind and balloons out in front of the boat when it is deployed, called flying. It is constructed of...
. It has twin rudders. A new A scow (with sails and a trailer) cost $125,000 in 2005. Once the fastest monohull sailboat in the world, has been clocked in at 33 knots (38 mph). It is possible to waterski behind these sailboats, as demonstrated by Buddy MelgesBuddy MelgesHarry "Buddy" Melges, Jr., is one of the most successful competitive sailors in history, with dozens of national and international championships in many different classes, including ice-boating as well as conventional sailing...
. - EE-ScowThe E-Scow is the younger sister of the A-Scow, both boats are manufactured by Melges Performance Sailboats. Its rigging is similar to the A-Scow, and their hull shapes are almost identical, just 10 feet shorter. The boat is competitively sailed in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, New York,...
: This is essentially a smaller version of the A scow. Only 28 feet long, it requires a crew of three or four. In 2007, the class association (NCESA) voted to make the asymmetrical spinnaker the class legal standard. - M-16M ScowThe M-Scow is a sloop rigged scow. Commonly called the M-16, the M-scow is sailed widely from Minnesota to New Jersey. The boat was originally designed by Melges Boat Works and became an ILYA sanctioned class in 1959. Over the years, there have been several builders, including: Melges, Larson, Bay...
: This 16-foot scow crews two, and has a mainsail and jib but no spinnaker. It has tiny dual rudders like the A and the E. - M-20I-20 (Sailing Scow)The I-20 is a modernized version of the M-20. It is a sloop rigged scow with a spinnaker. The boat was first built at Melges Boat Works, now Melges Performance Sailboats. The boat has two bilgeboard and two small rudders. After a couple years of experimentation, the class settled on its current...
: A 20-foot version of the M-16, with the addition of a backstay, a tunnel hull and a spinnaker. Modern boats are built with both the symmetrical spinnaker, or the I-20I-20 (Sailing Scow)The I-20 is a modernized version of the M-20. It is a sloop rigged scow with a spinnaker. The boat was first built at Melges Boat Works, now Melges Performance Sailboats. The boat has two bilgeboard and two small rudders. After a couple years of experimentation, the class settled on its current...
version with an asymmetrical spinnaker. - CC-ScowThe C-Scow is a member of the scow family. Like the MC, it is cat-rigged but requires two or three people to sail. Like the MC, it has bilgeboards but only one rudder. Although the current boat is one-design, the original class had several boats that fit within a box rule. The first scantlings for...
: This is a 20-foot catboatCatboatA catboat , or a cat-rigged sailboat, is a sailing vessel characterized by a single mast carried well forward ....
with one large sail set far forward on the hull. It requires a crew of two or three. Unlike the A and E, the C-scow has a large, efficient single rudder. It has no permanent backstay, so jibing the boat requires the quick use of running backstays. - MCMC ScowThe MC-Scow is a one-design sailboat made by Melges Performance Sailboats. The boat is cat rigged, and is sailed by either one or two people.-History:...
: The MC is a "mini-C" of sorts, a 16-foot cat-rigged boat with a higher and narrower sailplan. It also has a large efficient single rudder. It can be sailed competitively by 1 person. This is a growing class, especially popular in the midwest and southern USA. - 17Melges 17The Melges17 is a Bermuda rigged racing scow first launched in January 2004 by Melges Performance Sailboats. The boat's rig consists of a main with a large roach, a roller furling jib and an asymmetrical spinnaker.-Design:...
: Introduced in 2005 by Melges Performance SailboatsMelges Performance SailboatsMelges Performance Sailboats, is a United States company founded by Harry Melges, father of former Olympic sailor Buddy Melges. The company's headquarters is in Zenda, Wisconsin. The about six hundred existing boats are approximately evenly split between North America and Europe, with fleets in...
, the 17 is a departure from traditional scow design. It has an asymmetrical spinnaker and retractable bowspritBowspritThe bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a pole extending forward from the vessel's prow. It provides an anchor point for the forestay, allowing the fore-mast to be stepped farther forward on the hull.-Origin:...
, a high-roach full-battened mainsail, and unusually long and thin rudder and bilgeboards. - ButterflyButterfly (dinghy)The Butterfly is a one-design sailing dinghy, originally designed for a crew of two, but now most commonly raced single-handed. It was designed in 1961 in Libertyville, Illinois by John Barnett. The hull is a scow design. The craft has an mast and a single mainsail with a surface...
: This small scow is meant to be sailed by one person. It features a cat rig, and unlike the other boats above, it has a daggerboard.
Contrary to the connotations of the old definition of "scow" (large and slow), the inland lake scows are extremely fast--the wide, flat bottom hull allows them to plane
Planing (sailing)
Planing is the mode of operation for a waterborne craft in which its weight is predominantly supported by hydrodynamic lift, rather than hydrostatic lift .-History:...
easily. As a consequence of this, the A scow is the highest rated centerboard boat according to the US Portsmouth yardstick
Portsmouth yardstick
The Portsmouth Yardstick or Portsmouth handicap scheme is a system of handicapping used primarily in small-boat yacht racing.The handicap is applied to the time taken to sail any course, and the corrected time can be used to compare widely different sailboats on even terms. Portsmouth Numbers are...
numbers.
Slang terms
In slangSlang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
, the word “scow” has recently acquired two new senses, which refer to motor vehicle
Motor vehicle
A motor vehicle or road vehicle is a self-propelled wheeled vehicle that does not operate on rails, such as trains or trolleys. The vehicle propulsion is provided by an engine or motor, usually by an internal combustion engine, or an electric motor, or some combination of the two, such as hybrid...
s:
- The first colloquial sense calls a dump truckTruckA truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...
a "scow." - Extending the first colloquial sense, "scow" is sometimes used to refer to a pickup truckPickup truckA pickup truck is a light motor vehicle with an open-top rear cargo area .-Definition:...
, sport utility vehicleSport utility vehicleA sport utility vehicle is a generic marketing term for a vehicle similar to a station wagon, but built on a light-truck chassis. It is usually equipped with four-wheel drive for on- or off-road ability, and with some pretension or ability to be used as an off-road vehicle. Not all four-wheel...
, or minivanMinivanMinivan is a type of van designed for personal use. Minivans are typically either two-box or one box designs for maximum interior volume – and are taller than a sedan, hatchback, or a station wagon....
as a class; or any similar large, tall, or long vehicle. - Scow is also a diss used to express animosity, usually having connotations to cues. Example: "You ain't got no sense, boy. Scow!"
- Also, since late 2009, the word "scow" is used to describe a lesbianLesbianLesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
.
External links
- PDRacer.com Puddle Duck Racer - easiest boat in the world to build, and happens to be a cute little scow.
- Chichester scow, a small commercially built GRP sailing scow
- http://janegifford.org.nz Preserved scow Jane Gifford, Warkworth, New Zealand
History of New Zealand Scows: 'Neath Swaying Spars' by P.A. Eaddy. Pub. Whitcombe & Tombs. New Zealand 1939.