A Little Dutch Botter Information
Although the Dutch must have long been rowing and sailing for pleasure, a surge in affluence in the late 16th century made "yachting" very popular. "Statenjachten" (governmental yachts) and "speeljacht" (play yachts), and ‘spiegeljacht’ (a yacht with richly decorated transom) were used for business, travelling and also for pleasure. Boats were the most practical means of transport in the Netherlands. The Dutch network of canals, specially dug to facilitate towing barge services between cities, provided the backbone for Europe’s first dependable public transport system.
In the late 16th century an increase in demand for transport volume arose and bigger barges were needed, but the locks in the canals restricted hull sizes. To increase transport capacity, barges had to be built with very full sections and ends, and this caused the wind to blow these flat bottomed vessels sideways. Leeboards solved the problem and they performed better when working at an angle of 3º towards the stem. The leeboards were made slightly concave on the outward side, convex on the inward side.
The Dutch Botter is the most typical fishing boat of the Zuyderzee. The first botters appeared in the 18th century. Today, there is still a specialized wharf that repairs, maintains and even builds new botters.
The boat has a tall mast carrying the "grootzeil" or main sail. The mast is unsupported to allow handling of nets without obstruction. Only a front stay is there to carry the front sail or "fok". Because there are no stays holding up the mast, it has to be very well supported by the bottom and deck of the boat. These sections of the boat are very heavily constructed for that reason.
The Dutch Botter is built almost entirely from oak, except for the deck and the mast which are usually made of pine or spruce. In Holland the oak that is used is known as ‘Wintereik’ or ‘Zomereik’. Red oak is not suitable because it rots too quickly. Oak is amazingly suitable for boat building. It bends very well when heated by steam, it is very durable and hard, and it splits very easily, which was particularly useful for early boat builders like the Vikings who had to split trees to produce boards for their boats.
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