Refitting Ocean Rowing Boat For Indian Ocean EP4 - Solo Ocean Rower

Ocean Rower, John (twitter @solopacificrow ) is preparing to row the Indian Ocean, attempting to become the first person to row continent to continent from Australia to East Africa. This is a series of videos detailing the journey to the start line, preparing the ocean rowing boat, equipment and planning logistics and supplies.
John previously set a Pacific Ocean Rowing record by becoming the first person in history to row, solo, non stop, continent to continent from North America to Australia. From San Fransisco to Cairns, a Solo Ocean Row consisting of 208 days at sea. He rowed the Atlantic solo in 2011 and again in 2018 with his daughter.
All completed in a pure rowing boat, i.e. no auto pilot, no dagger board, no wind catching design elements, not a blowing boat.

[@donaldalexandee9555]

Just amazing not too many adventurers like this left nice work mate good on you

[@soloatlanticrower]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@louise-marie]

Beautiful paint job John. It's oddly satisfying watching the masking tape being pulled off to reveal the precision paint job underneath. Lol

[@soloatlanticrower]

Thanks Louise. It's a bit like pealing the protective film off a new phone, very satisfying, although with a bit of apprehension before, did it work / didn't it work.

[@mikedonovan5500]

Hi John, former runner fella here, great clips, I got a boat and just doing repaint and upgrades now, I got Elsa Hammonds justin Adkin built Seasabre SF to Hw boat.

[@RockRat55]

Great job John. Hope the rest of the prep goes as well :)

[@soloatlanticrower]

Thanks

[@thewild1860]

Your adventures are incredible John. You are very humble for what you have already achieved. How long do you expect to be on the Indian Ocean and are you aiming for Madagascar or mainland Africa? Is your departure from Darwin? Thank you .

[@soloatlanticrower]

Hi, thanks for the comment, hoping to depart from Geraldton and hoping to make land on mainland Africa, Dar es Salaam to be precise. Trying for another fist. Not sure on duration, it's a bit unpredictable, 4-6 months is a big window but probably no faster than thee 4.

[@thewild1860]

@@soloatlanticrower Fantastic. What an epic adventure that would be.

[@ianwass605]

Great video, hope all goes ok 👌

[@soloatlanticrower]

Thanks Ian.

[@ianwass605]

@@soloatlanticrower can’t wait to follow you on the next one! 👍

[@mikedonovan5500]

Hi John, Mike, NYC to Cornwall fella here, sorry to bother you but have a quick question, do you bother with antifouling below the waterline on your boats, I'm fully in the sanding and prepping of my boat currently but unsure if it's needed? Thanks Mike

[@soloatlanticrower]

Hi Mike, antifoul of some sort is a must, especially as a slow moving vessel you will get significant growth of varying types on the hull, even with antifoul you will still need to go over and clean the boats bottom a couple of times.

[@colinchambers3433]

Should the painted area be used for Flexi solar panels

[@soloatlanticrower]

Hi Colin, Socks has three large solar panels fitted facing directly up to produce maximum power and produce good power (most of the time). The the type of flexible panel I think your talking about wouldn't add significantly to power used to make them flexible. Plus the angle they were fitted would significantly reduce there exposure time to the sun. Now when Perovskite technology was a bit more advanced I believe I you would be able to paint the boat and turn the whole thing into a solar panel., that would be cool.