A coracle is a type of boat that was used in Wales and the surrounded areas of England. This boat is small and is lightweight. It is covered by animal skin as the traditional construction used to do. It is traditional for one person only and can be paddle with an oar.
The structure of a coracle has an oval shape and can be compared with a half walnut. The construction of the boat uses interwoven rods that tied with barks. The outside of the boat was originally covered by animal skin mostly horse and a thin layer of tar to make the embarkation waterproof but nowadays instead of the tar it is common to see the use of tarred calico or canvas and in some cases it can be replaced with fiberglass. The construction might change depending of the place where is constructed, for example in Asia they use bamboo.
A Coracle has no keel, the bottom of it is flat to distribute the weight of the passenger equally in the structure, this kind of design make a coracle a nice transportation devise to use in rivers.
The design varies a lot from coracle to coracle because they are built for each river conditions, so in theory there must be a coracle design per river but as they are not always tailored by a unique person they change.
They might change also according to the use that people are going to give to the boat.
The coracle was originally designed by people of Wales and the surrounded areas. It was used by the Romans. There are also some chronicles that said that the coracles were so easy to use and portable that they might be carried by one person in the shoulder.
coracle You can search boats that are small and easy to use in our website, check the different types and learn more about them.