A scow, in the original sense, is a flat bottomed boat with a blunt bow, often used to haul garbage or similar bulk freight; cf. barge. The etymology of the word is from Dutch schouwe, meaning such a boat.

Scow schooners

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A uniquely American design, the schooner rigged scow was widely used for coastal and inland transport from around 1850 through the early 1900s. Scow schooners had a broad, shallow hull, and used centerboards, bilgeboards or leeboards rather than a deep keel. The broad hull gave them stability, and the retractable foils 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 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.

The scow schooner Alma, of San Francisco, built in 1891, restored in the 1960s, and designated a national historic landmark in 1988, was one of the last scow schooners in operation. She is a smaller example, 59 feet in length, 22.6 feet in beam, with a draft of 4 feet and a loaded displacement of 41 tons.

See also the Thames sailing barge, a British equilvalent to the scow schooner. The Thames sailing barges, while used for similar tasks, used significantly different hull shapes and rigging.

Inland lake scows

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In the early 20th century, smaller sloop and cat rigged scows became popular sailboats on inland lakes throughout the midwestern United States. First popularized by Johnson Boat Works in Minnesota, these boats were distinguished by their larger sail plans, retractable bilgeboards, and (in some classes) twin rudders. There are many active racing classes throughout the Midwest, Western New York, the New Jersey Shore and parts of the South. These boats are traditionally identified by their class letters:

• A: The largest inland lake scow at 38 feet long, the A normally requires a crew of six or seven. The sail plan includes a mainsail, a jib, and a large asymmetrical spinnaker. It has twin rudders. A new A scow (with sails and a trailer) cost $125,000 in 2005. The fastest monohull sailboat in the world, it has been clocked in at 33 knots (38 mph).
• E: This is essentially a smaller version of the A scow. Only 28 feet long, it requires a crew of three or four. Currently it has a symmetrical spinnaker.
• M-16: 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-20: 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-20 version with an asymmetrical spinnaker.
• C: This is a 20-foot catboat 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.
• MC: The MC is a "mini-C" of sorts, a 16-foot cat-rigged boat with a relatively 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.
• 17: Introduced in 2005 by Melges Boat Works, the 17 is a departure from traditional scow design. It has an asymmetrical spinnaker and retractable bowsprit, a high-roach full-battened mainsail, and unusually long and thin rudder and bilgeboards.

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 easily. As a consequence of this, the A scow is the highest rated centerboard boat according to the US Portsmouth yardstick numbers.

The squared off shape and simple lines of a scow make it a popular choice for simple home-built boats made from plywood. Phil Bolger and Jim Michalak, for example, have designed a number or 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 sheets of 4 foot by 8 foot sheets of plywood.

Slang usage

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In slang, the word "scow" has recently acquired two new senses, which refer to motor vehicles:

• The first colloquial sense calls a dump truck a "scow."
• Extending the first colloquial sense, "scow" is sometimes used to refer to a pickup truck, sport utility vehicle, or minivan as a class; or any similar large, tall, or long vehicle.
• Scow is also a dis used to express animosity, usually has connotations to queues. Example: "You ain't got no sense, boy. Scow!"

External links

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• History of scow schooner Alma, with a brief history of scow schooners in general.
• Web page of the Gas Light, a 1991 steel built replica of an 1870s scow schooner.

Boat types | Dinghies | Dutch loanwords

Scow is also a dis used to express animosity, usually has connotations to queues.