M Scow

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The M Scow is a small American-Canadian racing sailboat designed in 1950 as a one-design racer. It was created by Johnson Boat Works and Melges Boat Works and has been built by Tanzer Industries in Canada and Windward Boatworks and Melges Performance Sailboats in the United States. Today it is no longer in production.

The boat is a fiberglass, two-person dinghy with wood trim. It has a 16.0 ft length, 5.8 ft beam, and a draft of 2.67 ft with the bilgeboard down. The hull is a reverse-sheer scow with dual internally mounted rudders (tiller) and dual retractable bilgeboards, and it displaces about 440 lb. It can be transported on a trailer.

Rig and sails
- Fractional Bermuda rig with aluminum or wooden spars
- Mainsail: 108 sq ft
- Jib: 39 sq ft
- Total sail area: 147 sq ft
- Originally featured end-boom sheeting to a mainsheet traveler, jib windows for visibility, a boom vang, Cunningham, barber haulers, and a jib traveler
- A 1999 redesign removed the dual rudders, rotating mast, and mainsheet traveler, and updated hull and rigging to MC Scow designs

Racing and handling
- Portsmouth Yardstick handicap: 89.3
- Typically raced with a crew of two
- The M Scow is a true one-design class, with most boats historically found in the Midwest; the Inland Lake Yachting Association governs its championships, which have drawn 60–90 boats

Other notes
- The M Scow is trailerable and is mainly used for recreational racing today, though the MC Scow version remained in production as of 2020.