What length oars should I get for my DS1?

[GreenLake]

It's a tradeoff. The shorter ones are easier to store, but to efficiently row the DS, you'd like slightly longer ones.

[graham5494]

Seat only

Seat only.JPG (221.24 KiB) Viewed 7250 times

Shows row-lock position

Rowlocks seat.JPG (134.95 KiB) Viewed 7250 times

Rowing seat and oars for my DS1

I have just gone through the process of fitting my boat with oars and a rowing seat . I thought some people may like to see pictures of my efforts .
First the oars selected were 8 foot items obtained here in Brisbane . The row-locks are the open pattern type . The pictures basically tell the story .
The row-locks mount through small brass plates which in turn are mounted on 10 inch long hardwood blocks . This is to spread the load on the fibreglass laminate . The through hole is 12 mm or ½ inch in diameter . The hardwood blocks are themselves seated on a thin bed of silicon sealant and bolted to the deck with stainless bolts , nuts and washers . The row-lock stems go through a hardwood spacer , a plastic spacer , a washer and are secured with galvanised split pins . I did consider using 'C' clips so that the row-locks could be removed whilst sailing (but where would you put them ?) Note also that the row-locks may get in the way of your backside if sitting out ! The silicon used increases adhesion of the wood blocks to the deck , enough to make it very difficult to remove them if a mistake is made (yes a mistake was made !)
The rule for positioning the row-locks is to place them 12 inches astern of the rearmost edge of the rowing seat . Be careful because the rower sits facing aft so it is easy to confuse back and astern !
The rowing seat is very much improvised , using left over bits of softwood . I wanted the seat to be removable and small . The objective was to have a simple plank , sitting above the centreboard casing , supported at each side by the half-thwarts . I used thickened epoxy to glue the bits of wood together locating them initially with galvanised panel pins . I then gave the whole seat heavy coats of primer and enamel paint . Note that I like to use rope to fasten things .
The maiden voyage went fairly well . I rowed for about an hour but had not anticipated the 20 knot wind that I got . So I had problems with windage on the cuddy which tended to blow the bows around . To try to combat this I lowered the centreboard (mine is steel remember !) thinking that it would improve grip on the water and had the rudder blade floating , but held amidships with a bungee . Perhaps immersing the rudder blade would be a better idea. The rowing position was quite comfortable and even after an hour I felt that I could have rowed for far longer .

[jeadstx]

Looks good. I have found that with the centerboard down a little the boat rows better. Since I have a DS2, I don't have thwarts to place a rowing seat on. My rowing seat stradles the CB trunk and is additionally supported by the bench seats on each side. During the most recent Tx200, my crew would place the rowing seat across the cockpit and lay on it while at the helm to create additional sitting positions. On a 200 mile sail you come up with creative sitting postions.

John