10 foot oars

[Slim]

After much deliberation, I have decided to go ahead with making a set of 10 foot oars for my DS1 #2077, “Sharky”

For the last 3 seasons of owning Sharky, we’ve messed around with the gamut of alternative propulsion from the original 30lb thrust Minnesota with a car battery, to a vintage Seagull long shaft, to a game fisher 3hp. My favorite, however has turned out to be my trusty ol’ canoe paddle, and I’ve gotten brave enough on a couple of expeditions to leave the motor behind. So far this has worked out well and have never gotten into too sticky of a situation that I couldn’t somehow maneuver out of! However, I’ve always had a motor or an extra paddler when really working against wind/current.
I’ve been thinking about the utility of some long oars, hopefully making possible longer becalmed passages, upwind crawling off leeward shores, and confident maneuvering in crowded coves. I havent’t really come across much on this forum in the way of oar experimentation for the Daysailer. A few people seem to have tried more standard 6 to 8 footers and found them usable but maybe a little too short. I’m going to try for a set of tens, which by most oar length calculating formulas still might be a little short. However, most of these formulas must be aimed at true rowing craft, which I reckon the Daysailer will never really be. However, I’m hoping that these 10 footers will be more than adequate and allow me to leave the motor well free for a couple of cold ones and the sunscreen!
And hopefully the sheets free of all the extra snaggers that a motor creates. Which brings me to a major drawback of shipping oars along for the ride,which is stowing them when not in use. I’ve eyeballed the carbon fiber sleeves sold at Duckworks which allows one to make any oar break down into two pieces. If the oars are successful, I might go that route, but for now they’ll have to stow in one piece. I’m hoping that the handle end will lay on the side deck near the side chainplate and be secured to it with some sort of bungee. The blade then would be hanging over the stern and maybe be secured to the aft side cleat or some other tie down point while sailing. I’m even thinking the shaft could have some sort of pad that fits onto it for comfort when hiking out!
So far I have roughed out the shafts from some ash I saved from the firewood pile. The shafts will taper from 2” at the handle end to about 1 1/4 near the end of the blade. I’m planning to make a flat blade about 30” long and glue it into long, wide kerf at the end of the shaft. That way the shaft will create a spine down either side of the blade. I don’t trust myself to go for a spoon blade. I worry that the shaft will come out a little crooked or asymmetrical and it may be good to be able to use either face of the blade.
I haven’t thought too much about the boat setup, other than oarlocks mounted somehow on the side decks and maybe a rowing seat that fits on top of the centerboard trunk just forward of the thwarts. Hopefully the oar handles will clear the main sheet and I won’t be bonking my head on the boom!

[GreenLake]

A number of people have fitted oars to their DS, and some have written about it on the forum.

Kudos for building your own!

I've rowed in one forum members boat. His oars were shorter than 10' because of where he stowed them. That may have affected the experience. I'm also taller than the person for whom the seat was fitted, so not the best condition for a test. Task was to get from the launch to the slip in a small marina.

Looking forward to hearing from you how they work out in practice, particularly for any longer distances.

(Otherwise, I'm still waiting for someone to report on a yuloh single oar on the transom and whether that setup would be workable on distances over a 1000'.)

[bilbo]

I have been thinking about the single sculling oar. I found a place called Scullmaster that makes a lock that clamps on the transom and was going to possibly try it out this summer. I think it would tick all the boxes I need ticked.

[GreenLake]

Please report back, how well it tick(l)ed all your boxes.

[jcbartel]

Here is a picture of what the former owner installed on my Daysailer II. I have since removed. I think the seat and oarlocks worked well for storing the oars along the deck.

[Shagbark]

Alright, I'm curious. What's the black thing mounted on your center board trunk?

[jcbartel]

That is the rowing seat. It was a plastic chair seat mounted on a wooden base that strattled the centerboard trunk. I never sat in it but it appeared to be quite sturdy and it did not damage the trunk at all. The oarlocks were mounted with 4 bolts to the top of the deck combing. The access ports were for access to the fasteners.

[Slim]

Thanks for the pictures, that’s about what I was thinking, minus the fancy plastic bucket seat! Since I have a DS1 I’m not sure that the row locks will work out as on your boat. It’s hard to judge the angle that the oars will be at throughout their strokes so that they don’t bump either on the wooden coamings or on the rub rails. Think I might make a temporary block to hold the row locks that can be clamped in different positions in order to dial it in...

[GreenLake]

On an older DS 1, you just mount supports outside the wooden coamings, but high enough to clear them.

[Slim]

28F0D21C-0282-4C61-8205-154D4E935025.jpeg (127.36 KiB) Viewed 24252 times

Jeez! I thought it would be a pretty simple project to make a couple of oars, but months later, still not there. Just finished the oars themselves. Now to figure out oarlock positioning and attachment, a rowing seat on the centerboard trunk, and some leathers for the oars.
The oarlock postioning will be the toughest- two potions seem to be up against the coatings on a wooden block and more outboard closer to the rubrail. Because of the length of the shank of the oarlock, it will have to be higher than I’d like-pain in the butt when hiking out. Definitely need to rig a temporary moveable block to try out different positions.
Luckily heading to Maine for a couple of weeks, so hopefully plenty of opportunity for test rows!

[GreenLake]

The length of the shank of the oarlock should not enter here.

I believe you may have made the assumption that the shank needs to remain above the deck, but why should that be? There's nothing that prevents you from splitting your oarlock horizontally and fastening one half above and one half below the deck (with a hole drilled so the shank can pass into the space between deck and seat).

Incidentally, this would work well for removable oarlocks: if divided into two pieces, you can throughbolt them together. It would require three holes in the deck: for the shank and for each of a pair of bolts. You could even set up multiple positions, with a strip of 2" electrical tape to "cover" any unused holes.

I'd be curious to know if the over the deck position is the one you prefer compared to one inboard of the coamings?

Finally, there's also the option of mounting a wide enough triangular base on the deck so the shank position is outside the rubrail. Perhaps that's the one you meant? That one should be removable as it interferes with docking, but might be ergonomically even better?

[Slim]

I had thought about the shank going through the deck, but discarded the idea because I didn’t really want to put a hole in the otherwise watertight side deck. However, now that I think about it more, the socket would need to be at least high enough to clear the coamings , and if the block were sealed to the side deck, then any water running down or submerging the side deck would need to be at least as high as the coamings to enter the cockpit. Any splash or rainwater would be negligible and I could even fashion a plug for when I’m not using the oars.... In that case it seems that the ideal spot would be about midway between the coamings and rubrail to avoid drilling into the carlins.

[GreenLake]

If you've buried the rail to where water from any small wave could crest the coaming, your hole through the deck (esp. if effectively raised a bit as you describe) is going to make a negligible contribution. But neither rainwater nor spray running down the deck from the bow would be able to get in. The latter scenario seems to me the one where I see the biggest benefits of the coamings, at least the way I sail.

Good luck. Those are a mighty fine pair of oars you've got there and I'm looking forward to your report how they work out for you.

[tomodda]

Are those flotation bags under the cuddy? How are they strapped in?

[Slim]

The flotation bags are inflatable beach rollers from duckworks. They are ultra tough vinyl that you can supposedly roll your boat into and out of the water with (haven’t tried it yet). Also can be used as dock bumpers and as entertainment for the kids! However at 5’ long they fit perfectly between the seats and forward bulkhead. As part of a major interior overhaul I gave my boat this winter, I epoxied some D rings to the hull with a short piece of nylon strap. I figured as long as I was going to be toting these things around they might as well give me some extra flotation...