Oar locks

Had to break out the paddles one night years ago. First the wind died. Then we ran out of gas. Still about 1/2 mile to go. Boat moved along OK in flat water once you get it going. Took a loooong time to get home. Not real convenient leaning over the side with a paddle.

I have thought about a single sculling oar using the flagstaff socket at the stern to hold an oarlock. Could even be sort of an emergency rudder.

Hard to believe you could make much progress against wind, tide or chop, but those Mammasans in Hong Kong do it.

Just a reminder to please search your subject using the search function before starting a new thread. :)

Back when I was a lad in Sea Explorer Scouts, ship 19,Pop Vannaman skipper, Delanco, New Jersey we had a double ended steel lifboat that we rowed. As I remember it we had 14' oars, one per rower, eight rowers and a tillerman. The oars were made of ash I believe, and very old, US Navy surrplus from the old Philidelphia Navy Yard. It would take two rowers sitting on a cross cockpit seat close to midship as possible to row one of our boats effectively. It would be a real task rowing against a good tidel flow like that of the Delaware River in full flood.It would also take rowing experience and good co-ordination, but it could be done. Cross currents, wind, tide, waves, strength and endurance of rowers. The narrow beam of our boats would be a plus. :mad:

Break out the whip!

Hmmm, a 2003 thread. Sorry about that Bill. Thanks for combining the threads. I usually do check. I blew it this time. I found that other thread just last night, and I am embarrased to note that I started that one too. It's easy to become distracted when working on these "non critical" projects. So many projects and so little time.

Edey & Duff, Sakonnet, designed by Joel White
list a bronze winch oarlock for $38 (2004)
www.massachusettsboats.com

So who makes em: Bristol, Spartan?
They'd lock on like a winch handle, for sure.
Weld them up from flea mkt winch handles..?

Ebb,

I guess you have to buy the $24,950 Sakonett to get the $38.00 bronze winch oarlock. For $15,000, or $23,000 on the same web page, you could have a Stone Horse by Edey and Duff and forget the oar lock. Those are classic little boats by the way. :)

Was hoping wasn't I that someone in the eastern fleet might drop by Edey & Duff and ask about the winchtop oarlocks. Then tell anyone interested here about it.

Figure that a brand new Ariel built today would go for 38 grand. agree? And the oarlocks would still go fer 38 bucks! (We'll see what a Sakonette is worth in 40 years!) In the meantime WE ARE the class plastic classic who may be interested in those locks if somebody is willing to sell em. A whole bunch of sailboats be interested, wouldn't you think?

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Winchtop oarloicks would put the oar(s) at a certain height in relation to the cockpit. Question is would the oars be deployable in that position and comfortable for the rower? Is the 11' oar the correct one for the standing and/or sitting position you guys mention? Would a winchtop position change anything? Perhaps it's the best for standing/pushing?

The longer the oar the greater the lever and the lesser the effort needed to move the weight.
Anyway you slice it a 12' oar is needed for a slow easy stroke and I'd be surprised if you see better than 3 knots with one person rowing unless they are an Olympic rower .
When oars get long , they get heavy ( unless you are just rowing a racing scull) heavy oars are need to move a heavy object . When they get to 11' or 12' long or better , you only want one of them to deal with both hands on it .
Single oar, standing , facing forward is the simplest way to go and a shorter oar can be used than if one was sitting and rowing.

Mbd, great photo, thats somewhat like it was rowing up and down the Delaware River in Seascouts. My boyhood friends and I also had old heavy oak wooden rowboats that we rowed everyday for hours. Seascouts was forced upon us water rats, as we refered to ourselves, by the Coast Guard and an irate mother and father who thought that we ragga-muffens should have been jailed for grabbing thier son and his two friends from the lawn of thier riverside manson and leaving then on a sandbar.

Would it be possible for Robert to get some photos of the one oar over the side and bungie to the tiller method? Pictures do indeed do the work of a thousand words!

Thanks for pointing out the weight issue - certainly take note of that! Some photos or diagram would demystify it for everybody. Do believe its an important option to be aware of anyway.

Boats with an open base winch pad could maybe carry an oar along a coaming for instant use. ? Others may have theirs held by deck fittings of some sort on the opposite side of the wiskerpole. ?

Ebb,

My plan is to either purchase a set of those spiffy winch top oar locks that you found on the Edey and Duff Sakonnet, or install a bracket that will bolt on the outside of my stainless steel winch bases to hold an oarlock at the height of but a few inches outboard of the winches so that I can get a 7 foot spread between the oar locks. Mike is right: Long oars are heavy. Trying to balance a set of 11-foot oars on the coaming boards leaves a lot of weight on the outer ends. I have tried it. I hope to be able to use both oars, and perhaps if the balance point is far enough outboard I can do just that. Otherwise I'll follow Mike's experience-based advice and use a single oar.

I also want to install a stern oarlock so that I could do some sculling if possible. I am endeavoring to contact Edey and Duff to see if they will provide a source for their winch top oar locks. After I get all of this stuff together, I will provide photo documentation.

I have taken my Carlisle eleven foot oars out to sea and played with them a bit, and I built some rude prototype oar lock brackets/sockets from scrap wood, but it has been hard to find a free afternoon when the wind was not blowing fifteen knots plus to perform tests. I want some calm water for my initial experiments. Also it is darn hard to photograph yourself rowing an Ariel while you are single-handing. Since it has been blowing out, I have been messing with my self steering gears instead. Yesterday I had a rip-roaring six to seven knot beam reach run among the white caps with a jib to tiller gear. No chance to dip an oar in the water there.

To keep your head spinning with the possibilities, here are a couple of photos of oar lock applications that might work on Ariel or Commander coaming boards, although I cannot speak to the issue of whether the stress on the boards would be excessive. I guess it would depend on the oar length and sea conditions.

The color photo of the Davis Lock is of a commercially available lock that folds down out of the way when not in use. A pair goes for $43.00. About it, the Shaw and Tenney website http://www.shawandtenney.com/marine-hardware.htm says “Used primarily on sailboats these oarlocks lift up in the socket then swing down to hang out of the way inside the boat when not in use. They are available in a #1 size only. Made of Manganese Bronze."

Pretty slick huh?

The black and white plan drawing is a homemade application.

The second color photo is a more expensive Patent Swivel Oar Lock about which Shaw an Tenney says, “Extensively used prior to WWII, these rowlocks are still seen today on many antique boats and canoes. The customer demand for these reproductions has prompted us to make them once again. They are supplied in polished (shown) or burnished Manganese Bronze.”…for price of $159 per pair. This would be an easy mount on a small wooden block or directly on the deck at the stern for sculling.

Also NRS http://www.nrsweb.com makes a rail mount for their oarlocks, and sells them for $69.95 a pair. They mount to a rail using U bolts (sold separately). Perhaps one of these would work on the push pit rail or would that be too high?

I bought my Carlisle oars from NRS. A small photo of that rail mount is also attached. They make two models for 5/8 inch oar lock shafts. I love NRS. I lost one of the bolts that came with my new oar sleeves while transporting my oars to the boat, and they sent me a complete new oar sleeve with lock nut and bolt at no cost to me whatsoever. What service! I think I’ll slap their free sticker on my car.

It's a bird, It's a plane! No, it's an oarlock/self-steering device never before seen on an Ariel: Oar problem solved, eleven foot Carlisle sweeps with NRS oarlocks shown in stowed position in Nov 05 photo of Augustine. :cool:

This is a close-up of the device: The block is a Garhauer series 25 block that functions as part of a jib-to-tiller self steering gear, so this little baby has two functions. Under test conditions at sea it performed as designed for both functions.

Scott,
Impressive! Went to the NRS site and now understand that strange to me fluted thingy as a device to raise the oarlocks UP 6" or 8". These are meant to be clamped to a ss rail with a U clamp. Could just be bolted to something flat but the forces on the bolts would be considerable I'd guess.

They catalog a steel extender that has a wider square base plate with a V shaped plate welded on to it that has a tube welded at the top for the oar lock. It looks like it extends not only UP but leans OUT as well.

I can't for the life of me figure out what the oil filter cannister on your winch is - didn't see it in the NRS catalog. I can understand that the something is slipped down over the the winch (or is that a winch-cozy) and has a socket for the lock on top. Is this an invention of yours???

Would need oar lock cannisters sized for each size winch. Right? Perplexed.

Last time we were on this thread I emailed an inquiry to Edey & Duff about the Sakonet winch oar locks. Have just received a reply from Cam Church at Church@aol.com at E & D. Each lock is $55. We are negotiating as we speak, they don't do credit cards. Wrote back saying I was interested but I have no idea how they are attached to the winch.

My assumption is that a winch oar lock would merely lock into the winch handle star socket. Had no idea there was a cover over the winch. There wouild have to be a number of cup sizes - so better to communicate with Cam on just what their w.o.l. is and how the lock is attached to a winch BEFOR sending a check. Pricey for an oarlock.

Another assumption is that it would be 'safer' in terms of not loosing the oars to have circular locks rather than horn locks. Thoghts on this??

Scott, please, what is the mystery cannister over the winch? :D :confused: