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Oar length


Hirilonde

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FWIW, I hate those oar socket with the nylon inserts. I've got Davis oarlock on my boat and I feel like there's too much give and twist with the plastic in the socket. Better to find some made from solid bronze with a properly machined hole. 

 

 

I like the ones on this page. http://www.barkleysoundoar.com/oarlock.htm#oarlock

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Moving along on the oars.

 

Layed out the 2 oars ying/yang on the board.  I had to go with a bit less taper in the loom than I wanted due to the ferrules.  I could move the ferrules closer to the grips, but then I would be lengthening the take apart length.  I will futs with the taper detail after I get the ferrules let in. 

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Next step was the band saw.  I used a wide resaw blade.  First I cut out the silhouette, then the taper.   Weight 9.2 lbs. each accurate to the 0.1 lbs.

 

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Layout of center lines, taper lines, bevel lines to create the octagon for loom.

 

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Shaped to an octagon, on the way to an infinite sided polygon.  Bevel the blade and transition to the loom roughed in.  Grips now an octagon.  weight 6.0 lbs. each

 

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I sense a nesting dinghy moment ahead, will it be as traumatic?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I'm just trying to imagine the moment when the nice long oars have taken shape and you've got a saw in your hand, preparing to cut them in half.  Yeeesh.

I had the same feeling 10 years ago when I cut my perfectly good Spindrift in half.

 

I test fit the halves under the side decks, I think this will work.  Still pondering how to secure them for easy access.

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Dave-- I'm anxiously awaiting the results of an in-water test of those oars.  The carbon fiber sleeves look interesting to me.  It would be so nice to have oars break down like this.  But it just seems fundamentally wrong to cut an oar in the highest stress area of its length.  I'm hoping that you'll put my mind at ease.

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I hope the sleeves work out well. I had some wooden kayak paddles with smaller versions of those same sleeves. Broke both them them on the same afternoon while surfing in the ocean. The little rabbet used to make them flush with the rest of the paddle created a stress riser and both snapped off cleanly at the collar. 

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I've been following this thread daily as I was also installing a set of Duckworks ferrules on my oars as well. I didn't build mine from scratch though, I had ordered a set of spruce 9 footers off of Ebay, and of course they wouldn't fit inside the cabin of Petunia.

Once the ferrules were advertised I ordered a set and then began the setup and installation process. In my case I had to back up a notch as the looms on my oars were not perfectly round. In order to build oars faster,and more efficiently, they had simply run some stock through a shaper to round off all four corners and so my looms were really ellipses, rather than round cylinders.Pretty close, but still not round. So I sanded down the larger sides of the looms,wrapped them with a nice,tight weave cloth, and then I only had a little (wet) sanding to do in order to get my tenons to fit snugly all around the inside of the ferrules.

The ferrules are clever as they have a "step" inside one half which automatically lines up the other half. As someone pointed out earlier you actually lengthen the oars with the use of these ferrules, and now my 9 footers come in at a little over 9'6" which feels pretty good. I just did a test run this afternoon in the marina, and they felt VERY solid, with NO flex,or play at the joints. I'm not intending to use them for anything more than "backup power" when the wind is down, (and so is the Suzuki....).

Here are a few shots of the tenons being wrapped, and then the oars in half and together.

The orange strips at the tips are pieces of Kevlar tape which really add a lot of strength, and take some of the worry out of using them as push poles,and levers....

 

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........... and they felt VERY solid, with NO flex,or play at the joints.  ...........The orange strips at the tips are pieces of Kevlar tape which really add a lot of strength, and take some of the worry out of using them as push poles,and levers....

 

I found the fit of the pieces to be excellent.  There is no slop in the assembled joint.  I am optimistic.

 

I mortise in hardwood tips on my paddles for durability against pushing off.  I was going to on the oars, but wanted a blank slate for some eventual decorations on the blades.  It is a pain to add them later, but I can if needed.

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The under the side deck storage worked out even better than I hoped.  I came up with a "catch" idea where both sections of the oars are held in place by one easy to use unit.  Both sections of oar and the "catch" fit well outboard of the cockpit combing, so no interference with comfortable seating.  And yet they are accessible from the aft cockpit. 

 

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I will still keep my paddle on board for quick use.

 

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I went with thole pins for now, not sure yet where this will end up.  I am finding that most rowlocks are too small for a 2" diameter loom with leather (yield is a good 2 ¼").  Still looking.

 

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Dave,

 I got a set of bronze oarlocks from Jamestown. Think they were Buck Algonquins, and the inner diameter is 2.25" . Nice and beefy.

 I also just learned something IMPORTANT about this afternoon about the idea of having oars in half. If you place them on a dock (or deck,or any flat surface...) and the wind kicks up as it did here today , the UPPER halves now have nothing to stop them from being blown by the wind, since the blades are only on the lower halves... In my case this meant that BOTH upper halves caught a good gust and made a break for the Bay ! Luckily as soon as I realized they were in transit I was able to round up a posse of jetskiers and finally gave them a purpose in their lives...So what could have been disastrous turned out to be informative, and humbling,all at the same time....

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