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Good source for oars


Garry

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I found a source for quality oars on the opposite side of the continent in British Columbia.

http://www.barkleysoundoar.com/

Barkley Sound Oar and Paddle Ltd makes oars out of sitka spruce at a very reasonable price. I just ordered a pair of 7'6" oars for $71 plus oarlocks, sockets, and plastic sleeves. The shipping was only $30. I looked at some discount prices that were less but they did not specify what kind of wood was used. Comparable quality oars were much higher elsewhere.

I thought about making them myself, but with the dificulty in getting good material plus my current work schedule, I figured I would let a few hours of OT pay for them.

I asked about getting him to send me a piece of srpuce for the boom but it was nixed because of border complications.

I'll let you know what they look like as soon as I get them.

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On our way out to Wyoming for the ski trip a couple of weeks ago we made our annual pilgrimage to Cabela's "home" store in Sydney, NE. I was looking around in the boating section and came upon a set of 7' oars for $25.00 each. That is just about half of what I was pricing them for at Boat US and West Marine. Needless to say, I snapped them up in a second or two. Having those in the back of the pickup on a ski trip elicited a few comments about my sanity, but what the heck. 8) :lol: At least I didn't have to pay for shipping.

Now I have a couple of oar blanks epoxied together in the back of the hangar. I think I might finish them later, but for now they will remain as is.

Got the oarlocks and sockets from West Marine.

Steve

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For builders who want inexpensive oars and don't want to to take on a major project, here is an idea that I worked out when Tom Lathrop and I competed in in the Sika Challenge boat building contest. We had about 10 minutes to build a pair of oars. While they were rough by yacht standards, they had to function properly because there was a rowing race as part of the competition. Our oars were easily the best and it showed by winning the rowing race.

The shafts were made from ripping a 2 x 4 down the middle and 3/8" slots ripped for the 6" wide ply blades. I had the fence settings memorized for the table saw and quickly did the ripping. Some taper was planed with an electric planer and the corners were were rounded with a 1/2" round over bit in the router. Tom was busy cutting out the plywood parts and when the blades were cut, he threw them over to me. I slipped the blades into the slots and drove in 6 ring nails per oar and they were finished.

I remember Tom saying to me after we had finished the hull, "we still had to make the oars". I was able to smile and say "they're done".

In the pics below John Burritt made an upscale set of the same oars using epoxy and finished them off nicely.

[attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

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I managed to get rid of that awful Bolger Teal in a charity auction but still have the oars which get used now and again. By the way, Graham and I finished the boat in 2 hours and 18 minutes which was slower than some others. Anybody have a good safe method for removing Sikaflex from a mustache. I never learned not to store ring nails in my mouth when my fingers were coated with Sika. :(

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...

I made some quick oars based on Graham's method above. I used 1x6 boards planned down some for the blades instead of plywood; I should have taken a little more off they're a little heavy. They didn't take too long but not nearly as quick as the Grahams. I just realized when I looked at Graham's post again that I forgot about the round over on the ends. Oh well, rowing trial tomorrow.

Cheers,

Tim

post-117-129497641484_thumb.jpg

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I managed to get rid of that awful Bolger Teal in a charity auction but still have the oars which get used now and again. By the way' date=' Graham and I finished the boat in 2 hours and 18 minutes which was slower than some others. Anybody have a good safe method for removing Sikaflex from a mustache. I never learned not to store ring nails in my mouth when my fingers were coated with Sika. :([/quote']

Just curious: what/why do you say that about the Teal? Oh, and what is Sika?

Thanks.

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I managed to get rid of that awful Bolger Teal in a charity auction but still have the oars which get used now and again. By the way' date=' Graham and I finished the boat in 2 hours and 18 minutes which was slower than some others. Anybody have a good safe method for removing Sikaflex from a mustache. I never learned not to store ring nails in my mouth when my fingers were coated with Sika. :([/quote']

Just curious: what/why do you say that about the Teal? Oh, and what is Sika?

Thanks.

Paintable, flexible, and dries in a reasonable time. :)

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/ak/Caulking/Sikaflex/

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I think that the oars with the green blades were made with 3/8" ply.

On my 9' oars I made curved blades and they were not slotted into the shafts. The blades were made from 2 layers of 4mm ply (3/16") laminated into a curved shape. Because they were not slotted into the shafts they were a bit too flimsy so I reinforced them with glass. They were 6" wide and 24" long but I think that I would make them 5" or 5 1/2" wide next time. There is a picture of these oars on an earlier post.

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