CS-17 Oars

[Alan Stewart]

Got some questions about my Oars on my 17 so here are some pictures of them.

I based them off of Grahams Oars for the Southern Skimmer EC22. They are 9'6" long and the blades are 6mm okume. The shafts are spruce 2x4 laminated into tapered blanks about 2" OD at the handles and rectangular at the blade connection about 1-1/4 by 1-3/4 with the wider dimension in the direction of the pull if that makes sense. Also there are fiberglass rovings running on either side of the shaft on the backside of the blade that extend about 18" up the shaft wrapping around so they are on both sides of the shaft to stiffen and strengthen the connection.

The ends of the shafts were cut on the bandsaw to a curve to receive the blades. The front side of the blades were glassed while the oars were tied together with a spacer block at the tips to induce some bend in the blade after the blades were glued to the shafts.

Oarlocks are a bit ahead of the front edge of the thwart and rowing is done on a bench seat that goes over the cb trunk. I like it this way because i can row without taking the the mizzen mast out if i need to and it frees up the cockpit so one person can steer and one can row and it distributes crew weight more evenly. I like that setup best. I also found the mizzen to be a convenient thing to put my foot against to brace while rowing. Without a brace for your feet you can't row with your lower body like you should.

[ecgossett]

Do you have any dimensions for the blade?

[Alan Stewart]

My blades are 5-3/4" wide and 24" overall. 17" to where they start to narrow down to the shaft. I also measured my oarlocks at 85 inches forward from the aft corners of the transom. I would have had them farther forward but my control line cleats and coaming breakwaters were already installed. I made some riser blocks out of some scrap pvc decking board but they are too narrow and the deck flexes a bit. Need to add good sized hardwood backing block.

[Randy Jones]

Alan,

Nice job on the Oars. I like the forward rowing position too and it sounds like we take a similar approach to rowing. Are you happy with the 9'-6" oar length? I cut down my 10 foot oars today to 9'-6" and have spent my evening wondering if they'll be too short.