rowlock, oar sleeve clearance

[peterAustralia]

hi all,

we took the dingy for it's first outing on the river in melbourne, australia yesterday. We found the rowlocks and oars need a bit of work.

can anyone advise on the correct tolerance between the rowlock (horsehoe type) and the oar collar. Also while i am here, the tolerance between the rowlock pin and the sleeve. Our rowlock pin was very loose and rattled (it should fit tighter? is that correct?)

The plastic oarlock sleeve we used we found to be very poor, it had a lot of wear after just a couple hours.

We would not mind a new pair of oars. I have found some sites that describe making them and I think this is what we will do. As to buying a new set I have found some sites overseas for reasonable price, but here is australia we are looking at $440 Aust, for a pair! seems a little steep. I have no interest in ordering oars overseas and shipping in!!

I have found michael storer's free plans for oars and they look doable, so that is a fall back option.

last but not learst, has anyone tried the Otter 16 from boatplans-online.com and advise as to how it fairs.

regards
n peter evans

[Bruce Hooke]

A couple notes:

Yes, the oarlock should fit reasonably tightly into the socket -- it should not rattle. Sadly, a lot of oarlocks and sockets are pretty poorly made. If possible, what I like to do is buy them in a store where I can try to find an oarlock and socket that match well.

By "sleeve" are you talking about what you put around the oar to protect the wood from the oarlock? If so, don't use plastic, use leather. There was a thread here recently on how to attach such "leathers." Your problem with clearance is probably more an issue of plastic being unsuited to the task.

Oars are not hard to make and you can easily make much nicer ones than you are likely to buy. WoodenBoat sells a nice set of plans for different types of oars. Considering leaving the inboard portion of the oars square (above the oarlocks and below the grips) to help the oars balance better. If you can get your hands on Pete Culler's book Boats, Oars and Rowing, you'll have a treasure trove of information on how to make and use oars. It is long out of print so you will either have to find it in the library or via a used book dealer or website.

[Thorne]

Give us a bit more info and we can be more helpful.

What type of oarlock do you have? It sounds like you may have the open-top type with the horizontal pin to hold the oar in the lock, but I'm not sure.

http://www.shawandtenney.com/images/hardware-north-river-oarloc.jpg

I'm dealing with some of the same issues. I've made leather sleeves for my oars, but no buttons (stoppers) yet. My boat came with bronze circular/closed oarlocks, but I'm looking at moving to the fully open (horn) types for flexibility in shipping/unshipping the oars without having the oarlock whanging around on the oar.

Most folks seem to agree that bronze oarlock mounts and oarlocks are the best. Ditto for oar leathers -- real leather is best, and it helps to lubricate it with sno-seal, leather goop, or tallow if you've got any.

One good reason for the horn type is that you can ship and unship the oars much more easily than with the closed/round type. And if I want to put buttons (strips of leather or cord at the top of my oar leathers -- i.e. the best rowing location), using the round ones means they have to be permanently attached to the oarlocks, and this makes storing them in the boat harder -- they hit and scrape the paint.

Here is a set of leathered oars with buttons -
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/woeimages/00002886.jpg

But for new rowers or kids or rowing in heavy weather, many prefer the round or close oarlocks -- takes all kinds.

Here's what I want to put on my boat -
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/woeimages/00000139.jpg

I already have these -
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/woeimages/00000137.jpg
and these -
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/woeimages/MarineSupplies/BUC-000L5R0B.jpg

[peterAustralia]

hi,

yes I have the horn type.

I think the problem I have is that the quality of my fittings is not great. What gap do you have between the leather sleeve and the horn itself.

The quality brass fittings all seem to come from overseas, I guess I can look harder. I would like to get some leather sleeves.

thanks for you post,

regards
n peter evans

[Dave Gray]

To digress just a tiny bit, I recall a thread where it was suggested to saw off the bottom of the oarlock, drill a hole just above the post and to the side of the horn, and attack the oarlock with a leather string or rope to the gunwhale. This is to avoid the sound of the brass keeper chain rattling around the boat. Has anyone done this? Merits? Demerits?

[Bruce Hooke]

Dave,

I can't quite follow your system, but I have seen two ways of going at this:

1. Use the existing hole at the bottom of the shaft but rather than using chain tie a length of line through this hole and tie the other end either to the gunwale or the thwart riser. Leave this line long enough so that the oarklock can be unshipped without untying it.

2. Drill a small hole in one of the horns and connect your line to this, and then tie off the other end as descibed above. Sometimes you'll see oarklocks with a cast in eye on one of the horns, which looks nicer than drilling a hole.

[Bruce Hooke]

What gap do you have between the leather sleeve and the horn itself.

I don't know what the clearance should be in inches or millimeters, but it should be easy to drop the oar down between the horns of the oarlock. If it is a very close fit, or worse yet, if you have to slide the oar inboard a bit to get to a thinner part of the shaft to get the oar to drop between the horns, then it is too tight a fit. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon. Some commercially made oars are thicker and heavier than they need to be. Also, most oarlocks are too small for larger rowboats that need bigger oars.

The standard brand of oarlocks around here is Wilcox-Critendon, which can be identified by a small CW on the oarlock (as on the third picture Thorne posted). My experience has been that if you dig through the bin you can find oarlock-socket pairs that fit well, but you can also find plenty that don't. This is why I said that the way to get a good pair is to actually go into a place where you can try them. Of course if you are stuck buying shrink-wrapped stuff then this trick does not work.

[Dave Gray]

Bruce, thanks, it makes more sense to use the existing hole.

[Frank E. Price]

Or just tie twine to the shank right above the shoulder. If you use tholes you can skip the oarlock business entirely. And skip the buttons, unless you absolutely positively have to be able let go of the oars while they trail in the water, like a farmer. There should be quite a bit of clearance between oar and horns. Far better too big than too small.

Frank

[Woxbox]

...and the rhythmical sound of a pair of leathered oars clunking a bit in oarlocks, and the pins clicking and clacking in the sockets as you cruise across the lake is not a bad thing at all.
I've never noticed chains making any sound. I usually use line - many oarlocks have a hole in the base of the shaft so line or chain can be run down and out through the bottom of the inwhale. Tied off at the right length, when unshipped the oarlocks will rest where they won't swing or clank around -- even after the boat has been pulled back up onto its trailer. (And you do want to drill right through if possible so the sockets won't collect water.)

[hansp77]

Hey Peter,
I am looking for oars as well.
I have been thinking about making some.

These are in sydney if you could be bothered with postage (I couldn't).
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Quality-Oars_W0QQitemZ220027435203QQihZ012QQcategoryZ10281 8QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

anyone got favourite links for building oars and oarlocks?

I have availiable planks of oregan and western red cedar and some harwood all big enough to cut whole oars out of...

EDIT- p.s. boat is nine foot car topper tinnie (tender).

[Tom Hoffman]

I have Joel Hershel's article, that he graciously provided to me on how to make Octagonal/eliptical/tapered Hollow Core Birds Mouth oars. They are easy to make on a table saw and router table. They have all the desireable qualities and are light too. Plus you will astound yourself when they are done. That you were able to make them and they are beautiful. Please e-mail me and I will send them out to anyone who wants them.

Tom.....