Sculling 'post' on a small skiff?

[marshcat]

I am helping a friend get an old piece of junk skiff ready to harvest oysters this fall. His family owns the harvesting rights on a small "creek" in eastern Virginia. As we were looking at the skiff today to see what we needed to fix up, he mentioned sculling as a kid, and would like to set up the skiff the same way. He described a pointed post attached to the transom, that stood up a few inches above the top of the transom. Apparently the oar would have a small dimple in the loom, which the person would rest on the point of the post attached to the transom. He said the dimple would eventually wear deeper into the loom as the oar was used over the years. He was clear that the oar just perched on top of the point. I would like to help him build an oar for sculling, but would like to see some pictures of this 'pointed stake' method of sculling. From a bit of googling, all I was able to find was either a notch in the transom, or just resting the oar on the transom itself. I would also like to find some information on the length of the oar, and the shape of the blade. This might just be some kind of regional quirk that was not common in other areas. Thanks in advance.

[StevenBauer]

Sounds a little like the Chinese Yuloh. A quick search finds:


http://www.simplicityboats.com/yulohpage2.html

http://www.woodenboat.net.nz/Stories/Sculling/scullthree.html


Steven

[dredbob]

I've not seen such a post, but it sounds like it would work well with what the old time chesapeake watermen used to call a sculling "paddle". This was a long, triangular, tapered plank that would be closer to a chinese yuloh than to a normal looking oar.

Think of a ten or twelve foot long plank that has a constant taper from the blade end to the handle end, shaved a little thin in the thickness dimension at the blade end, again mostly a constant taper. No separate blade, shaft, loom or handle, just a gradual taper from one end to the other.

I've only seen them in pictures and in museums, but the post sounds like it would be just the ticket for use with such a device.

I assume the stroke would be the falling leaf pattern.

Bob

[S B]

We don't have a" post"as such here, the sculling oar is let out through a hole in the transom. The oar itself is about 4' longer than normal, has a bend in the loom and a peg close to the handle to orientate the blade. The motion is similar to a fish swiming.