"OK, Skip, usually you're a model of clarity, but I am getting a little
confused by how you actually want to mod out a PortaBote.
Do you want to retrofit angled supports to a PortaBote, or just put in
beefier oarlocks and (reaching for faulty memory...) "thole pins" in
order to have longer, more mechanically efficient oars?
Hoping I'm not adding to the confuzzlement...
R"
Hi, Rhys, and group(s),
My apologies for the crummy quoting - and I don't know how this
threads, either, as I'm on the boat and thus not able to use my
news/email client.
Your characterizations of rowing/sculling are correct, except that when
one person is rowing, their oars are "sculls" and are ~10' long. I
used to row one of those 12" wide, 4" freeboard things with the oars
I'm going to use. When multiples of 2 are rowing with single oars,
each, those are sweeps, and are ~12' long, with correspondingly larger
blade area.
I also apologize for the lack of clarity. Most, I think, of that,
comes from those who aren't familiar with the PortaBote (and
secondarily, of course, with sliding seat competitive rowing, done by
many more than English University students, but still a niche sport -
Hi, DB! Congrats to your son!). I'd originally envisioned an oarlock
receiver similar to what I've seen on aluminum pointy-bow boats - a
cast plate with a lump in it which is the hole down which you stick the
pin. Not the case in the PB, so I had to figure out something else to
mount:
A standard rowing-team oarlock, which sits on a pin at the back of it
(well, actually forward, but as you look at it sitting there) is what I
needed to have to use my oars.
Those have opening bails at the top, and the place you put the oar is
basically rectangular, to facilitate feathering, and properly orienting
on stroke, the three-sides-flat shaft (done by a plastic sleeve, with
an adjustable collar to control length). Feathered, at rest on the
water, the three flat sides of the sleeve sit in this rectangular thing
- |_| - sort of, with something hinged at the pin side at the top
which you unscrew to lift away to install or remove the oar, and the
space is just enough to allow the oar to turn without binding. Thole
pins, characterized above, are typically found on older wooden (or
replica) rowboats, made of wood, like the diagram and open at the top.
Put the oar in there, and have at it; ship them by just flipping them
out when you land.
So, I wanted to make the bote capable of using these (oarlocks, not
thole pins), so I could use the longer sculls (what a two-to-a-rower
oars are called, thus some potential confusion vs a gondolier's much
longer sweep for sculling).
Sitting in the boat, I also noted that - based on where the factory
pivot is - it's made for much shorter and shorter-armed folks, which,
happily, will allow me to put my .25x1.5x6 angle aluminum mount just
aft of the originals, leaving the originals in place. Looking at them
after I had them cut makes me nervous that I don't have long enough
leverage to avoid deforming (causing my mounting rivets or bolts,
whichever I end up with) the holes I'll have to drill in the plastic to
attach them. However, if it turns out I do, it's a simple matter to
get another chunk cut longer and do it again.
I'm catching grief from home that this isn't getting our (bigger) boat
in the water, despite my desire to use this for my heart exercise, so
the rest of it will have to wait until a later time. However, when
it's done, there will be pictures in the gallery and a report on how it
did. Changing back and forth to factory oars will also be easy as I'll
have left the original installed. If it turns out I'm not able to
achieve a marked improvement, I'll uninstall it, as carrying the sculls
and having to take out the oarlocks (not a big process, but not as
simple as just getting in the boat, either, as is the factory case),
necessitated if I want to be able to fold it up for passage, is not
worth it if that advantage isn't realized.
I hope this added the clarity missing :{))
Current boat project has me trying to make a clear path for water from
bow to under-engine pan bilge, complicated by position of tanks right
behind the bulkhead I'd have to drill through. MANY other projects,
too; chronicles in the gallery...
L8R
Skip
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain