BoatBanter.com - View Single Post

Jim Willemin

wrote in
:

On May 4, 8:49*am, Jim Willemin wrote:
Vic Smith wrote
innews:20ntv4lu9h19mktm
:

snip

You must have felt like a one-man mini-Coast Guard. (-:
I agree about the "simple machines."
I rented a lot of small boats that I'd throw my little 5 hp motor
on. Always checked that the oars and oarlocks were in shape, and
refused and switched a few boats.
I began fishing as a kid rowing, many, many miles, and that's stuck
with me. *Never towed anybody though.
Don't think I'd be comfortable with a bigger beamier power boat
without a kicker along. *Just how I am.
I've seen some talk about kicker mounts on the Carolina Skiffs.
Don't know much about it, but if I get one I'll look into it.
Always been fascinated by how the gondolas are propelled by one
long oar at the stern, but that's probably not practical for a
beamy boat.

--Vic

Look into how the Chinese propel mondo big sampans with a single
sculling oar over the stern - the oars are called yuli. *Granted,
those yuli are on the biggish side for larger boats, but there are
quite a few anecdotes of sculling good-sized sailboats - sailboats it
would be impractical to row.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Yeah but those boats have a design that makes them easier to skull.
Long and narrow with a trailing end transom, vee bottom etc. I would
think the motor transom of those skiffs might make them harder to
skull, especially in any current or wind..

sorry - I was mistaken on the name of the Chinese sculling oar - it is
called a 'yuloh', and there is a considerable literature about it on the
net (google 'yuloh oar'). The Chinese use it for junks and sampans -
generally kinda beamy, with flattish bottoms. Western adaptations for
modern boats usually use a thole pin on the transom, suitably reinforced
(cf. the Japanese 'ro'), though I suspect that a clever person could
design a clamp-on thole pin that would both serve the purpose and not
interfere with non-emergency boating. The Bahamian fishermen have
developed a similar sculling oar that they use on skiffs - more or less
flat-bottomed fishing skiffs. I understand the Bahamian sculling
technique doesn't need a thole pin or transom notch! I agree, in wind
and current things might get kinda difficult, but I also think a little
knowledge, a little skill, and a longish oar will get you home if your
motor goes all pear-shaped.