I'm taking delivery of my bote tomorrow. If I'm successful, I'll have
converted it to sculling (10' carbon fiber oars with shovel scoop ends)
sometime in the next few days (stay tuned for pictures in the gallery).
Those oars are worth half what the boat is...


How do any of you who have such an issue secure your oars from theft?

Thanks.

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

I'm a little surprised you got oars that powerful. When I ordered
Shaw and Tenney oars for our Trinka I was advised against getting long
oars with scoops because they were overkill. I forget the exact
argument, but they claimed it would be counter-productive. We got 8.5
foot symmetrical oars, and allow them to get ratty enough so they
don't represent an attractive target.

The oarlocks are circular and captive by the leathers, so they can be
secured by running a cable through them. I don't bother for daylight
use, but for those rare (and getting rarer) occasions when we might
close the bar, its nice to know they won't be borrowed.


Skip Gundlach wrote:
I'm taking delivery of my bote tomorrow. If I'm successful, I'll have
converted it to sculling (10' carbon fiber oars with shovel scoop ends)
sometime in the next few days (stay tuned for pictures in the gallery).
Those oars are worth half what the boat is...


How do any of you who have such an issue secure your oars from theft?

Thanks.

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

Steeling Oars? I must say...when I've been seen rowing...for fun and
excercise in my porta-bote in a sub-tropical climate...I recall other
sailors in the anchorage remenicing back decades when they last rowed a
boat...they inquired as to if my outboard was broken. A rather strange look
appeared when I happily stated that my outboard was working fine, stored on
the aft-rail of my sailboat...I was simply rowing for the fun...for the pure
joy of rowing in the late afternoon, under the tropical sun. I think they
thought the tropical sun'd cooked my brain...maybe it has...

Glenn.
s/v Seawing
www.seawing.net


"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm taking delivery of my bote tomorrow. If I'm successful, I'll have
converted it to sculling (10' carbon fiber oars with shovel scoop ends)
sometime in the next few days (stay tuned for pictures in the gallery).
Those oars are worth half what the boat is...


How do any of you who have such an issue secure your oars from theft?

Thanks.

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

We still row too. It's quieter, less expensive, offers one less thing to fix
and it's great exercise. I'll never go back to the inflatable with the gas
burner. The quiet wanderings in safe harbours is now one of the best parts
of our cruising!

"Glenn A. Heslop" wrote in message
news:9zeJf.28181$sa3.20083@pd7tw1no...
Steeling Oars? I must say...when I've been seen rowing...for fun and
excercise in my porta-bote in a sub-tropical climate...I recall other
sailors in the anchorage remenicing back decades when they last rowed a
boat...they inquired as to if my outboard was broken. A rather strange
look
appeared when I happily stated that my outboard was working fine, stored
on
the aft-rail of my sailboat...I was simply rowing for the fun...for the
pure
joy of rowing in the late afternoon, under the tropical sun. I think they
thought the tropical sun'd cooked my brain...maybe it has...

Glenn.
s/v Seawing
www.seawing.net


"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm taking delivery of my bote tomorrow. If I'm successful, I'll have
converted it to sculling (10' carbon fiber oars with shovel scoop ends)
sometime in the next few days (stay tuned for pictures in the gallery).
Those oars are worth half what the boat is...


How do any of you who have such an issue secure your oars from theft?

Thanks.

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

From the boat, on googlegroups, I don't have the same utility as at
home with usenet, so I apologize about this being unrelated via quotes
from the others...

I was a competitive oarsman in college, and took up sculling later so I
didn't have to rely on anyone else.

I sold the competition single and the recreational double, but, along
the way, I'd accumulated enough sets of sculls that the guy I sold the
Olympus to didn't want the spare set of Macons (scoop, rather than
hatchet, blades) - so I kept them.

Further, these are made with a three-sides-flat sleeve and an
adjustable collar (for length of leverage) at the fulcrum, made to go
in a square clip-top-bail oarlock which rides on a 1/2" SS post. The
former allows accurate setting against the oarlock, whether feathered
or working. The latter allows oar removal, while leaving the
substantial (strong, that is) piece of gear which takes the stress of
rowing (which piece of plastic is also adjustable for angle of attack
when being set up). So, unless I were to find some bronze rings
(anyone salvaging out a merry-go-round? Oh. Those are too small?
Darn!) to go over the shaft (and rattle around at the end while I was
rowing, I've got to figure out some other way of security.

I'd thought about a cable with loops of the appropriate length
nicropressed into them so that they could be looped tightly around the
oars and a longer section run through something - but what?? on a
Portabote - with all the loops being intersected by a lock.

So, if I were to do that (simple enough and cheap), where on a PB does
one hoook it that can't be just unpinned and off-you-go, to deal with
the nuisance of clipping off the cable later?

Meanwhile, to the question of the long oars, see my next post ...

Thanks for the discussion. Back on the boat doing more work...

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely
nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing,
messing-about-in-boats; messing about in boats-or *with* boats.
In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter,
that's the charm of it.
Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never
get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to
do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

About the "powerful" oars...

I didn't so much get them as had them. However, any standard rowing
oar is not a great deal more efficient than a 1x6 other than it's a bit
lighter.

When I was delivering rowing stuff for Little River a few times, I
would teach the new owners how to row. Most of them had never rowed
anything other than an aluminum rowboat, or, sometimes, a kayak.

Because they don't usually give any thought to it, the usual motion of
the blade is relatively round - or at best elliptical. Some of that's
because the oar is so inefficient, they make it work somewhat like a
canoe paddle - deep and as straight back as possible.

From an efficiency standard, that is awful, so I had to un-teach every
student who'd not sculled before. The shape of my oars is with a scoop,
to push the water before it, not let it slide off the end, and with a
more concentrated area. So much for that part of the efficiency.

For the other, the shorter stroke you can take, meaning the closer to
perpendicular to the boat, the more effective it is, not using the
force to affect the side of the boat, but instead provide drive.
Likewise, the closer to parallel to the water you can get, while still
maintaining a position of the handle so as to end in your gut, the more
effective you'll be at tranmitting muscle into forward motion.

So, instead of a 7' oar which you have to aim at, perhaps, a 40* angle
to get any bite and to bury the blade, with a 10', with the blade area
only about a foot of the length, you can keep the shaft much more
parallel. The blade just under the water is the most efficient, and
easiest to get out...

The shape of the collar area allows easy "set" in a drive position - it
literally clicks into place, assuring that it's up-and-down oriented.
Then you get it out at the end, and rotate it 90* to recover, placing
it parallel to (and right next to, not 3' above!) the water, so as to
have as little wind resistance as possible.

Thus endeth the lesson.

I'm going to have to modify my oarlock setup to take the stress of more
effort. Not having it in hand yet, I can only go on reports that the
existing oarlock receiver is the proper size for the bolt which will be
my fulcrum. However, I expect to remove that casting plate and attach
it to a much larger piece of aluminum, so as to spread the stress
(rotational, from my pull - properly rowed, there won't be yaw or roll,
in aircraft terms, of the plate).

So, back to the premise, the long oars are for efficiency. And, as
others have noted, for the fun of rowing. I have no illusions that a
10' portabote will plane under my hands, but I'd bet I could move it
right along, while getting the daily workout my heart is now
prescribed, whether I wanted to (obviously I did, or I'd have not
ordered it before knowing of my condition) or not.

And, in truth, other than as curiosity items, the risk of having my
oars stolen is probably pretty small. But I'd sure be up a creek
without a paddle if they were!

The bote's scheduled for arrival today. I'll take pix of the
modifications and put them in my gallery. Right now I'm trying to
resolve the lack of flow-through (limber holes) in my mastwell. Those
pix will be up in a few days, too.

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely
nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing,
messing-about-in-boats; messing about in boats-or *with* boats.
In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter,
that's the charm of it.
Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never
get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to
do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

Glenn A. Heslop wrote:
Steeling Oars? I must say...when I've been seen rowing...for fun and
excercise in my porta-bote in a sub-tropical climate...I recall other
sailors in the anchorage remenicing back decades when they last rowed a
boat...they inquired as to if my outboard was broken. A rather strange look
appeared when I happily stated that my outboard was working fine, stored on
the aft-rail of my sailboat...I was simply rowing for the fun...for the pure
joy of rowing in the late afternoon, under the tropical sun. I think they
thought the tropical sun'd cooked my brain...maybe it has...

Glenn.
s/v Seawing
www.seawing.net


"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message
oups.com...

I'm taking delivery of my bote tomorrow. If I'm successful, I'll have
converted it to sculling (10' carbon fiber oars with shovel scoop ends)
sometime in the next few days (stay tuned for pictures in the gallery).
Those oars are worth half what the boat is...


How do any of you who have such an issue secure your oars from theft?

Thanks.

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




I don't mind the rowing exercise, but I'd rather look where I'm going
than where I was.

That's cute. I just can't help quietly looking around and enjoy the natural
surroundings and absorbe the warmth...soak in the movement of the water...

Glenn.

P.S. Don't get me wrong...I also enjoy blasting around with my outboard.


"Don White" wrote in message
...
Glenn A. Heslop wrote:
Steeling Oars? I must say...when I've been seen rowing...for fun and
excercise in my porta-bote in a sub-tropical climate...I recall other
sailors in the anchorage remenicing back decades when they last rowed a
boat...they inquired as to if my outboard was broken. A rather strange
look
appeared when I happily stated that my outboard was working fine, stored
on
the aft-rail of my sailboat...I was simply rowing for the fun...for the
pure
joy of rowing in the late afternoon, under the tropical sun. I think
they
thought the tropical sun'd cooked my brain...maybe it has...

Glenn.
s/v Seawing
www.seawing.net


"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message
oups.com...

I'm taking delivery of my bote tomorrow. If I'm successful, I'll have
converted it to sculling (10' carbon fiber oars with shovel scoop ends)
sometime in the next few days (stay tuned for pictures in the gallery).
Those oars are worth half what the boat is...


How do any of you who have such an issue secure your oars from theft?

Thanks.

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




I don't mind the rowing exercise, but I'd rather look where I'm going
than where I was.

Skip Gundlach wrote:
I'm taking delivery of my bote tomorrow. If I'm successful, I'll have
converted it to sculling (10' carbon fiber oars with shovel scoop
ends) sometime in the next few days (stay tuned for pictures in the
gallery). Those oars are worth half what the boat is...


How do any of you who have such an issue secure your oars from theft?

Thanks.

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

You don't say whether you own a yacht. There are lots of places on a yacht
you can hide a pair of sculling oars in. We usually have more difficulty
finding ours than hiding them!

:{)) [handlebars and full beard, tm] Haven't been here long, have you
(sorry - longtermers here are painfully aware of how we got, and are
still working on, our yacht)? The sig line was a clue, in any case...

My concern isn't someone climbing on deck to steal oars they probably
won't see. It's having them take a walk when we go ashore.

L8R

Skip (see sig for yacht, pasted from right above your note)

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