making wooden oars for a sailing dinghy 2

My new oars will be 9’6” in length and will be stored along Arwen’s side decks. The blades will hang over the stern and the handle ends will end up roughly where her front coaming curves. Resting in their rowlocks, the upper part of the oar looms and handles may interfere with the jib sheets, so some trial and error over fitting will be required.

I may also have to fit some new rowlock pads, again a matter of trial and error. When I row Arwen, I remove the compass on her centreboard case top and put a small padded cushion over it. I then sit on the centreboard top. The rowlocks are situated around 10” aft of my upright position. The blocks are attached to the coaming sides and they are around 2 ½ “ in depth. Thus, the oars in their rowlocks normally clear the side deck gunwales when in use.  I tie the oars to the rowlocks with loose cord and the rowlocks themselves are also secured to the boat. In the event of a capsize, everything should stay attached although I suspect it will be a holy mess!

Where I think I will need to do some further thinking and adjustments, although I am, for the moment, not sure how – is over the matter of how much lower the centreboard seat top is to the position of the rowlocks.

My Oars are based on CLC plans and have counter-weighted looms and round cylindrical handles. The looms will be 46mm in diameter and square section. Made of Douglas fir, I will use 10” long leather protectors where they pass through the rowlocks. These will be stitched on rather than copper tacked. The ‘drip’ collar bits will also be thin leather strips wound tightly around the loom a few times, contact bonded.  I did read somewhere that these should be lubricated with Vaseline that will make them smoother and easier to move! I think some people also lubricate the rowlocks in their sockets as well. Oar blade tips will be fibreglass taped.

Regarding the lanyard arrangement on my rowlocks, the lanyards are tied on at the neck below the rowlock horns with 2mm cord and then threaded through the rowlock where the end is secured to the underside deck. I tend to keep the rowlocks in permanently as the oars rest along the side decks. I’m not really sure whether this is seaman like or not.

As to the finish of the oars? Well, linseed oil is one possibility but Roger Barnes informs me that this will turn to the oars black. I am leaning towards using Le Tonkinois since touch up coats are easily applied and wiped down. The handles will remain untreated, an attempt to avoid blistered hands!

Well, that’s the plans. Of course, it is back to cutting out the blanks and then shaping them. Lots of work to do before finished can be applied!

Hand cutting oars with just a Japanese pull saw is a time consuming and tiring affair, satisfying but tiring. It is tricky to keep the blade vertical and already I have noticed that the blank looms aren't quite as square as they should be. I'm hoping this will sort itself out when I start rounding them.