Boat oars

[blackthorn]

I juat got a 12 foot Aluminum boat. I need to get a pair of wooden oars for it. How do I determine the size/length needed? Thanks.

[frkelly74]

6 to 7 feet long should be good and easy to use.

[BamaNapper]

Old memories. I used to spend a lot of time in a rowboat and oars used to be drilled for oarlocks. I recall using a set of oars that were apparently drilled for a larger boat than I was using them on. It was a boat with about a 48" beam, and oars drilled for oarlocks about 24" from the end of the handle. Never a problem while they're in the water and you're pulling them. But more than once they came together on the backstroke while I had my thumb on the end of one of them. It's like smashing it in a vise. I believe I learned to curse effectively in that boat.

A quick Bing search, it's the width of the boat that matters:
https://www.westmarine.com/WestAdvisor/Selecting-The-Right-Size-Oars#

[frkelly74]

That is a good point there, Space the oars so you don't smash your thumb... I like the clamp on oarlocks myself. I believe that drilling through the oar weakens it and it will break when you use the oar to clobber a snake and then grampa makes you buy another one for him. That was my experience anyway.

[country gent]

Consider where youll be using the boat on a lake or pond longer oars give a longer stroke for better movement. on a river stream or tight areas then they may be to long to use effectively. Current levels also may play a role in selection.

Watch the other row boats in your area and see what they are using. Or maybe 2 sets of oars in oar locks one longer and one shorter for where youll be.

[CastingFool]

Just don't mix them up, unless you wanna go around in circles. Lol

[blackthorn]

Thank you to all who replied. The chart in the link provided will likely settle my problem.

[bedbugbilly]

Interesting little tidbit of information!

[.429&H110]

My ancestors fished Cod on the Grand Banks in dorys.
Sometimes they had to row. Fog was dreadful.

Don't remember learning to row, had a 12' clinker dory found on the bottom with rocks in it. My boat, so every April while Dad did the catboat I was the guy to mend the seams, oakum and whiting, and green marine enamel. White lead in the white caulk and lead in the paint. Catboat got the same treatment. My grandfather gave me a small thin filletknife to whittle strips of wood to pound into the lines of rotten wood I carved out. One year bandsawed a new transom. It was my floating collection of punky pine. An outboard motor would have broken it. When I grew up I left it on the bottom near where it was found with a rock in it, 30 feet down in the ice cold water. Fun to visit... Aluminum makes for a better boat.
I remember graduating to 7' oars when I was first grade, beautiful white oak varnished by me every spring, no pinned oarlocks, strip of leather wrapped around or rawhide in a turks heads varnished in. I was devastated when I broke one pulling upwind at 12 yo. My terror turned to delight when my Dad was pleased that I could break an oar. He sanded the stumps smooth- useful paddle; the other end for a tire thumper in his truck.
"Look at what my little boy broke..."
One of Dad's buddies had a boathouse with an oar locker. They got out some antiques, returned the unbroken oar, looking for hickory, found a pair of 7.5' that went with the old whaleboat. I took his old boat for a spin with the two old men in it, to see what I could break, delighted that hickory has a flex to it that oak does not. The longer oars would also work well in Dad's catboat. Dad always said he was breeding Vikings: my brother and I are 2 meters tall, I wear a 39 sleeve, born to row to England for lunch.
Helpful hint: Keep your thumb atop the grip next to your knuckles or you will blister badly. Grips must be baby smooth varnish or they will tear you. Row with your ring and pinky, blisters there are fine. Gloves are great until they get wet. If the oars are not pinned you can cross them for extra leverage. Unpinned, you can feather them into the wind. Unpinned you can scull with one hand and fish with the other. Oarlock on the transom and a small lugsail on the bow or a blooper, who needs a motor? Leave the motor home and it's q-u-i-e-t.
YMMV.
Is there a rowing App for an Iphone? Pity. Kids are missing out.

[BamaNapper]

Great story 429&H110... It is sad that such experience and knowledge is probably doomed in this age. Today it seems most folks want jet skis and power boats.

I grew up with rowboats and canoes. It was probably 20 years ago that I got a pair of oars for a little 15' fishing boat. I went to a handful of marine dealers before I found a pair, and they're probably even more scarce today. A canoe was always my preferred fishing platform. It was easy to get into any lake or stream I wanted to fish. I grew up in a small town that boasted 96 lakes and the canoe spent the summer on the roof of the car once I was driving.

I am a little jealous of your dory, maybe a lot. I have dreamed for several years of making room in the garage and getting a kit for a wooden boat. Dory designs are a significant percentage of the kits available and can be a work of art. Nothing with a sail though, thank you very much.

[.429&H110]

Wooden boats take a lot of work/time that's better spent fishing.
Us wayward kids with no TV discovered the bottom of a New Hampshire lake was covered with deposit coke bottles, some old bottles were worth a dollar. You can tell the good fishing spots by the beer bottles. Gas was 21cents so a dollar was worth a dive down in the cold. The cold preserved wood there still are boats down there. Four of us dragged in a 25 foot canoe that was square in cross section, four feet wide, turned it over on the beach. Next day was dry enough to paint with resin, a little cloth. Flipped it over peeled out the rotten wood had a big mold. Grease it glass it presto a giant canoe. Add thwarts good to go. The guy that bought the resin owned the boat. Bored teenagers just need an outlet for their energy.

[Geezer in NH]

I had a 14 foot alum john-boat all we ever used were 2 6 foot paddles. Lake, pond and rivers worked great. For what its worth.

[Thumbcocker]

Watching a person who knows how to row is amazing. A person car really make a boat move across the water.

[ebb]

Minnkota

[.429&H110]

Last boat was a 24' ODay I cadged a gamefisher and a solar battery, was fine for getting on a mooring, sails down. Old Sears 3hp two stroke weed whacker was too noisy and leaked too much gasoline, so it lived on the war canoe. Drove the canoe upwind just fine. My idea of fun is take a boat off the wind, give sheet, let her drive on a reach. Flying two big kites. Quiet power. Still works in the Caribbean or Sea of Cortez.

I was sitting alone on that boat, becalmed, fishing, and the fish cop came alongside, said, lose the beer.
I poured the beer in the lake said "What?"
"Open container operating a boat. I won't tell you again."
Not being one to argue with a badge, I went back to my fishing. Sure enough the world had changed. I could have gotten a DUI.
Anchored, no motor on the boat, no wind, operating? Yessir. I don't live there anymore. The world changed. The waterfront cabins are multi-million dollar vacation homes now, powerboats go round and round clockwise. Go out on the night wind under the moon and the lake is lit by a thousand TV sets blue. When I was young, it was as black as your hat. Dad's catboat had a lit compass, redgreen bow, white masthead and transom lights, run by a big dry cell. I could see my mother by her cigarette. But now the TVs are on the opposite wall from the lake, the living rooms have their back to the moonlight. I guess they would rather watch TV, vacationing in a million dollar home on golden pond. The world changed. Row a boat? You would be a pedestrian in a crosswalk with no walk light, powerboat drivers are looking at their skier if they are looking at anything. Alas, my lost youth.

[GregLaROCHE]

Times have surely changed.

[jonp]

Watching a person who knows how to row is amazing. A person car really make a boat move across the water.

Most people row too deep. I found the same thing in a canoe works in a boat, oars don't need to go to the bottom of the lake to move the boat and that just tires you out faster. I think the best way to decide how long the oars need to be is to think of a rowing machine.

[jonp]

Old memories. I used to spend a lot of time in a rowboat and oars used to be drilled for oarlocks. I recall using a set of oars that were apparently drilled for a larger boat than I was using them on. It was a boat with about a 48" beam, and oars drilled for oarlocks about 24" from the end of the handle. Never a problem while they're in the water and you're pulling them. But more than once they came together on the backstroke while I had my thumb on the end of one of them. It's like smashing it in a vise. I believe I learned to curse effectively in that boat.

A quick Bing search, it's the width of the boat that matters:
https://www.westmarine.com/WestAdvisor/Selecting-The-Right-Size-Oars#

Thanks for that article. I've never seen it written down as to how to chose oars for a boat.