Row, row, row your Skerry

Builder's Forum
1

Greetings,

 

I'm putting together a wish list for my Skerry purchase and was poking around the various rowing accessories available. CLC's product description sold me on the need for a second rowing station so the craft is trim with more than one passenger. 

Is their wisdom in making  one station closed oarlocks and one horn/open oarlocks? On a typicla rowboat when I pull the oars in they stay in their mounts and the blades sit in the boat. I am thinking the Skerry oars could stay in the closed oarlock and the shafts could rest in the horn oarlocks while under sail. This could free up space inside the boat. It would also provide a sort of rail that the kids could rest their fishing rods on without Dad starting to sputter about 5 coats of varnish (although the CLC oars look to be works of art in their own right).

And speaking about kids and oars - has anyone tried using both rowing stations on a Skerry at the same time? Would quickly settle the "who gets to row" arguments while dad kicks back in the stern.

Your thoughts?

Thanks - John

PS And the risers just seem like a nice addition - I'd be curious if someone out there has other thoughts on these as well.

2

re: risers

I think that, unless you are  really tall, putting risers on the oarlock sockets would raise them up too high. I've rowed my skerry for 12+ miles at a stretch and never once thought "I wish I had risers so the oarlocks would be higher."

re: 2nd rowing station. absolutely.  buy and install a second set of sockets. I like your idea about using them to form an "oar rack" for sailing.... but you wouldn't need to use horned oarlocks to do that -- how about making a pair of U shaped brackets from wood (you could even line them with leather) with a  1/2 inch dowel attached to the bottom of the "u" so they will fit into the sockets ....and plop them in there when sailing? Thanks for the genesis of an idea, I might play around with that this winter.  

The shape of the oarlock is a matter of preference....and they all use the same kind of socket on the boat. Personally, I prefer elliptical oarlocks to either round or horned ones. They have better contact with the oar throughout the stroke and no "slop".

Julie K.