Rowing - fixed v rubber rowlocks

[Gixer]

I’m going to buy a small inflatable dinghy/tender and have a question on rowing.

I’ve used the dinghies with the fixed oars in the screw top rowlocks and always found the stroke to be too short to get anywhere. Older style dinghies seem to have a rubber type rowlocks which you can push a bigger longer oar into. Question is, is this type easier to row with or does the oar just pop out of them?

 

[Minerva]

I’ve had both and both are equally poor at rowing tbh.

At least with the captive oars they don’t tend to go off for a swim at inopportune moments.

 

[Plum]

I’m going to buy a small inflatable dinghy/tender and have a question on rowing.

I’ve used the dinghies with the fixed oars in the screw top rowlocks and always found the stroke to be too short to get anywhere. Older style dinghies seem to have a rubber type rowlocks which you can push a bigger longer oar into. Question is, is this type easier to row with or does the oar just pop out of them?

see my post here to make rowing better New tender

 

[dunedin]

Rather than the rowlocks, what made most difference for us was moving from flat / slatted floor to an airdeck with slight V shape.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

I have used fixed rubber type on my current older round tail model Avon, and the fixed pin type on my larger sponson type dinghy and rowing is satisfactory in all conditions, including windy chop. The fixed rubber type I have had the oars jump out, but that is a rare event.

Rowing style in an inflatable dinghy is short fast, strokes, deeper entry, especially in any wind and chop. The pin style lends itself well to the the sort, fast strokes, the fixed rubber type less so, especially if you have to dig the oar in deeper to manage chop. The fixed rubber type on the old Avon is also associated with smaller diameter tubes, hence the need to lift the oar and dig in at a steeper angle, because you are nearer the water line. This would be less so on a modern larger diameter tube dinghy.

As far as I am concerned the pin type is more secure, but both work and rowing style is more important in an inflatable dinghy and long, wide sweep is the least effective method.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I too have used both, and they both have disadvantages! Open-top ones can flex too much if the dinghy gets a bit soft (say if it's been on deck in the sun and then put in cold water), and that can result in the oars coming out when you pull. Screw-on ones, as you say, mean that the length of oar is what the manufacturer decided!

The best design I've used was the old Avon ones, which have an almost closed top and are moulded onto the tube.

It's worth noting that rubber dinghies often go better with a shorter stroke; they have little momentum in the water, so a quick recovery stroke works best when going to windward or into a chop. In that case, I find that a short, quick stroke works better than the usually more efficient long stroke

 

[dunedin]

..….. Screw-on ones, as you say, mean that the length of oar is what the manufacturer decided! ….

Wow what a statement for the PBO forum. The supplied oars are generally a plastic paddle at the end, a straight aluminium pole with a couple of holes in them, with small spring pin in one, and a plastic handle on the end.
It would be a trivially simple job to adjust the length and rowlock position on the tube - by adapting the supplied one or substituting with a new piece.

 

[Gixer]

Thanks for the responses guys.
Plum, that’s ingenious. I do already have a nice set of wooden oars.

I didn’t think about the lack of momentum and shorter strokes being important in this type of dinghy.

 

[Mudisox]

I removed the "pin rowlocks", and glued new rubber ones on. The problem is not the rollocks, but the length of the oars - easily changed with the new setup and row well, with longer strokes.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Wow what a statement for the PBO forum. The supplied oars are generally a plastic paddle at the end, a straight aluminium pole with a couple of holes in them, with small spring pin in one, and a plastic handle on the end.
It would be a trivially simple job to adjust the length and rowlock position on the tube - by adapting the supplied one or substituting with a new piece.

True, but I suspect that the supplied oars are only just strong enough and that drilling extra holes would end up with there being a weak point at unused holes. But as you say, making replacements from stock alloy tubing wouldn't be a big deal. With a little ingenuity, you might even be able to produce a better blade shape than the usual flat paddle, and with even more ingenuity a design that automatically feathered! I imagine a piano hinge in line with the shaft of the oar, some sort of spring loading to close the two halves of the blade together during the recovery stroke, and a stop to ensure the blade was stable during the power stroke. But of course, you'd need something to lock it open for maneuvering when back strokes might be needed. I could draw it easier than describe it!

But I think that longer oars would only be an advantage on flat water or rowing downwind. I've had the experience (as no doubt many others have) of rowing an inflatable upwind in a strong wind. I had to take shorter strokes than the oars (the usual ones supplied) would have allowed; longer strokes meant that I got blown back as fast as I rowed forward because the dinghy lost way so quickly. The feathering idea above would have been more useful!

 

[Sea Change]

I've done a lot of rowing in Avons over the years, and I've never once had an oar pop out.
I use a fairly chunky set of 6ft wooden oars on my Redcrest. The supplied two part oars are much shorter and next to useless. They're also skinnier so perhaps it's this type of oar that people have trouble with? Or maybe letting their dinghy go soft?

The only disadvantage I find to the Avon's rowlocks is that shipping an oar to come alongside is a bit more fiddly.

I've seen broken pin style rowlocks, on both a Honwave and a Bombard, and that puts me off that design.

 

[doug748]

Thanks for the responses guys.
Plum, that’s ingenious. I do already have a nice set of wooden oars.

I didn’t think about the lack of momentum and shorter strokes being important in this type of dinghy.

I use an Avon with 6ft wooden oars, works very well. A very good used Avon could be bought for the price of a new 8ft PVC one.

I think the only Chinese PVC tenders having open type rowlocks were the old model Seago jobs but these may have all gone now. They worked ok with longer wooden oars. I agree with you, the fixed type are hopeless, designed to get you out of trouble if the engine fails but little else.

.

 

[Ian_Edwards]

I really dislike the new pin type of rowlocks, to the point where I'm hanging on the my old inflatable, because I can't buy a new one with rowlocks that alow me to use longer oars and feather them when rowing into the wind. I also need good stout oars to use as "punt poles" to get me off a rockie west coast Loch shore line, without the water coming over the top of my boots.
The best inflatable dinghies I've had, had inflatable floors (pumped up hard), with or without an inflatable keel, long, strong wooden oars, and Avon style rowlocks.
I sail with a dog on board, which means frequent trips ashore, and lots of long walks in the hills. I often row quite long distances when it's calm, it's very good exercise, as are the walks.
I can't image the flimsy aluminum oars standing up to that.

 

[Daydream believer]

I have had 2 Avons since I was 11 years old. The current Redcrest for 56 years. I bought a new Wetline in 2003 for my new Hanse.( smaller & lighter) That had fixed oars & was useless because being tall the end of the oars caught my knees & I could not lift the oars clear of the water. I cannot push the oars out farther to get my legs between the oars as they are fixed & the seat height is fixed. That being said , my daughter uses it for a tender to my squib. She has an outboard so only rows it clear of the shore.
The Avons row brilliantly & being able to adjust the oars to suit the stroke, allows different rowing styles for the conditions. I find a longer stroke best. I have rowed across the river Blackwater a couple of times & the full length of our moorings a number of times, when checking them. I have a cord attached across the ends of the 2 oars in case I accidentally drop one. When I get out of the dinghy a line attached under the seat ties them down.
If I had to buy another dinghy I would look for something where the oars can be pushed out as one rows & detached in an instant. I would also look for single length wooden ones rather than rely on jointed ones that could easily break with the weight I put on them. It has been commented how fast & far I row my Avon so I do pull the oars quite hard & have worn through one set & now have a third set standing by. The rubber of the dinghy is still the original though.
Because of my height I deflate the seat a bit which allows me to lower my knees so they do not affect the stroke of the oars. However, it is the most useless boat for towing & either has to be bought on board or dragged right up to the transom so the bow is out of the water.

 

[dunedin]

…… I agree with you, the fixed type are hopeless, designed to get you out of trouble if the engine fails but little else.

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You are entitled to your opinion. But I don’t have any problem with ours - on an air deck inflatable.

Wont win the boat race against an eight, but a lot more seaworthy. And we often use our dinghy landing in remote unpopulated places where there is nobody else around so need to be fully self sufficient.