Rowing my boat

[simonfraser]

7m tri, 1ton
Moves @ 4 knots with 2.5 hp honda no probs.

I recon i need 3m oars, 1m of this inboard of the rollocks, 50cm above waterline.

Alu tube & some blades ?

Any one rowed this kind of craft / weight ?

At most i need to travel half a mile just to get on / off mooring, what do you all recon ?

 

[Searush]

7m tri, 1ton
Moves @ 4 knots with 2.5 hp honda no probs.

I recon i need 3m oars, 1m of this inboard of the rollocks, 50cm above waterline.

Alu tube & some blades ?

Any one rowed this kind of craft / weight ?

At most i need to travel half a mile just to get on / off mooring, what do you all recon ?

How about a Yuloh? Only 1 "oar" to handle & used over stern so much simpler for a solo yottie.

 

[LittleSister]

My guess (and its only that) is that you would be much better off (all other things being equal) with much longer oars, or a much longer single sweep.

If your outboard hulls (is that the term?) prevent that, you'd probably be better off with a single blade sculling over the stern, and again longer than 3m.

Good luck with it.

 

[simonfraser]

Tnx, yes the amas will get in the way with longer oars.
I'l have to give it a go, just not keen on my ob at all.

 

[LittleSister]

A rummage around the internet suggests that an experienced athlete can generate about 370 watts on a sliding seat rowing set up (a further 200 watts is dissipated moving his/her body back and forward!). Even if you're an experienced athlete, there's no way your rowing set up will be that efficient, so I guess you'll get no more than about a 250 watts output or a third of a horsepower!

I seem to remember that when Popeye's electric fan he was using to blow his sails stopped, he got good results using an egg whisk over the back of his boat.

 

[Searush]

3 Peaks racers regularly row to beat tide gates like the Swellies & some of them are much bigger boats than yours, but they will have a crewman per sweep plus a helmsman. Check out this Yuloh info.

 

[simonfraser]

Fair point, but folk row acros atlantic, boat weighs 750kg+
and ? Oars wil grip water better than my small egg whisk ?
I recon it's worth a try .....

 

[LittleSister]

I recon it's worth a try .....

Definitely! I wasn't trying to put you off.

Using a long sweep was the standard way of moving a boat before auxilliary engines in yachts.

 

[halcyon]

3 Peaks racers regularly row to beat tide gates like the Swellies & some of them are much bigger boats than yours, but they will have a crewman per sweep plus a helmsman. Check out this Yuloh info.

Our Halcyon 27 has a sweep, left over from her Atlantic cruise, never tried though. But when you think, do you think twice about moving the boat down a pontoon, it takes very little effort.

So tide and wind may be the limiting factor.

Brian

 

[Allan]

I saw an Etap 22i in France that had a rowlock on the top of the transom. Indeed my Etap had an angled pad too but never fitted a rowlock.
Allan

 

[LittleSister]

I saw an Etap 22i in France that had a rowlock on the top of the transom. Indeed my Etap had an angled pad too but never fitted a rowlock.
Allan

I seem to recal reading that there used to be a regulation in France requiring an alternative means of propulsion, so you find a rowlock on the transom of lots of smaller boats in France.

No doubt at all one can row or scull with a short oar for a short distance (I've done it myself), and no doubt you can clock up long distances with a decent long sweep (IIRC Maurice Griffiths writes of doing a few miles at 1 knot or so). I suspect half a mile will be doable, but seem a very long way, with short oars.

 

[William_H]

Rowing

I row my 21ft 1 ton sail boat occasionally but only when the wind fails me.
I have paddles with extensions to about 8ft long. Often paddling is all that is needed however best effect is when I use the front vertical posts of the stern rail that are about 1 metre forward of transom as rowlocks.
I can sort of squat in the cockpit facing aft and pull both oars. It is nice to have a bungee or similar on the tiller to maintain straight course. To be honest I only row it a few hundred metres rather slowly but it is doable.
If you want to do it regularly for some distance work on a decent seat and rowlocks and maybe an auto helm. good luck olewill

 

[bignick]

We've paddled a friend's Sonata on occasion when the wind died completely on Winder(less)mere. Bl00dy hard work and I certainly wouldn't have liked to do it on my own, though we were using a couple of bendy small plastic paddles
It should be directionally stable, and you'd be paddling close to the CL, so why not try paddling first to see if you can get any way on?

 

[lenten]

i sometimes row my 15 x 6 feet -weight about 600 kilos loaded --open boat with a pair of 10 foot oars---i generally stand and push rather than sit and pull--bl--dy hard work for maybe 1 and 1/2 knots----as for a single oar over the stern only useful for 50 yards across a flat calm harbour-------good luck if you decide to do it---you will certainly get fit---------regards lenten

 

[prv]

There's about a chapter in one of the Pardey books about rowing their fairly heavy engineless 24-footer, and how to duplicate the setup for other boats.

Pete

 

[mikeinkwazi]

7m tri, 1ton
Moves @ 4 knots with 2.5 hp honda no probs.

I recon i need 3m oars, 1m of this inboard of the rollocks, 50cm above waterline.

Alu tube & some blades ?

Any one rowed this kind of craft / weight ?

At most i need to travel half a mile just to get on / off mooring, what do you all recon ?

On my 36ft Tri I got help from a couple of pals, one on the bow of each float, using paddles. This was fine in sheltered water. I also moved her myself, towing with a dinghy, using oars.
The problem is not the weight it's the windage!

 

[splashman237]

I saw an Etap 22i in France that had a rowlock on the top of the transom. Indeed my Etap had an angled pad too but never fitted a rowlock.
Allan

My Beneteau firstclass 8 (1500kg) was fitted with a rowlock fitting on the transom bar and I have sculled using it. Once you get into a rythm and get the boat moving it works well . much easier than oars IMHO . When younger (40 yrs ago :0)> ) used to ferry Yachties about harbour in a clinker rowboat sculling them with max 6-8 people and gear aboard . boat plus people probably 1000kg . you seemed to be able to move at 1-1.5 knots even fully loaded once you got going . The longer the sculling oar the better I would say 3-3.5m but more dependant where you can place your feet comfortably and oar needs to be about chest height . The rocking effect of the boat (single hull ) works in harmony with the sculling action, guessing that a multihull wouldnt quite respond like that .

 

[OldBawley]

I have made some row locks that fit into the jib sheet winches. Have two three meter long oars, ( multi multi multifunctional ) The boat has 26 feet waterline, but been an Bawley type and liveaboard loaded, she weighs 8 tons.
In absence of wind and current it is possible to row the boat, even at one knot. Standing and pushing the oars, the autopilot steering. It is just a toy really, very hard work, blisters after half an hour, then I stop playing. We were once stopped by the Turkish coastguard dingy, rowing out of a windless bay. I just had to do 50 more yards to have a little wind blowing from around the corner, so refused to stop rowing which they did not like. Once we started making very slow way under sail, I took there painter and showed my papers. All well.
Just some years before that all Turkish fishing boats had oars and used them. However, a captan with a mind of his own was unknown to those young boys.

 

[Capt Popeye]

I understand that long distance rowers go with the current, always

but having said that, the Thames Lighters used to moved up and down the Thames by Oars, by the Lightermen, but as I remember it, they used the current and really steered the Thames Lighters with the oars, just giving the Lighters a little headway on the current for steerage

 

[Blueboatman]

To the OP.
You may want either tethers or weights at the inboard ends to balance the oars.

I had a proper curved scull, yuloh etc on a 21footer/One ton and I never had much success-so rubbish in fact that people would jump in their dinghies and offer a tow when they saw me churning water and not going forward.

OTOH If I paddled with the scull vertically and the tiller offset slightly one knot was feasable without exhaustion.

The scull was most brilliant at shoving into the mud to push the bow round when short tacking in no water..so it earnt its keep