What size oars for my tender?

[Ru88ell]

I'm refurbishing a cheap grp tender that I 'found' on Ebay. It's coming along nicely, but I'm starting to think about some oars.

It's a 7' 6" pram dinghy, and the distance between rowlocks is 41". Will I be OK with 6' oars?

 

[john_q]

The longer the better, see if you can borrow some 7 foot oar and see the difference, My Avon round tail is C**p with the standard Avon oars but rows a treat with the longer ones

 

[wiggy]

I'm refurbishing a cheap grp tender that I 'found' on Ebay. It's coming along nicely, but I'm starting to think about some oars.

It's a 7' 6" pram dinghy, and the distance between rowlocks is 41". Will I be OK with 6' oars?

Where are you? I've got a pair of oars you can have if your anywhere near. Brighton/ Chichester/ Portsmouth.

 

[Ru88ell]

Where are you? I've got a pair of oars you can have if your anywhere near. Brighton/ Chichester/ Portsmouth.

Thanks Wiggy, but I'm near Brum.

 

[VicS]

I'm refurbishing a cheap grp tender that I 'found' on Ebay. It's coming along nicely, but I'm starting to think about some oars.

It's a 7' 6" pram dinghy, and the distance between rowlocks is 41". Will I be OK with 6' oars?

Mine are 5'6" for a similar sized dinghy. I did use the Mirror dinghy oars which are longer (6ft ???) for a time but settled on 5'6".

I find two part ( inflatable dinghy) oars convenient for stowing and transporting.

Also useful to have an extra rowlock on the transom for sculling through narrow gaps, between moored boats etc

 

[Ru88ell]

VicS - what's the distance between rowlocks on yours?

I've made a cut out in the transom for sculling. I might see if I can sort out some pics.

 

[simonfraser]

i row my avon with 6 feet long wooden oars, 7 would be better.

 

[VicS]

VicS - what's the distance between rowlocks on yours?

I've made a cut out in the transom for sculling. I might see if I can sort out some pics.

4ft beam, 8ft long

 

[Ru88ell]

Here's what it looked like when it arrived home..

https://cornishyawl.wordpress.com/tender-refurb/

 

[LadyInBed]

1/2 beam x 3 or 3.5 depending on size of blade.

 

[Hadenough]

Nothing over 8 stone! - I'll get my coat!

 

[JumbleDuck]

I'm refurbishing a cheap grp tender that I 'found' on Ebay. It's coming along nicely, but I'm starting to think about some oars.

It's a 7' 6" pram dinghy, and the distance between rowlocks is 41". Will I be OK with 6' oars?

As john_q said, get the longest you can, which in practice means the longest you can fit in it. If you were buying new I would suggest 210cm or 220cm. I have a 7'6" pram and use a paid of 7' oars. Once you have the oars you can adjust the collars to fit the beam of your dinghy. I have mine so that one hand is above the other when pulling; many people prefer them side by side, in which case make sure that there is more than the thickness of two thumbs between the ends at their narrowest approach.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I was advised not to make my dinghy look better than the others in my vicinity.Pirates tend to pick the best.

Here's what it looked like when it arrived home..

https://cornishyawl.wordpress.com/tender-refurb/

 

[Daydream believer]

I'm starting to think about some oars.

8.5 stone , 5ft 4 ins -36 25 34 might do & if you have a nice notch in your transom you could do with just waggling one for a while

 

[Ru88ell]

I was advised not to make my dinghy look better than the others in my vicinity.Pirates tend to pick the best.

I'm aware of that. I do need to replace the gunwales, strengthen it a bit and splash some paint in it, but it's never going to be as attractive as Foeu's tender.

 

[Seashoreman]

I'm aware of that. I do need to replace the gunwales, strengthen it a bit and splash some paint in it, but it's never going to be as attractive as Foeu's tender.

I have replaced gulwales on two rowing dinghys, last one cost about £50 for the wood. Local fishermen suggested using roofing battens, which are about the same size and considerably cheaper. That might put the pirates off?

 

[ffiill]

I have a pair of traditional oars which I use with a similar dinghy 6 foot and I am tall with long arms.
The oars which came with my seago tender were about 5 foot and useless.I extended these to about 6 foot by removing the plastic handgrips from the aluminium tude and replaced them with some lovely old large diameter doweling circa 1930 ish.The wood is also nice to hold and grip.

 

[Ru88ell]

Thanks for the feedback, after which I'm on the hunt for some 7' wooden oars. I also need some rowlocks. What's the recommendation there? How strong are the plastic ones? Should I go for galvanised?

I've also updated the blog with more pics of the refurb.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Thanks for the feedback, after which I'm on the hunt for some 7' wooden oars. I also need some rowlocks. What's the recommendation there? How strong are the plastic ones? Should I go for galvanised?

I haven't been able to find any decent plastic ones recently. I use galvanised.

 

[Greenheart]

Bravo, for choosing oars over outboard. Better in every way, unless you routinely have to fight strong wind & tide. And well done for not buying the default 6ft chandlery choice.

Presumably a primary detraction to the mind of the opportunistic thieving louse, is any dinghy which doesn't have a nice, portable, petrol-drinking Magimix on the transom.

Long oars are quite like a performance sailing rig - an obstructive pain in the neck until actually in use, when an undersized example immediately feels ridiculous.

I'm always reminded of people on bicycles pedaling like crazy in bottom gear whilst moving very slowly up a slight incline. Longer oars are higher gears.