Wood for Oars and Floorgrate

[fluffc]

Can anyone advise me what the best timber to make oars from is? Also, for a boat that is 11'6" long, what length oars would be ideal. There is both a central rowing position and one in the bow - I should imagine that I will need different length oars.

Also, I need to make a new floor grating - again, what timber should I use? The grating has been lost, but from memory it was made up from 3/4" square timber laticed together.

The boat that these are for is a double-ended clinker built rowing boat, built in the earlier part of the last century. I have currently got it under a cover; drying out. I think it is made of pine - but it could be larch. Need to wait until its' completely dried out to see properly.

 

[Guest]

Of spruce and teak

Spruce for the oars with leather chafing protectors and at a copper feral round the end to stop them splitting. Make the oars as long as you can pul and stow comfortably the longer they are the faster you can row her! The best and most efficient rowing technique is long slow sweeps Usually the same length oars I used in the bow of position and at the centre position. You may need to put three leather chafing protectors on each oar one or for the centre of rowing position one or for the forward rate position and of course one for sculling.
From your description it sounds as though you would have had a teak grating as a floorboard tikka of course does not rot when constantly immersed in water even or fresh water (which makes up most of a good boats bilge water) and for trainee this is rather expensive and the usual floorboard material is pine, of all these days plywood.

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[jleaworthy]

Re: Of spruce and teak

Simply add that the traditional length for oars is one and a half times the beam of the boat.

 

[gunkholer]

For the oar wood, if you intend on building them yourself and if the wood is available where you are, I'd recommend using sitka spruce. Old growth and clear if possible. If your buying them retail have a good look at them. A lot of the manufacturers pump them out so fast that there is no quality control and they are very poorly made. Most of the time the grips arn't even centred. The length depends on a few things such as beam and free board. There should be about your fist width between the oar grips when your rowing and they are at their closest point. Start with 7'6'' for the centre station but if your boat is quite beamy ( more that 54" for your length) and if there is a lot of free board you might need 8 feet. The longer they are the more difficult it is to row in close quarters.

Lets assume there are oar lock sockets already in place. Try getting a couple of 2" X 2" about 8 feet long and go for a row. You won't make much of a wake but you will get a good feel for what you need. Visualize the length of the blade and how much of it will be under water at their optmium position.

Teak is a good choice for the grates but it is very costly and if your making them yourself ,that amounts to a costly pile of saw dust. Honduras Mahogany is a good alternative choice. If there is gum wood in your area it too is a good choice and stands up like teak. Gum wood is quite reasonably priced but you have to be very mindful of the grain and splinters.

Good Luck