Oars?

[OddballNo3]

I have a 12' Avon that I want to get some oars for rowing into shallow spots, the locks are 4' OC.. what size / kind of oar should i get?

[jeffstevens763@g]

I haven’t got row locks on my boat and it’s fitted with long paddles bit like the paddleboards I only use one standing in the middle of my 2 m wide boat it works fine for me once you get underway and on course.

[willk]

Originally Posted by jeffstevens763@g

I haven’t got row locks on my boat and it’s fitted with long paddles bit like the paddleboards I only use one standing in the middle of my 2 m wide boat it works fine for me once you get underway and on course.

That's interesting info! Realistically, is that just useful around pontoons and moorings (no bad thing) or would you be able to cover a bit of ground, comparable to rowing?

[jeffstevens763@g]

On a recent trip I paddled out 60/70 m before starting the engine because it was weed choked and rocky didn’t take long my chosen method for this boat .

[willk]

Originally Posted by jeffstevens763@g

On a recent trip I paddled out 60/70 m before starting the engine because it was weed choked and rocky didn’t take long my chosen method for this boat .

50m gets you out of all sorts of trouble, good to know, cheers.

[Fenlander]

I like a good wooden oar. Good for all sorts of sounding, fending, prodding and wacking etc.... even paddling or rowing too.

[OddballNo3]

all good to know, but what about length? I was looking at some cheap aluminum ones. they have 6' (1.8M) and 7 (2.1M) or something like that.. I'm not planning on rowing a race, but yeah weeds, rocks, nice shallow water, that sorta thing..

[Fenlander]

Mine are 5ft which is ok in a narrow SIB, so 6ft would be fine.

[GuyC]

I've got the aluminium and plastic ones that came with my Zodiac SIB. The definitely aren't any longer than 6' and you can use them as an oar or a paddle.

I'd suggest buying a cheap'ish set and use them to find out what you like / don't like. You can then upgrade if necessary.

[2Spicy]

Ive been looking for a decent set of old school Zodiac / Avon oars ... My Futura doesnt have loc's but I think a pair of oars are an essential bit of kit.

[Peter_C]

Originally Posted by 2Spicy

Ive been looking for a decent set of old school Zodiac / Avon oars ... My Futura doesnt have loc's but I think a pair of oars are an essential bit of kit.

I hated the oars my past Zodiac came with. Changed over to a standard paddle shortened a few inches that had a boat hook type top handle and stiff plastic for the oars of decent quality. Remade the failing oar holders by sewing up some fabric and velcro inside the boat and never looked back to the old wooden oars.

Why are you guys talking oars in feet? I'm confused...

[2Spicy]

Originally Posted by Peter_C

Why are you guys talking oars in feet? I'm confused...

Its a British thing .. We like to pick and choose what metric units to use and what Imperial ones to use...

[Trello]

Britain changed to metric / SI measurements in 1967, but, frustratingly and annoyingly, many of my compatriots quite obtusely continue to use Imperial units, even now.

By the way, my oars are 5 ft 3 inches [emoji57]

[Fenlander]

I'm afraid I'm guilty of mixing units. Having been raised in a practical household with craftsman carpenter grandfather by 1967 imperial units were ingrained at an early age. Metric units only reluctantly adopted through senior school years. Now it can go either way depending on the job.

At the moment I'm extending a pergola using 4" x 4" posts in 3.6m lengths.

[OddballNo3]

I use feet because my country refuses to adopt a normal measuring system.. I use metric as much as I can, but I still can't judge how long a meter is by thinking about it lol. To make matters worse, I work in a machine shop and measure to 1000ths of an inch

[Trello]

Originally Posted by OddballNo3

I use feet because my country refuses to adopt a normal measuring system..

Didn't one of the NASA missions fail because different departments were using different units? Amazing that even the organisation that put people on the moon can't (or couldn't) standardise their operations.

Originally Posted by OddballNo3

I use metric as much as I can, but I still can't judge how long a meter is by thinking about it lol.

This is one of the problems, isn't it? Having that mental yardstick (metre-stick?) in your head. I can "think in" inches, but not in cm. Conversely, I always measure my weight in kg, and really can't get my head around stones and pounds (at least you guys in the US sensibly just use pounds and forgo the stones).

The UK has never made any real attempt to change from miles to km - that will be really difficult to do, because the conversion factor is 8/5 which not easy mental arithmetic. Of interest to people on this platform will be changing from nautical miles to km and from knots to km/hr, which would actually be easier, as, to a very rough approximation, the conversion factor is 2.

I always find it strange that aircraft, both civilian and military, still measure altitude in feet - there's something intractable about miles, but feet? We are actually supposed to have moved to metres, so you would expect very technical services like aircraft to have moved to SI. Perhaps, with the nature of flight being trans-national, there is a reticence do so in case we get problems similar to that of the NASA debacle.