The design of this boat is ideal for implementing Phil Bolger's oarlock socket, which is a pair of metal plates on the top and bottom of the gunnel/rub rail, tied together with bolts:
I first made four aluminum rectangles. I put a metal cutting blade in the table saw and took a 1½" slice off a piece of John's scrap aluminum. Sliced that into four rectangles 4½" long, clamped them together and rounded the corners with a grinder.
Drilled one of the bolt holes with the pieces clamped together as above, then put a bolt through that hole and clamped the bundle with a tightened nut. After the second bolt hole was drilled, a bolt went through that, which also got a tightened-down nut on it. With the plates all held together tightly, I drilled the big ½" hole for the oarlock pin. All drilling was done on a drill press, so that the holes were aligned vertically.
I took off the top corners of the plates with a grinder, then used various grades of sandpaper to finish the pieces smooth.
It was a bit of a challenge to drill freehand and match the top and bottom plate holes, but it seems to have worked. I stood one of those little carpenter's squares up close to the target area, and kept lining the drill up against it, from the side as well as the front, trying to drill as straight down as possible. After the plates were bolted top to bottom, I drilled the ½" hole for the pin through the gunnel. I had to do a bit of reaming with a round file after that, as well as whittling the bottom of the nylon pin a hair thinner, as it was jamming when the oarlock was dropped in.
The oars are mainly finished; mostly just fine sanding left to do. I'm thinking I'll paint them, since neither the wood nor the woodwork are very attractive. I'm waiting for warmer weather before doing any more painting.
I'm leaving the handles octagonal and unpainted. I was asked why the handles have such a small diameter. I started out with larger handles on the oars I made for my sliding seat canoe, but found that my hands were going numb after a length of time (I was on a camp-cruise, rowing six hours a day). I had read somewhere about using smaller handles to avoid that, so I made those even smaller than these are, and it worked.
The corners of the octagonal handles provide a better grip than round, especially if one is feathering the oars. I'm not planning to row this boat as much I did the sliding seat canoe, so hopefully I won't come up against the numbness part. Leaving the handles unpainted gives better grip, and means no blisters. If one rows enough without gloves, the wood gets seasoned with body oils.
The looms are square so that the oars are more balanced. This is an old East coast design that was favoured by the great Pete Culler, who designed and built many beautiful, practical boats of various sizes, large and small.
I'm planning to make a cut in the top of the oarlocks, so I can put the oars into them, since they won't go over the square looms, and since I don't want to mess with the design of the oars. I will re-work the shapes of the looms and use a new set of oarlocks, if I find that I've made the oarlocks unusable or unsafe by cutting the tops open.
Always grateful to John Booth for the use of his shop!
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