Oar locks and collars

I hadn't thought when I bought them that the oarlocks might not fit over the square looms! So then what?

They may have fit if I had soaked them in boiling water first and then tried to force them over the handle end. But until I had carried out my plan, I didn't know how soft the hot water would make the plastic; I had low expectations. So I cut the oarlocks, on the outer, upper part of their curve, hoping to open them enough to get the small part of the oar, where the loom meets the blade, into the oarlock. First I tried heating the plastic with a hair dryer, but the cut wouldn't open far enough.

That's when I tried the boiling water trick, and it worked really well. A few minutes in a cup of hot water made the plastic very pliable. Afterwards, I taped the cut closed by squeezing the two sides together (shoulda taken pics), wrapped a piece of glass cloth saturated with epoxy around the cut part, and then draped some carbon fibres over that.

 

It doesn't look great, and the epoxy isn't sticking to the plastic, but I'm expecting the shape of the sleeve alone to hold it together. It's not a high-stress part of the oarlock.

The collars were made with a wrapping of braided nylon line. The ends of each line were fastened to the oar with square copper tacks. The wrapping was coated with epoxy, with a dab of thickened epoxy on each tack head. (The oarlock cannot get past the bulge, so no buttons are needed on these collars.)

After the epoxy on the collars hardened, it was sanded with 40-grit, leaving them a bit fuzzy, since the nylon fibres don't shear off, but stand up. That gives them a soft feel. I expect it will mean that rowing will be a bit quieter. For sure, the oars will be very strong in that area!

I plan to carry a pair of open-top oarlocks in the boat. If the present oarlocks fail miserably, I can always use those instead, and cut these off.