Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by mitchell on May 19, 2009 at 6:50pm

there is always room for a full sized spare.

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Clarke on May 19, 2009 at 7:34pm

I have a full length spare, but it's in three pieces. In my little 14 footer, space is at a premium. The two upper most sections of the spare oar are stored underneath the rower's seat and the blade is under the front seat. This would be far from ideal on the Rogue, I'm sure, but as you pointed out, Midwestern waters tend to be considerably more gentle than Pacific NW rivers. I carry a third oar mostly because I'm a worrywart and partly because it wouldn't be beyond me to break a blade by jamming it between a couple of rocks or something. Greg had recently asked "Where's your spare?" I'll try to post some pictures that show how my oar is stored. I've not yet carried a spare oarlock, but I'm working on convenient storage for one now.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Z on May 20, 2009 at 7:55am

Jason,

Per my email- I carry a full size spare. I made my own oars for a few of my boats. we cut some ash trees down a few years ago, cut them into boards and stored them flat in my basement for a year. wood dried very well and I hand planed four of them.

On your rivers, the take down oar would be nice, because it would be a rarity that you would need to react fast enough to get your spare int he oarlock should something happen. On those gentle river, you probably have time to put an oar together and mount it.

On some rivers I float, there is considerable whitewater. I carry a full size spare at all times. Never needed it, but glad I have it. It would take seconds to mount the spare in the oar lock if th esituation presented itself. Mine has no fancy hookup. It lays across the oarsman seat to one side. On a few high water trips, (no fihsing trips, brown rivers and loads of fun) I have made a rope "loop" up on the casting deck to hold the blade so the handle was in good position to mount it if need be. Got the idea from looking at some old Woodie Hindman pictures in Rogers' book.


I think you will be in good shape with the 9' Sawyer lights btw. I have my homebrew ash oars, A set of Ash Gull whitewater oars, and a set of Gull spruce Lightweight oars.

As in Gregs other post, I carry a watertight ammo box wiht my spare oarlock, drain plug, oar donut, screws, hardware, hammer head, etc....

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Permalink Reply by Jason Knight on May 20, 2009 at 8:26am

Dave,
Not sure if you sent that email today or if you were referring to the one you sent me regarding oars a while back... if you just sent it, never received it...

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Permalink Reply by Jason Knight on May 20, 2009 at 8:25am

Thanks for the input guys. I will see what is available in a breakdown oar first...then decide what to do.

Btw - those Gull oars are no longer available in 9' here... at least that's what the vendors I talked to told me.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Dearing on May 20, 2009 at 5:58pm

Jason,

For the type of water your describing, I would bring a three piece breakdown. One of my raft buddies has one, a Sawyer polecat, its really nice not to be constantly tripping over a full size spare, or moving it around when trying to get into the front seat compartments. The same buddy that owns the breakdown spare, broke an oar in York Creek rapid last November on our Illinois trip after it got caught between the boat and the wall there. I watched him put the three piece together in the eddy at the bottom of the rapid, and was impressed by how tight the thing was when it was assembled, I didn't notice any more flex then in it then the regular oars.

I ,on the other hand, always boat with a full size spare oar and have had to use it twice so far.

Mike

Almost forgot, I have five Sawyer Lites I am trying to unload right now. Let me know if you want a few of them.

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Permalink Reply by Randy Dersham on May 20, 2009 at 7:48pm

We can still get Gull oars in 9ft from our distributor. They are fine for the row boats but not that much bite to the blade for a drifter. They are a inexpensive alternative and sure a lot better that rowing with one oar.

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