Oarlock Placement

First off, love the site and all the wonderful insight into wooden boats and wooden boat building. I have a question on the placement of the oar locks. I have noticed on most if not all of the Tatman boats I have seen the oarlocks are located between the 5 and 6 rib (when counting from the bow). My question is can you move them forward one set so they are in between the 4 and 5 ribs? Obviously you would need to move the oarsman's seat forward as well, however it seems to me that this would allow for a more even distribution of the weight from bow to stern. I welcome any and all feedback, and thank you in advance.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Dearing on February 12, 2009 at 7:42am
If you are rowing solo I suppose your idea of forward oarlock placement would be pretty good, but if you are taking any passengers along it will put to much weight to far forward. Also depending on which boat you have if you move the oarlocks forward you will probably run into clearance problems with your knees on the front seat.

I have found on all my boat that when he oarlocks are placed close to the middle of the boat it pivots faster and easier too.

Mike
Permalink Reply by Randy Dersham on February 12, 2009 at 9:20am
The short answer to your question is YES. My guess is you are trying to trim your boat so it is balanced in the center. That is exactly the right things to do.

Jesse, you are bringing up a classic compromise in drift boat design. Your boat has an asymmetrical bottom that is wider up front than it is in the back. This helps stabilize the boat when two passengers are up front. That is the safest configuration for white water rowing with passengers and almost all of the historic white water wooden boats follow that design. Obviously with 300 or 400 pounds in the front of the boat the rower's seat is moved back to balance the weight in the center of the boat. Without that weight up front you will be out of balance and the bow will ride high. If you are rowing by yourself or even with one passenger that is lighter than you, you will feel the need to move the rowers seat forward to get a proper trim. You could also add more weight to the front to achieve the same thing.

Many builders have made a boat a bit more convertible by adding a adjustable rowers seat to the boat. In fact our most popular kit today is completely convertible from a center balance with rower in the middle of the boat to a two people up front configuration with the rower's seat moved back to the more traditional position so the balance is still in the center of the boat.

You can make this convertible seat. All it takes is a couple of supports to hold the seat pipe. It would look the same as your front seat. Then cut your rowers seat supports to fit the pipe the same as your current front seat.
If you are handy you can likely follow the pattern of the front seat and do it yourself. If you want help give Sanderson a call.
Permalink Reply by Greg Hatten on February 12, 2009 at 10:34am
I have the same Oar configuration as you do and most of my rowing and fishing is solo. The bow rides pretty high through white water with no one up-front. Sometimes, it is downright awkward and a half-stroke slow. To counter that, I put all the weight I can in the bow of the boat... on a recent three day trip down the Rogue (solo), I left the passenger seat "in", put the tent, cooler, water, gear ... kitchen sink - everything but the anchor up there to give me a more balanced boat. I like your thoughts on this & would be very interested in what you come up with...
GH
Permalink Reply by Jonathan Clarke on February 12, 2009 at 11:22am
I helped a group of people build the 14' Tatman that I now own. We built it as a fundraiser for a TU chapter. I built up a real lust for it, but never expected that I'd get a chance to own it, but I bought it from the fellow who won it at raffle when he very suddenly lost interest in it. So, there I was with a boat that I had no real idea how to use. Anyway, I soon came to realize that having two sets of oarlocks and both adjustable rower's and passenger seats was design genius. After looking at some of the photos of the boat in action, I realized the boat was actually nose heavy (I should weigh less and my angling companions seem to be in need of a diet, too) and I re-trimmed it by moving both the seats back a bit. What a difference in handling and ease of rowing! My point is that there's no universal standard and that it pays to experiment, which is easy to do - and fun because it's another reason to get out on the water.
Permalink Reply by Jesse Ronnow on February 12, 2009 at 7:03pm
Wonderful insight, thank you all.

Here is the thing, I float 95% of the time on the South Fork of the Snake river, which for those of you who have not had the pleasure of floating that section, means totally flat water. I usually have 3 adults with me. What I have found is that when I am caring a full fishing party, the stern is low in the water thus making it difficult to maneuver. Also, as Greg pointed out, when I am solo the bow is "flyin high". What I was hoping to accomplish is a more centered equilibrium. And it sounds like I will just have to tinker a bit until I find stated equilibrium. And Jon you are correct, any excuse to get on the water is welcome.

I think for this upcoming season, I will have to adopt the suggestions of Randy and Jon and design an adjustable solution. I do have one more question however. For purposes of our discussion, the center needs to be calculated on the center of the floor, not the center length of the boat from bow to stern... correct?

Thank you all again.

JDR
Permalink Reply by Mike Dearing on February 12, 2009 at 8:10pm
Yeah if you are going to be carrying people front and rear I would definitely say you need an adjustable oarsman seat. If your going to make it adjustable why limit your self to just two positions on the oarlocks though? Why couldn't you put two six inch long blocks between the 4 and 5 rib, then two more between the 5 and 6 rib, then drill two to three holes apiece in each block, giving you a ton of different adjustments to trim to boat perfectly no matter what weight people you had front and rear.

Speaking of flat water. I'm having a discussion on another board on this topic, sort of. I've always wondered how many people actually use drift boats in real whitewater and how many people really never get beyond the class 1 stuff. I've always suspected that the later is probably in the high 80%...

Any thoughts? I'm collecting opinions on this matter.

Mike
Permalink Reply by Jesse Ronnow on February 12, 2009 at 9:11pm
I just ran out to the shop to measure my boat and I found that If I move the locks forward one set of ribs they will be almost dead center. An therefore the majority of my weight will be behind the center line. But your idea of multiple positions is a great one. Once I make the changes I will update the site.

Thanks again,

JDR

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