Wooden Boat People
By McKenzieDriftBoat.com
Question: How to wrap oarlocks?
Hi there WBP,
I would like to wrap my Sawyer Cobra Oarlocks in stead of wrapping my oars. Any hints out there? Its a little trickier than I thought. The line used would be an 1/8" polyester braided cord.
Thanks for any insight,
Kelly
Views: 3393
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dave P on
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Found this site, it has a few good pics of the leather. Thanks Brad for the good stories and advice!
http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3422&highlight...
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Permalink Reply by Brad Dimock on
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Those sewing jobs look a little flimsy to me--not sure they'd hold up for the many hundreds/thousands of miles you might want to run with him. And the leathers on the oarlocks---hmmmmm--look like they'd wear through pretty quick. But I've never tried that!
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Permalink Reply by Lawrence E. Long on
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Go to your butcher and get a little tallow. Melt it in a frying pan and slather it on the leathers when it cools a little. Save the rest for a recoat in the future. Leathers should be 12-14"- more leway. They have been using plain old tallow since the whaling days. Old ways are somtimes the best ways.
Good luck
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Don't know- haven't seen any off shore- but that may be a possibility . A dog or pistol should take care of the problem.
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That's actually a valid concern in Grand Canyon, as the ringtails do get on the boats and eat anything that smells yummy. NPS frowns on blasting away at the wildlife. The other concern with tallow might be that sand would stick to it and cause an erosion problem in the bearing zone. As far as touching up on river with the modern paste synthetics--I dunno. The whole idea with the wax is that the leather is impregnated and basically sweats its own lubricant when worked. As long as the leathers can still soak up the lube and resweat it under duress, I think anything would work okay.
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Here are some photos of three sets of oars with many seasons of rowing on each. This is how they look at the end of the season with no post-trip loving. They look way sexier with fresh wax, shiny brass oarlocks around them, and beautiful boats beneath them in the desert evening sun, but you get the picture. Left to right--8' oars for a Holmstrom replica with full-ring oarlocks; 10' oars for the Briggs boat; 11' oars for rowing commercial rafts to pay the bills.
You can see how the holes were pre-punched and the sinew stitching sunken into the wrap out of harm's way.
Note: the copper nail-heads in the Holmstrom stops are purely cosmetic, and do not go into the wood. The stops are epoxied on all three sets. Again--NEVER put a nail into an oars. Bruce Bergstrom, who owns Smoker Oar, will personally come flog you. - Attachments:
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Permalink Reply by Steve Sobba on
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Well, I need to be Flogged for putting 2 small brads through the nylon parachute cord into the oars I used for the wrap. I built my own oars out of ash. So This Is a Big NO NO ??***** The author of the book I used suggested this very technique. Maybe that author travels in less demanding waters. Also I used a flat rubberized tube with a peice of stainless steel aviation safety wire inside the tube to make my oar stops. Thanks Steve Sobba
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It's the age-old way of attaching leathers and wraps. Perko, who sells leather kits, still include nails, and I am not surprised to hear it is recommended in a book. BUT: In the sudden extreme stresses of whitewater rowing any weak point is a vulnerable break point. And water follows those nail holes, slightly weakens the wood, and that's where the oar breaks. I've seen it, and Bergstrom at Smoker has more examples of it than you'd ever want to hear about. I know it seems like a picky point, but it does matter. With luck, you won't have them break there, but if you can avoid it in the future, don't poke those oars.
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