Wooden Boat People
By McKenzieDriftBoat.com
Oar Lock Blocks
A few questions about oar lock blocks:
First, I have a nice piece of Poplar that I am concedering using. Any reason not to? Its a hard wood that is very workable, but seems to be strong.
Second, what do you use to line the hole where the oar lock goes? I saw in Rogers book he says that some poeple use plastic inserts for quieter rowing, would this be like a piece of pvc? Or could you just use straight wood? Or metal piping instead? Pros and cons of it all?
Thanks as always
Views: 1543
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on
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Ben, this may not answer your poplar question directly but will provide some ideas. Ultra High Molecular Weight UHMW can be purchased and cut and shaped into an oarlock block. It's inherent characteristics of slickness and such make it work very well. I bought a set from Randy, but you might find a source close by. Hardness and strength are two of the most important characteristics for oarlock blocks.
I find poplar to be soft and not as strong as other woods, perhaps some white oak or something similar. Are there any cabinet makers in your neck of the woods? They might have some scraps that you could fashion into some nice blocks.
Thanks for all your pictures and questions, it helps all the other builders learn too. Good luck on your build!
Happy waves to you,
Rick Newman
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Permalink Reply by chris towles on
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Hey, me again. I used uhwm. It's extremely quiet, very slick and will never crack. You can get big blocks, they are a little pricy. I bought a $10 cutting board at albertsons and cut strips that were as wide as the gap in my gunnels. I bolted three strips on top of each other bolted a few times together vertically. I bored the 5/8 hole for the lock with a drill press. You'll need it to get a straight bore. I'll try and get some pics. They came out really nice.
If you use wood, use something hard. Mahogany and oak were what I was suggested most. You will need to bore a bigger hole 7/8 I believe and line the hole with a uhwm or brass insert. You will also need a drill press to get a straight bore here too. I worried about cracking after hearing many stories of broken locks. I decided to skip all that and go with uhwm.hope that helps, i'll get some pics when i get back from skiing. its dumping up high right now, so i'm going to get some pow turns. =)
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heres some pics of my locks. you can see that that there are 2 blocks per side. 2 holes in each. they are aligned so that there are hole 2" and 6" for and aft of the center point on the gunnel. there are 3 vertical stainless screws holding the blocks together are they are bolted thru the gunnel 2x in the center (one on either side of the center vertical screw). sofar so good. they are dead quiet, very resilient to wear, smooth as can be. uhwm is an amasing material. originally deigned to be a bearing surface for metal, it is very slick and hard. my splitboard bindings have uhwm spacers where the touring pin meets the front of the binding. this is a bearing surface and the pin moves in that spacer for thousands of steps up and down per tour, 100 days a year, and after years of use there is zero play at all. i am impressed with the material and will continue to use it. gonna put some on my trailer this season to make it easier to load and unload. i'll also bet that at $9.95 before tax these are gonna be your cheapest solution.
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Permalink Reply by Lawrence E. Long on
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Rick is correct. Poplar is really soft-easily worked- but has low strength and is not rot resistant. Get some mahogany, white oak, ash, even red oak - if you keep it well painted. As to the liner- use UHMW as Rick suggests or common plastic pipe or bronze bushings- Jason sells them- that where I got mine.
Good Luck
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Permalink Reply by Josh on
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I'd get the UHMW oarlock blocks...a bit spendy but you'll never have to worry about them.
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Permalink Reply by Steven Miller on
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I used Desert Ironwood. It's hard as a rock and naturally oily. I'm a knife maker so I had a bunch lying around.
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Ben, I looked up UHMW suppliers in Ft. Collins and there are several. I just googled UHMW Ft. Collins, CO and found them. Good luck.
Rick Newman
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Permalink Reply by Ben Kittell on
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I like the cutting boar idea. No cracking, no worries of treating, silent and strong. Chris did you use any glue, or did you just screw those suckers together? The plans in Rogers book suggest the hole to be drilled at a 15 degree tilt to adjust for the acented flair of the boat. Anyone else doing this, or is a straight hole just as good?
Im thinking of doing the UHMW inbetween the rails then top it off with a thinner sheet of wood, just to get that all wood look, with the performance of plastic!
Also, do you glue the blocks as well as bolt, or just use the two bolts? I would think you would not want to glue them incase you want to move them around, but It would add strength to glue...
p.s. is that the bottom of a kayak that I see in your picture chris. That should be on the buzz!
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just screw them together, same for the gunnels. nothing and i mean nothing will stick to uhwm. i used nylock nuts with washers. if the the sections ever gets loose you can just retighten., uhwm need to be held in place mechanically. if you want the 15 tilt, make a jig for the block to sit on when you put it in the drill press. i used a vice and bored them level.you definatly need a drill press to get that nice straight bore, you will not be able to do it by hand. the vertical bolts thru were done by hand and they are all a little off. if you do the wood top accents, i might suggest overboring the holes for the locks so that no woods come in contact with the rotating oarlock, you want the shaft to be in a full uhwm hole. could look nice. i might suggest looking around for some uwm or brass spacers to raise the locks up 1/4-1/2" up from the gunnel. with that high seat in your boat, you'll appreciate a little extra height on the locks.
as for the boats, yep, you got me. i flipped the playboats upside down and spanned the benches to hold the cover up and try to keep snow out for the winter. i have so many kayaks around here its hard to find places to put them all. now its wet and springy and keeping the drift boat dry has been hard. the trailer is still a little frozen in. the ice all just melted a few days ago. i should have the trailer chipped out in another day or so and then i can level the boat and drain all the water thru the drain hole. the cover blew off in the wind last night and the boat had 3 inches of heavy snow on it the am. yuck...
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Permalink Reply by Jason Knight on
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I used uhmw... they are working great. Got mine from Sandy D. at Tatman, they are black and look pretty slick. I have two sets for when I slide the rowing seat to accommodate the rear angler.
Don't bother using any glue where the blocks go if you use uhmw - nothing sticks to it anyways, so it would be wasted epoxy/glue.
-jk-
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Permalink Reply by Andrew on
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Agree with the above posters. Poplar, at least around here is a junk wood that rots even while the tree is still alive. The grain is not very fine with plenty of run out which does not make for strong wood.
Here is a quick comparison of Poplar spp. to White Oak
(click for larger image)
Great idea with the cutting boards guys.
If you wanted to keep the all wood look you could put a price of wood on the top of your stack of cutting boards before you bolt it together & drill the holes. When you put it between the gunnels it will look like a block of wood.
Andrew
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Chris, I was also thinkning of leaving the wood hole a little big, and have it sit about a half inch above the sides. Thats actually the pattern in Rogers book.
Thank you all for the rapid replies and thanks for the chart Andrew, I now know im not going to use poplar.
The boat is upside down for fiberglassing and painting right now, but when she gets flipped back over then its time to start on details like this and seats, etc.
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