Row a Typhoon, Part II

[Bob Schwartz]

I posted a topic “Row a Typhoon” in January 06. Recently, I was greatly surprised to discover that it has drawn over 1800 views. Since there is this level of interest, I thought I would share my experience for the benefit of those who might have an interest installing oars. Let me preface, by saying that failures are often more educational than successes.

About 15 years ago I learned to row shells and then bought a sculling dory. Pictured is my son in the dory.

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"> <img width="540" src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/kq5k/Dory.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>

Both shells and the dory have the same rowing mechanism – a sliding seat and sculling oars. A bit of terminology: sculls are oars for a shell; the single oar used in boats like Venetian gondolas are also called a scull. Rowers, like sailors, have their own extensive vocabulary. The sculls for the dory are 9’ 6”.

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To row the Typhoon, my plan was to use the sculls for the dory and make a set of sculling oarlocks that would fit on the Typhoon with minimum modification to the Ty.

I took a piece of round bronze and ground the edges to a square that would fit into the Ty wench. The bronze was then swaged between 2 stainless sleeves over a stainless steel pin threaded on one end. The manufactured oarlock was fit between the bronze square and the threaded end. The only modification to the Ty was to drill a hold through the bottom of the bronze wench stand for the pin to fit through. This arrangement allowed quick placement and removal of the oarlocks.

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This arrangement worked perfectly from a mechanical standpoint. The wenches happen to be placed in an ideal location to row standing and looking forward, which is the position that many use to row a sailboat.

I used the oars for several months with success. But, I noticed that on windy days the boat did not row well. It has too much exposed surface and it takes too much energy to overcome the windage. This is not a problem in the dory, which I have rowed in 25 knot winds.

(As a side note, I am also interested in sailing the Ty in strong winds. I built a Swedish main (like a deep 3rd reefed main) and tried sailing in a 30-35 knot wind. It seems like when there is enough sail to overcome the windage of the boat, the boat is over canvassed. The problem seems to be that in small boats the ratio of windage to displacement is quite large. If anyone has ideas about sail configuration for sailing a Ty in strong winds, I would like to hear about it.)

After a couple month of use, it seemed that the oars had limitations, so I bought a Honda 2. One fine morning, I asked my wife if she would like to go to the lake to motor around for a few hours while I was breaking in the motor. She was game. My wife accompanies me on about one in ten sails, but if there is ever a minor emergency, it seems like she is aboard – which may account for the low wife-aboard to sail ratio. The day started with a calm, then the wind picked up a bit. Finally, the wind was over 10 knots. Naturally, I could not stand to motor, so we sailed a while. When I came back to the marina area and lowered the sails, the wind was around 15 – 20 knots. I started towards the marina, which was South, directly into the wind. After a few minutes the engine died. I thought to myself, there is plenty of fuel, the damn thing is defective and I will have to return it for service.

I dug out my trusty oars. The lake was white capping a bit. After a full aerobic workout of about 15 minutes, I was in the same place where I started. The wind would die down a bit and I would make a bit of way. Then it would gust for a bit and we would lose ground. I finally shipped the oars and set sail again to consider my options. The marina has a very narrow channel dead into the wind. I checked the fuel tank, and much to my surprise, it was empty. A pint of fuel and a pull on the starter cord and I was motoring. Since then, I have reserved rowing for the dory.

One other note, I considered using the single oar scull, which is used over the stern. However I decided against it: the scull is too long to fit into the cabin and I could not visualize an installation plan that would not involve a lot of modification to the Ty. However, the 2 rowing sculls are oars that have been used in athletic competition for years and they are very efficient. I seriously doubt that a single oar scull would have much, if any, mechanical advantage. The problem is energy to overcome windage.

Happy rowing & sailing,

Bob

[Joe Montana]

Bob, I enjoyed your post and photos. It brought to mind this shot I took of a Friendship sloop at this year's Friendship Sloop Rendezvous in Rockland, ME. (I'm trying to learn how to post a photo, so I hope this works.)

[img]http://www.flickr.com/photos/12120227@N03/1231784686/[/img]