|
|
Dry weather, a bit warm, only seven families, but an easy and fun group to work with.
Chris Franklin drew the Salt Bay Skiff to be a father and small daughter, sloop-rigged sailboat. As an afterthought, the possibility of rowing the boat was enabled, but not meaningful so, except for a single, light-weight rower, nor does Riverswest's version of the Salt Bay alter that limitation. The oars that RW furnishes for the boat are junk. The oarlock blocks are improperly positioned for most people. The oarlock bushing are junk. The supposed foot-braces don't work for anyone but a 6' foot plus rower.
So, what could be to be done to fix those problems?
#1. Stop buying bushings with a 9/16" internal diameter and trying to pair them to oarlocks with a 1/2" diameter shaft.
#2. Stop positioning the center of the oarlock blocks 14" aft the thwart and accept the obvious fact that potential rowers have different body sizes and arm lengths and require that the blocks be positioned to fit them uniquely in term of distance aft the thwart and height above the boat's bottom.
#3 Stop installing the nearly useless cleats and provide an adjustable foot stretcher.
#4 Find a supplier of properly-balanced, leathered and buttoned oars, or build in-house what is really needed for the boat, which is 6'5s at the fwd rowing station and 7.5.s at the mid station.
Now comes the cost/effort of making those changes.
#1. The cost of a pair of oarlock bushings from West Marine is only pennies more than RW's current supplier, and their bushings offer the needed snug fit to a 1/2" oarlock shank. So, let's call the cost negligible and the improvement 100%.
#2. Fitting the positioning of the oarlock blocks to the most likely rowers is cost-free and nearly effort-free. The gain in comfort is 100%.
#3. A couple feet of rope and no more lumber than RW is already throwing away in the trash is needed to make decent enough foot-stretchers. So, let's again call the cost negligible, the effort minimal, and the improvement 100%.
#4. Providing the families with decent-enough oars could be done for less money than RW is currently spending on oars. But it would require the help of volunteers and/or the families themselves to build those oars. To which I'd say, if they are willing to spend a weekend to put together the parts for a boat that still needs hours and hours of sanding and fairing and then hours more of paint or varnish work, then they ought be able to find the 4 hours needed to cut, assemble, and finish a decent-enough set of balanced, flat-blade, ergonomically-gripped, 7' oars which would be an acceptable compromise between having to build a set of 6'5's for the fwd station and a set of 7.5s for the mid station.
Charlie
|
Locked
