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I have just finished building an Elegant Punt. It only took me over a year what with a day job and all. I used Titebond III glue and taped the chines with fiberglass. We'll see how she lasts.
We put it in the water today and it floats!!
My wife and I even got in and rowed around a bit to see how it handles.

My question for the forum is about rowing. I'm new to rowing. I have made a pair of oars per Dynamite's web instructions but not sure I have the business end of the oars shaped properly. Both sides on my oar blades are peaked in the middle. It looks kind of like one side of the oars in Dynamite's pictures are flat. In use my oars tend to come out of the water unless I really angle them back. Also, they tend to jump out of the oar locks. I'm using some cast bronze Sea Dog oar locks. Should I need a keeper on top to keep the looms contained?
Best,
Joe, aka Arodnap

Congratulations Joe on seeing the project through and getting her launched.

If I understand your description of your oars (adding a picture of them would help) I'd say you could reduce the peaking on both sides fairly quickly so that the blade is flat on both sides. Unless you are talking about a spoon bladed oar, I like to keep conventional bladed oars symetrical so I don't have to think about which side of the blade to pull against.

How long are the oars you made? I can't remember the beam width of the Elegant Punt but a boat with a 48" beam should have 7 foot long oars (maybe even longer) to balance properly. Shorter oars would have a tendency to pop out of the oarlocks. There is nothing wrong with the Sea Dog oarlocks. I prefer an open oarlock for ease of getting the oars in place or getting them out quickly to stow or fend off.

It won't take long to get the feel of properly feathering the oars so that they stay in place. Good luck!

Thanks for the tips on the shape of the oar blades.

The length of the oars is 6 feet which is what was suggested in Dynamite's instruction. Thinking back over how it felt when I was rowing, 7 feet makes more sense. I consider these first oars that I made as prototypes with the idea of doing a better job next time, so I'll extend them a foot and flatten the blades and try again.

Any comments on using leather vs rope for loom protection? Seems like a person would have to fit the rope very tight indeed and coat it with varnish to prevent the arms of the oar locks from separating it.
Many thanks,
Joe

Correction to my reply. It wasn't Dynamite's instructions that said 6 feet, but Bolger's drawings that suggested 6 feet for the oars.
But in browsing the web, I ran across Shaw & Tenney's web site that had a formula for calculating the proper length based on beam. The Elegant Punt is 3'7" broad. Using S&T's formula, I come out with 6.99 feet.
Joe

Hi Joe,

Thoughts...

* Glad you saw the Shaw & Tenney site. 7' sounds just about right... Much will come down to what you intend to do with your Elegant Punt... If you only are going to use it to get to a larger boat, or fish a gunk hole, short oars (or even a paddle) might be called for. Around the harbors here on Cape Cod, we see a lot of prams with just one oar. I guess there's a trade off between speed and ease of shipping the oars.

* I have 8' Shaw & Tenney oars. They were expensive, but they're probably the last oars I'll ever buy. When I bought the oars, they came with the leathers unattached... Sewing them on was somewhat of a hassle, but it was still worth it... Just great row sticks.

* Oar length is somewhat of a personal thing... While I'm quite short (5' 5.5"), I grew up rowing (other kids played ball... I went fishing), so I tend to like longer oars. My wife is roughly my size, but likes shorter oars.

* In my experience, oars popping out of the arms is usually a function of too short oars. Then again, some oarlocks have pins at the top of the horns to prevent the oars coming loose...

Alan

I loomed my oars with builders twine and some thicker rope at the top. Basically you put the twine on like you would whip the end of a rope working it as tight as you can. For the button, I think that's what it's called, I used some pretty thick rope I got from REI. I put a screw, I think a brass screw with a pan head, through both ends to hold it in place. Once I got it where I liked it I put some 5 minute epoxy around the button. After that I used spar varnish on the whole thing. They've held up pretty good but I don't use them much.

The oar plans I got from here: http://members.fortunecity.com/duckwork ... /index.htm

Rope wrapping instructions: http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/06/how ... /index.htm

Here's where I cribbed the information about cheap thole pins: http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/05/col ... /index.cfm I didn't bother adding the little wooden bock under the oar.

Thanks for the links to the duckworks pages. I think I want to try building a pair of Jim Michalak's oars. I may try out the Bolger oar locks. I went with "traditional" open cast bronze oar locks and am still having trouble with the oars jumping out of the locks. But then again, I'm definitely a beginning rower. Making oars is fun partly because I enjoy using a block plane. Just what I needed, another hobby. LOL
Joe