I’m putting a center seat in my 14’10" OT Royalex canoe along with oar sockets. The beam at this point in 36". The oar locks will be about 16" down the shaft. The oars are aluminum with poly blades. What is the ideal oar length? Easy of rowing is more important than maximum speed. I’ve heard everything from 5’ to 6’. Thanks for any input.
oar length
Shaw & Tenney has a good oar length calculator on their website.
http://www.shawandtenney.com/wooden-rowing-oars.htm
I would consider some getting some decent oars and oarlocks. Plastic oars and cheap oarlocks will sour most people on rowing. With good open oarlocks mounted on the gunwales (not the oar shafts), you can slide the oars in and out the locks until you find the exact inboard-to-outboard ratio you want for easy and efficient rowing in all sorts of conditions. It’s sort of like having gears on a bicycle.
I’d go with longer ones
I have a 40 inch wide boat and I think 7 footers are best. I’d try to get 6 1/2 foot oars for your boat. West marine has some pretty nice aluminum adjustable oars as well for about $60 a pair as I recall.