Thank you very much. Very helpful!
Your foot brace ideas are great. I thought about the board over rope idea before, but forgot about it. I will try boards fixed angularly over thwart in front of my feet.
Now we have almost everything figured out! I enjoy this learning experience.
Just need to make an extension aluminum rod to (reversibly) turn my modular aluminum kayak paddles into longer oars then. Will try Home Depot’s aluminum rods first. Or I will just buy a new pair.
Bummer.
My DIY aluminum extension tube idea (for converting my kayak paddles into oars) may not work. Unless I find a seller other than Home Depot.
Those aluminum tubes at Home Depot are too heavy to be used on canoe oars and their diameters are far off (I only found 1" and 1.25", but I need 30mm or 1.181"). They also won’t custom cut their 10’ tubes for me. Hand cutting their heavy duty tubes to 4’ is possible with my hack saw, though I still need lighter tube with the correct inner diameter.
Is there another good seller for aluminum tubes? I am going to check my local ACE and Harbor Freight. Just want to save some space by converting my kayak paddle to oars.
One off-the-shelf alternative is a pair of 7.5’ oars with oarpins installed for $113 shipped:
https://www.sailboatstogo.com/catalog/PARTS/5033
Seller told me those oars come with clamp-on oarpins/oarlocks, so their blades are set at the correct fixed angle for rowing. All I need to buy then is oarlock sockets.
Is there an alternative oar/oarpin combo that I should consider?
Thank you very much!
There is a special place in purgatory for people that ‘row’ canoes. You can probably get out but you will have to portage that thing for at least half of an eternity. 
My extension tube idea probably won’t work, as my machinist friend told me metric (30mm) aluminum tubes are not easy to find in US.
I can irreversibly modify my two extra kayak paddles into oars, by cutting off blades and smooth put the ends. They are 8’ long, perfectly symmetrical and seem strong (with 30mm shaft diameter). They split in the middle and the two parts snap into each other with spring-loaded pins.
If purchasing dedicated oars is a much better idea, please kindly recommend oars, oarlocks and sockets.
Here is 4 that I found:
https://www.sailboatstogo.com/catalog/PARTS/5033
https://www.sailboatstogo.com/catalog/product/5276
Caviness aluminum 8’ aluminum with 1-3/8" shaft for $74 each without shipping:
https://www.jamestowndistributors.com/mobileportal/show_product.do?pid=52042
8’ spruce for $160 a pair:
https://www.clcboats.com/shop/products/boat-gear/rowing-gear-accessories/flat-blade-spruce-oars.html
Academy has clamp-on oarlocks for $10 a pair, which has so-so quality (I saw them today).
To get oarlock sockets (for $20 each), I may have to go to my local West Marine, if no better alternative is available:
Or this:
https://www.jamestowndistributors.com/mobileportal/show_product.do?pid=2287
I wonder which mount should I buy, for my use. Angled, side mount or top mount.
https://www.clcboats.com/shop/products/boat-gear/rowing-gear-accessories/bronze-oarlock-sockets.html
Advice is highly appreciated.
You can get better oars than those, but even basic nice ones will cost more. I just looked at Sawyer Paddles and Oars, and saw a decent wooden oar with a traditional flat blade that looked pretty good, but for almost twice the price.
http://www.paddlesandoars.com/Oars/SAWYER-UTILITY-OAR/
If used with a clamp-on oarlock, there’s no need for the rope wrap and rubber stop options. I would probably prefer something like this to those take-apart aluminum kinds, but it all depends on what you can afford.
^ Thank you very much!
What about oarlock sockets? I saw at least 3 types: angled, side mount or top mount.
https://www.clcboats.com/shop/products/boat-gear/rowing-gear-accessories/bronze-oarlock-sockets.html
These two seem to get good online reviews:
https://www.jamestowndistributors.com/mobileportal/show_product.do?pid=2287
I have not looked at the gunwales of a Grumman in several years, but I think you can get by with either the angled or the side mount sockets. I believe there is a slight protrusion of the top face of the gunwale toward the outside, but if my memory is correct, it’s not enough to interfere significantly with placing an angle socket mount along that edge. I think that a side-mount socket will need to be mounted just below that protrusion, which may prevent the oar pin from settling all the way to the bottom of the socket, depending on how wide the horizontal bearing area at the top of the oarlock pin happens to be. You will want to look at the gunwales yourself and decide which mounting style for the sockets is better.
You will not be able to use the top-mount style, that is for sure. That is for a wide, flat-topped gunwale surface. The top plate of your gunwales is not very wide.
Those West Marine oarlocks will be quiet in operation, with the nylon insert, but I fear that that insert might wear out rapidly. Either of the other brands look to be durable. My oarlock sockets are brass, and on one boat the oarlock pins are brass and on the other they are stainless steel. Both are very quiet in operation, but they must be kept clean (I even clean and grease them before every trip, but most people would not take the trouble to use grease.
I put my finger to approximately where I am putting the oarlock sockets.
You can see the outside and inside photos.
Yes, there is a gunwale protrusion towards outside, maybe about half the thickness of my index finger.
The gunwale protrusion towards inside is deep enough for my entire index finger.
Flat surface width at that gunwale location is 26 mm.
Gunwale protrusion towards outside is about 5mm and about 21-22mm towards inside.
Okay, so that protrusion will be in the way. With a side-mount socket, it will almost certainly interfere with the oarlock pin dropping down fully into place, and for an angle mount, it will prevent a flush fit of the side portion (vertical surface) of the mount. I think if you got a strip of aluminum or brass of the proper thickness, and placed that along the side of the gunwale below that protrusion, you could use either type of oarlock socket mentioned above, though surely the angle-mount socket would be better. The strip of metal would need to have a thickness that is pretty close to matching the amount of protrusion of the top plate of the gunwale. I’ve seen strips of aluminum of various thicknesses available at most good hardware stores. The width of the strip could be anything that’s as wide or wider than the “height” of the horizontal mounting surface of the oarlock socket. Drill that spacer plate so your mounting bolts go through both the gunwale and that plate. This will beef-up the location of the oarlocks, besides just making the oarlock sockets fit the boat better.
I am going with either Sawyer Utility or Smoker Utility. Talked to Aaron at Sawyer over the phone and he recommended those two.
Thank you again, @Guideboatguy.
I have never seen oarlock sockets in person, so I would do exactly what you recommended (even though at this stage I don’t fully understand everything).
I read your advice several times, looked at socket photos and measured again. Now I under 95% of it. It does sound like angled Mount would be better. I will google angled mount photos and look at them more. It is easy yo return to West Marine, so no worries, even if I need to go there a few more times.
Is the one-piece 8’ Small Stealth a lot better than Sawyer Utility 7.5’?
http://www.paddlesandoars.com/Oars/SAWYER-SST-OAR/
Cost difference is only $40 between the two pairs.
Aaron say the Small Stealth should be slightly lighter and tougher, though it may not matter for my casual use.
I don’t really know the answer to that. I haven’t used an oar like that. From a physics standpoint, it does make some sense that a shorter blade will be more efficient. If the blade does not move much through the water during a full power stroke, opposite ends of a long blade will be “fighting each other” as the blade pivots (changes angle) during the stroke. However, I this “fighting action” is does not take place as long as that movement is less than the amount that the blade moves through the water, which is probably the case (all parts of the blade are pushing through the water in the same direction if strong effort is applied to the stroke, though the outer end of the blade will move farther in this case). I use traditional wood oars with long blades, and I am happy with them. That’s as much as I know, beyond this theoretical aspect. I DO see that the oar shaft some distance inboard of the blade slices forward through the water during the course of the stroke, especially if the blade is planted deeper than necessary. That’s an illustration of that pivoting process in action.
Thank you. I will go with Sawyer, because they have a good sale going on.
Should I go with 7’ or 7.5’?
I measured my canoe again. My oarlock distance will be about 34". Depth from oarlock to canoe bottom is around 12". I am 5’9" and seat will be 3.5" or higher than canoe floor.
I noted that @Guideboatguy uses 7’3" oar for 36" oarlock-to-oarlock distance and has/likes some overlaps.
7’ oar for 34" oarlock distance is very close to Guideboatguy’s ratio number (7’3" over 36" or 8’ over around 39"), while 7.5’ oar for 34" oarlock distance will go over that ratio slightly.
PS:
The widest point of my canoe is supposed to be 36". But that width is likely distance from left side to right side, and not the center left gunwale to center right gunwale distance (which is 34").
