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13-footer: Refitting for Rowing
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ContinuousWave Whaler Moderated Discussion Areas
ContinuousWave: Whaler Repairs/Mods
13-footer: Refitting for Rowing
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| Author | Topic: 13-footer: Refitting for Rowing |
| sonnie |
posted 12-01-2010 02:27 PM ET (US)  
Myn sons and I have a 1973 [Boston Whaler 13-foot boat]. We live in Tampa and would like to retrofit our 13 to row. Largely to get up in some of our "combustion engine exclusion " areas. Anybody done this before? |
| PeteB88 |
posted 12-02-2010 04:19 PM ET (US)
I think you need 9-foot oars to have any chance of reasonable rowing a 13 and especially a 15. That's standard length for a drift boat or whitewater raft. You need the leverage. I'd check to see if Barkley Sound Marine is still in [business] for a set of Sitka Spruce oars. Best you can get. http://barkleysoundoar.com/ |
| sapple |
posted 12-02-2010 04:27 PM ET (US)
Isn't rowing the original 2-stroke engine? |
| macsfriended |
posted 12-02-2010 07:37 PM ET (US)
In 1980 or 1981 I purchased a Sport 13 with factory oarlock inserts. I promptly removed its steering gear and console and added an oar set. Turned my then four-year-old loose on a small inland lake we camped at to "mess, simply mess around in a small boat." He figured things out pretty quick and practically lived in that Whaler. Now, his kids are doing the same messing around, in the same Whaler, on the same lake and "all is still well." |
| jimh |
posted 12-06-2010 08:07 AM ET (US)
The original 13-footers used to have holes set in the gunwale for oars. |
| jimh |
posted 12-06-2010 08:19 AM ET (US)
I remember an evening about 20 years ago we borrowed my wife's aunt's 13-footer for a cruise around her lake, a rather large lake in which you could go ten miles or more. It so happened that we discovered the propeller nut was not properly installed and the propeller spun off the shaft. Fortunately this occurred about a mile from her dock. As the boat was a very old 13-footer, we were also fortunate to find it had oarlocks and oars. I had to row back. I don't recall that the 13-footer rowed particularly well. If you compare the hull shape of a 13-foot Boston Whaler with most classic rowing boats you will find considerable differences. Most rowing boats are rather long and narrow while the Boston Whaler is comparably short and wide. When trying to row it you will come to an appreciation of the work that can be performed by a 2-HP outboard. But it should not be difficult to modify a 13-foot Boston Whaler for rowing. In the simplest form you just need to make a hole in the gunwale to insert the pin of the oarlock. As I recall these were just lined with a brass insert to prevent the pin from digging into the foam interior. You might check with Boston Whaler customer service and Chuck Bennett to see if there is still available a part to add for rowing. If not, I am sure Chuck would have a suggestion on how to make something yourself. You could always add a short piece of wood atop the gunwale as the base for the oarlock. |
| ConB |
posted 12-06-2010 09:28 AM ET (US)
The link shows an oar lock that is similar to what the old 13' Whalers had mounted in the gunwales for rowing. Con |
| contender |
posted 12-06-2010 02:25 PM ET (US)
Sonnie: Awhile ago I posted a formula (on this site) for figuring out the correct length for oars(got it off an oar company) for rowing a boat. I use to row our 1962 whaler, came with factory oar locks. If I remember correctly you sat on the forward locker (your back facing the bow) and with the engine down could row the boat, I could row the boat quit well... |
| PeteB88 |
posted 12-06-2010 04:24 PM ET (US)
Con - that's like the oar locks on my 11.5. Makes me want to get some for my 13 but that would mean removing the rails. Unless a boat is designed for rowing most don't row worth a damn. In fact, white water rafts don't row for crap either and the bigger and more gear on board the worse they are. I've rowed "bag boats", 16 foot, big tube rafts packed to the max with coolers, camp boxes, tents, dry bags, food, kitchen bag down the Deschutes and Rogue and that's haulin some weight buddy. Even without that kind of load you gotta pull hard four, five, six times just to get it "unstuck" and moving. Many drift boats don't row worth a darn either but oars are their mode of propulsion. The best are still Ray's River Dories - his 16 Rogue is a Ferrari on the water and for good reason - his designs and the fact they are properly built wood/epoxy boats; old school but awesome. I still think that small Whalers with all that weight and hull that is not intended to "spin" like a drift boat, oar length (leverage, longer the better) is the issue. I'm going to row my 11.5 next time we see nice weather - four maybe five months away - with a pair of Sitka oars I have that are maybe 7 footers and I will try with 9 footers. My bet is it will row pretty well. I'd love to have been there when the originators were designing those first boats and to hear the conversation that lead up to installing oar locks. |
| JMARTIN |
posted 12-06-2010 07:11 PM ET (US)
So, the oarlock inserts were placed near the bow as opposed to midships, so the rower sat on the forward locker? John |
| contender |
posted 12-06-2010 07:55 PM ET (US)
JMARTIN: You are correct for the 13 Whaler, my 11 Whaler has two sets of oar locks factory in the gunnel. |
| jimh |
posted 12-06-2010 08:54 PM ET (US)
There are several pictures of 13-foot Boston Whaler boats that have been published here on CONTINOUSWAVE that show the location of the OEM oarlocks on the gunwale. Here are links to four of them: http://continuouswave.com/sail-logs/ottawaRiver2006/images/ 8_CamoWhaler13Bow.jpg http://continuouswave.com/whaler/cetacea/cetaceaPage82.html#82-02 http://continuouswave.com/whaler/cetacea/cetaceaPage82.html#82-05 http://continuouswave.com/whaler/cetacea/images/13ClassicBlue501x273. jpeg |
| andygere |
posted 12-07-2010 11:46 AM ET (US)
Sonnie, here ya go. As you can see from this photo of my good friend Mark rowing us back to the ramp, the 13 rows reasonably well from the bow locker seat. My '73 had the intergal oarlocks from the factory, and they saw quite a bit of use due to the balky old Mercury 40 that powered this little boat. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/andygere/Whaler%20details/ markury.jpg I think a set of oarlock sockets could be fit into an existing Whaler, though it's a shame that Whaler discontinued the practice of installing them at the factory. I'd order a quality set of oarlock sockets such as these, and consult Chuck Bennet for some details on what reinforcing (if any) might be needed in the gunwales for a satisfactory installation. The hardest part will be routing a clean rectangular hole in the gelcoat and lamination to flush mount them, but I'm sure it can be done. |
| PeteB88 |
posted 12-07-2010 12:50 PM ET (US)
Now that's what I'm talking about... |
| jimh |
posted 12-07-2010 05:34 PM ET (US)
sonnie--are you reading any of this? |
| sonnie |
posted 03-20-2011 12:19 PM ET (US)
Sorry ,I have not been back with youse guys. The boat ran great for the last few months but had a breakdown recently and my boys and I are pulling her and putting in the oarlocks this month. Lots of good info. We will get it done and post some pictures this summer .Hopefully not in distress. Sonnie |
| Kelly |
posted 03-25-2011 11:42 AM ET (US)
Once when I was at the lake with the kids, I took the motor off and left it at the shop. I found that with my weight on the forward locker and no motor that it improved the rowing characteristics. With the bottom of the stern almost out of the water, it was a little like rowing down hill. Kelly |
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