Replacements

Wow I can't believe I haven't posted since my July float. Looking back I can clearly see the reasons, I have had a busy couple of months. So here is a little update on one of my projects. I will try and get posts out more frequently.

At the end of my July float my oars were stolen.

 These oars.

Funny enough they were not completely finished. I had left the blades very square, my plan was to trim them to shape sometime after the float. Unfortunately for the oars and I, some doomed bastard pinched them from me. This event led to me talking with the cops and a extensive awareness campaign on Facebook. Not surprisingly the cops did nothing. Surprisingly the good river folk  in the surrounding area turned up nothing.

After a week or so of no information and a trip or two with my old oars I was convinced. I needed to build another set  using the beta gained from the original set.

The layup remained the same, still a solid three piece spruce affair. I did use screws to clamp the pieces together this time. (After the epoxy cured I pulled the screws and filled the holes with epoxy and filler.) This really made the layup much easier than the first go around.

The first big change came with the blades. No longer square and possibly not the final shape I tapered and rounded this pair.

I also gave them a snazzy paint job. I don't know exactly why but I love color on my river equipment. I get funny looks sometimes from other boaters but at least my gear isn't boring tan, olive green, or black.

The other big change is in the placement of the wraps. ( I'll talk about them at a later date with some better pictures.) Finally and most importantly these perform fantastically. Well balanced and flexible. If you have never used a pair of spruce oars your really missing out.