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1/3, 2/3 of what?

2K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  cupido76 
#1 ·
Clarification question...

Is the 1/3 inside the oarlocks and 2/3 outside refer to the total length of the oar including the blade, or just the shaft?
 
#2 ·
Screw so math equation this is boating go by feel and purpose.....ie. shorter oars if you are going to be boating narrower rivers and how does the oar position you hands for the pull you answer those questions I think that you will find that you are happy. btw the longer the oar the more power it takes to move the blade over the longer arch.
 
#3 ·
Fair enough, but I can't afford to buy two sets of oars to play around with what length feels the best for me.

I've seen pics on this board of people that look like they're setting up their oars 1/3 & 2/3 based on the shaft length, and others set up 1/3 & 2/3 on the total length.

Can anyone elaborate to try to help save me $120? :)
 
#5 ·
Bump for more comments.

The reason I'm asking is that I had kind of decided on 7 foot oars for my small raft for multi-day trips on quiet rivers, but my local shop only has 6.5 foot oars right now and I'm planning a trip for early July. I will likely never more than wider class II rivers with gear, possibly an un-loaded attempt at class III in the future. The frame is 42" wide, oarlock seperation is 48". A quick calculation of oar length based on a 4" handle seperation and the 1/3, 2/3 rule suggests 5.5 feet but this seems way too short to me. And the NRS website suggests a minimum 7 foot oars for a 48" frame. Maybe this is the frame width, not the oarlock seperation (so I should have shorter oars)?

7 foot oars on this setup would result in about 1/4 to 3/4 ratio, but Chips thread about rope-wrapping an oar-lock has a pic that looks like his oars are set at about that ratio... hopefully he can chime in here. I'm going with wooden oars with blades that are about 24" x 5", and I think I read somewhere on here that you can/should go with a little longer oar if you have narrow blades.

So should I hold out for 7 footers or get 6.5 footers? I know... only 6 inches difference, but again, I'm trying to get it right the first time in the interests of funds.

Thanks! :)
 
#7 ·
I went with 6.5 foot oars, and the stoppers are at about 22" from the tip of the handle, giving me about 28% inside the oar locks, 72% outside the locks.

I'm using wooden oars with long narrow blades, so I think this should be OK. If someone (in the Calgary, AB area) has some similar 7 footers they'd like to lend me for a comparison, that would be super. :)
 
#8 ·
While 6.5 foot oars are already longer than the 1/3, 2/3 rule on my frame, I felt like a slightly longer oar might have been better on this boat, as I sometimes felt the boat was not responding to my oar strokes as well as I would have hoped while loaded down with a lot of gear(/beer) and two people.

I also felt there were times when there was some resistance in getting the whole oar blade down into the water. Adjusting the spacing and angle of the oarlocks would help in this a little, but I think another 6-inches of oar would also help, and my oarstands are already almost too short so I don't want to mess around with making them much lower.
 
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