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A BLOWN OAR

9K views 47 replies 21 participants last post by  wackness 
#1 ·
Ive gone through the pins vs locks debate over and over, but on a run yesterday, I had my oar get blown through the lock and right out of my hands. It sucked pretty bad and I had to work hard to get the shaft back in the horns. Would this be different if I had pins and clips? On the other hand Ive also seen people pin a shaft on a rock and have their tower get yanked right off their frame. I guess I'm concerned with security and strength vs break away user friendliness. Is it better to have an oar get blown(spending time recovering) or possibly bend/break your shaft but having it handy most of the time?
 
#6 ·
You have that option. All kinds of shit breaks, happens, nothing is foolproof. It sucks to reflip a boat and not have oars, it also sucks to have oars pop out right when you need them. I've had one oar break with those, but it was upside down and I still had the other one there when I reflipped right before the wrong line in a big drop which started a wild section with deep holes. I love my posilockers!
 
#11 ·
Have you ever seen a P&C actually allow an oar to pop out? I haven't. It'd have to break the cuff. Or are you saying the clip pops and the oar can then slide?
The original pins and clips didn't have the cuff/keeper strap. People added those later to address the problem of oars "coming free" (now they're pretty much standard). Even with 'em, the oar is technically "free" the strap just keeps 'em in the vicinity...let go and bye, bye!

Any which way...there is no perfect solution. They all have their faults. Unexpected things happen on the river. All these solutions can break, and at sometime in your river life you will probably experience a cam strap that serves as oar tower and oar lock all in one. It's the adversity that makes us stronger.
 
#14 ·
To fully blow an oar in a pin and clip setup one would either have to rupture the steerup or the steerup would have to be big enough to allow the clip or blade to slide through it after the clip became dislodged. I have seen people who run the steerups small enough so the clip cannot get through, thereby keeping the shaft in proximity with the pin even after it's been blown.
 
#18 ·
When sturups are small, you can also row somewhat untill you can resnap your clip. I've learned to pop it back in place with my hip while in the brown. Keep your oars in front of the pins, and your clips tight. It won't happen that often.
 
#15 ·
I've only ever blown an oar (out the top of an open NRS Superston oarlock) once. Pretty sure it saved me a broken oar. It happened when it needed to happen, and I haven't wanted anything different.

In the "heat of battle", I do admit to stomping it back in through the horns as opposed to sliding it through, blade-first. :lol:



Speaking of oarlocks, has anyone tried the new super-duper NRS forged aluminum oarlocks?
 
#27 ·
Speaking of oarlocks, has anyone tried the new super-duper NRS forged aluminum oarlocks?
Im an oarlock kind of a guy....so we can get that out of the way.

I have a set of the new aluminum oarlocks and am pleasantly supprised so far. They are feather light and look to have tight tollerances. I only have 5 river days on them so far, but two were on the lochsa, and they are performing perectlty. I did go out to a slow spot on the river for some flip practice early season and jammed the oar under a rock while re-flipping once. The oar didnt pop out of the lock and held the boat upright for quite a while. Eventually the oarstand turned on the frame so everything loosened up and the oar poped out of the rock. I was expecting a bent blade but everything was luckily straight. I would have expected the oar to pop out with a brass oarlock, but the aluminum held strong, for better or worse.

The only grievance I have with the aluminum is it squeeks more than the brass, but I think a bronze/brass washer will solve the problem.
 
#16 ·
Well i'll tell you all when i break an oar right side up... Sure hope it doesn't happen. I've re-thought the "it needed to pop" argument many times now, and love having my oars stay in. I think i'm probably more wary of minding them so, but i still have shit happen and they're fine. With so little friction they slide and pivot out of a ton of stuff. They have way more range of motion than even cobras, i really don't like the cobras on the raft anymore. But that hardly sees class IV . Ok, i'll say no more, so many different ways to rig and 99% of them work.
 
#21 ·
I've had both and I hated pins and clips. I've got oar sleeves and oar rights on my oars and open oar locks and I've never had trouble. I don't think I'd like them without the oar rights. The only trouble I've ever had is the oar rights need retightening in the right position some times so that you have a power stroke set up. I love being able to ship the oars easily when I'm in a tight spot.
 
#22 ·
how well do the posi's withstand a few seasons on the river?

from the link they look rather cheaply made and not something that withstand any abuse. but laura seems to like them so its got me curious..... think i will stick to cobra locks for now... but interested in how robust these things are

i like rowing open oars and if anything it seems like just hammering on a set of oar locks to close the gap would be a better option then this
 
#23 ·
how well do the posi's withstand a few seasons on the river?

from the link they look rather cheaply made and not something that withstand any abuse. but laura seems to like them so its got me curious..... think i will stick to cobra locks for now... but interested in how robust these things are

i like rowing open oars and if anything it seems like just hammering on a set of oar locks to close the gap would be a better option then this
for $115 a pair they compare favorably to something like a Cobra.
they come with a lifetime warrantee ..., I know firsthand that Cobra's will bend and you can be out $60 pretty quick

they say they come in Stainless and powdercoated but the ones on the payette website look like they were welded in someone's garage ...

I'd like to buy a pair for my friend --- last time he flipped he said it was because he was busy trying to get the oar back in his oarlock and happened to miss a stroke that would have T-d him up. For $115 its worth it to have one less lame excuse ..

I'd be concerned if my boat flipped that the oar would jam in some rock or something but maybe that's not an issue.
 
#24 ·




the life time warranty is a selling point, but these things just look cheap and janky....pretty thin metal, the pivot point looks like a weak bolt, does not look like a $115 piece of equipment in my opinion
 
#25 ·
The are BOMBER. However, the craftsmanship is far from say, a madcatr frame. Their tolerances are not really tight, meaning two never look exactly alike. They are made in a local welding shop I believe. The lifetime warranty means send them back and they'll fix them, which for me has meant bending them back. It's not like you get a new one if you bend it. I've seen the shaft weld fail, under no stress, so I always carry a spare. I've switched to the stainless because welders have told me that it is less likely to have that weld fail (less rusting if the weld is imperfect).

They are heavy. If you use cobras they are just a little heavier, but much heavier than NRS.

So I've had two beat down flips with these, and both times the posi's were bent bad when I reflipped, but were completely functional. Since the two rivers were the Wind River in WA, and the NF Payette, having functional locks and oar(s) in them was critical. I can't say if I'd want these if I was boating no more than Class IV, as I keep Cobras on the raft (also now I have 5 cobras since I don't use them on the cat anymore) but I hate the cobras on the raft - always having to tune, TONS of friction, and limited range. If I didn't know any different they'd be fine, and Class IV isn't as critical to have oars in the oarlocks when you reflip (it's all relative, you always want them but..)

I urge people to decide whether or not the risk is worth it to them, that you may break an oar. As I said I have yet to break one on a right-side up boat. If you are not ready to be diligent in oar management, you might want to think twice.

Lastly I switched to cataract blades when I got these. Because there is no frication "stop" like oarlocks have, my oars immediately dove to nearly vertical when I let go of them with carlisles. Cataracts solved that problem.
 
#26 ·
blown oar

NRS oarlocks (or something comparable) are fine and work well for many thousand river miles!! pins and clips or oar wrongs are like putting training wheels on your mountain bike!!! losing the ability to feather your oars is simply out of the question!!!....try it. it has no drawbacks
 
#28 ·
NRS oarlocks (or something comparable) are fine and work well for many thousand river miles!! pins and clips or oar wrongs are like putting training wheels on your mountain bike!!! losing the ability to feather your oars is simply out of the question!!!....try it. it has no drawbacks
I know of one solid Class V boater that feathers. No others. 99.9% are P&C or rights (of some sort). For me, that's why I stick with them.
 
#31 ·
wackness said:
There's a rapid on the upper miss that we call bessie's blowhole. Every time I go into it my oar gets blown, my oar stand gets jerked off, and my shaft usually explodes all over the place...
Yeah that bessie is a rough one!!! Hard to see with all the low brush on approach. I always shoot for Glide channel but sometimes i miss my aim and get stuck in the hole. Never anything worse then a bent shaft however. Maybe because i lubricate my bushings ... Knock on wood.
 
#33 ·
I like it when my shaft explodes but when it gets bent, ouch!

I'm curious what people do to keep their oar rights from spinning on the shaft of the oar. Mine will twist if I hit a rock with a blade, but are just loose enough to twist back by hand. Never been an issue for me, but it seems like it would be if you're one of those people flipping their cat back over in the middle of a class V.
 
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