by John C. Harris on Tue Jun 09, 2009 5:05 pm
The oars have to be pretty long. I was going to try 9 or 9'6" oars. I spent a lot of time at the design stage making sure you have a seat (the "bridge deck") for rowing the traditional way. I've never found a good place to store them. It'd have to be on deck, running forward to meet at the end of the bowsprit, or slung aft on either side with the oars sticking out the back. Neither approach is especially elegant for storage.
A yuloh can be a lot shorter, and can even fold in half. Phil Bolger has plans for one in his book "30-Odd Boats" that I was going to try, because it would stow below. Then someone here posted that cool Racelite yuloh widget, which gets you to the same place with less assembly work. My preference for the boat has always been a yuloh, since the stern area gives you plenty of working room, and the long keel helps so much with tracking.
Merle Bailey showed me an ingenius scheme to convert the rudder itself into a powerful sculling device. A little fussy to install, and I'd have to do something to reduce the friction in the stock rudder pivot scheme. The scrape and rattle isn't noticeable while sailing, but prolonged sculling with the rudder would drive you nuts.
I've got the yuloh mount for the "transom skirt" mocked up. Hope to have it done by the WoodenBoat Show.
For all my fulminating against outboard engines, there are places where you're just going to need one or it'll be too hard to go sailing. There's plenty of buoyancy back there to support a 2hp four-stroke. Just for the fun of building one, I was going to fabricate a fiberglass outboard mount for mine. If I get to it I'll take photos and post them.
After living with the interior for a year, I think you could install two batteries down below. If you're a careful electrician, you could hardwire a lead for a nice trolling motor. You'd want to be thoughtful about the weight distribution of two batteries----don't cram them in the stern. With two batteries in place, the boat ought to trim down by the bow slightly so that your weight aft balances everything.