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Does anyone have a canoe set up with a rowing rig ?

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Two years ago, I saw an elderly gentleman, row past our camp site, with a rowing rig on his Bell canoe.

His was set for him facing the stern.

Just wondering if anyone has used such a set up, and their thoughts on it !

I started rowing, way before paddling.

Thanks !

Jim
 
I use spoon style oars on the SOF canoe I built. It is amazing how fast you can get going. It is nice for trolling when fishing as well. You do have to cross your hands when rowing like a guide boat- takes some getting used to. Alternatively you could use oar outriggers. I don't think I would trip with a rowing set up, but I enjoy it for exercise on my local lake. I have a sliding seat for a cedar strip project in the works, but it isn't a canoe.

Bob
 
I saw a group with rowing rigs in the BWCA come flying past my campsite on lake three a few years ago. Three guys in two tandems, second canoe had the "navigator" and he was the only one facing forwards. They were too far away for me to tell what the canoes were but they were going VERY fast.
 
I made a rowing rig for my 16' MR Explorer 40 years ago.

I made it like a clamp-on portage thwart with screw knobs and L-clamps, except it was straight and extended several inches beyond the gunwales. I had a drill then, and drilled holes in the ends for for oar locks. I had Carlisle Paddles make me two paddles with button-push removable grips that could be replaced by long oar handles. Clamping the rig on the gunwales, I could row from the wide center seat I had installed in the canoe. I had gotten the dimensions for the rowing thwart and oar lengths from some rowing source, and it all worked okay.

I also had Carlisle make me a long center section of tubing that could button-clip onto the two oar sections, creating a 12' pole. Therefore, I could travel with five Carlisle sections that could make either two paddles, two oars or one long pole, plus my clamp-on oar lock thwart. Very compact, and I doubt the entire thing cost me $100 dollars in those days.

Until I began hating the Herculean heft of Carlisle paddles. Then, I switched to wood paddles and lost interest in the rowing rig. The pole remained useful but I can no longer find the constituent parts in my hopeless cathedral of entropy.
 
A few years ago I picked up and old Sawyer X17 in need of repair. I have been rather impressed with the versatility of the X17. She has been used as a tandem, solo, and with oars. I paddled a few trips solo in the X17 while waiting for my Trillium to arrived. It was similar to driving a box van and switching to a sports car. I built a set of oar extensions, added a seat and loaded it with gear and circumnavigated Grand Island North of Munising Mi in Lake Superior. She was very fast, super stable, and quite dry given the condition of at least 4 foot waves that were amplified off the cliffs in clapotis waves. I remember kayaking Grand Island for the first time and the clapotis waves coming from four or five different directions. Ya just have to relax and go with the flow sorta speak. For those that aren't familiar Grand Island is just west of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore with large sandstone cliffs on Lake superior. The great thing about Grand Island is you get all the cliffs of Pictured Rocks with a whole lot less people.

I set the X17 up for fixed seat rowing and I have not tried a sliding seat system but would like to. For any extended rowing the dimensions of the set up is very important. I used https://angusrowboats.com/blogs/news/fixed-seat-rowing-geometry. I picked up a set of 8 foot Sitka spruce oars from http://www.barkleysoundoar.com/Product.htm for a very reasonable price. I think that 6-7 foot oars would have been fine. The two challenges I found was setting seat low enough and building oar extensions for the oar locks. For quiet and exceptionally functional oar locks I picked up https://www.gacooarlocks.com/. GACO is not traditional and is not as pretty as bronze but absolutely functional. There is a lot of various personal preferences for many rowers such as oar lock choice, spooned blades vs straight, feathering oars on return, oar over lap etc. My only issue with rowing is that I am facing backwards and prefer the view before I get there instead of after I pass. Hindsight isn't always 20/20! LOL
 
Foxyotter

Thanks for your insight and links.

I agree there are issues with facing toward the stern, especially in a rocky river. Even reversing to a stern first down stream, would present difficulties.

As I remember the rig on the Bell, extended well beyond the shearline.

I wish I'd have thought to snap a pic !

I do remember, at an Outfitter Spring show. There was a booth, that had a mechanical rowing system, that allowed the rower to face the bow. It looked too bulky for my use.
 
About 35 years ago I rigged a martin marine/Alden row wing sliding seat rig in my Wenonah Jensen 17 canoe which had wide out riggers to let me use standard 10 ft sculling oars. The rig worked fairly well but I lived on a canal in Florida which had a lot of manatees which are hard to see when rowing backwards. I later got a “real” rowing shell and stopped using the drop in row wing in the Jensen canoe. If I find a photo of the set up Ill post it.
 
We see the largish frames added to the 18 ft square sterns so they can use rather long oars for the canoe races up here. Look up Cross Lake canoe races if you are curious. Awkward looking but pretty fast. I think a purpose designed rowboat is a better bet
 
Google piantadosi row canoe. I bought one used cheap off of craigslist, tried it out once, and sold it. Man, those were the days, when all sorts of water sport toy bargains would regularly come up on craigslist!

If I had a waterfront cabin on a big lake, I might go for it again. If I had a big heavy canoe on a dedicated trailer, I might go for it again. It is a sweet rig, with a price to match.
 
My 1977 book titled Canoeing, put out by the American National Red Cross, has designs for a rowing rig together with a sliding seat. I always meant to build on and try it out. Maybe I will, thanks for the inspiration!
 
Not exactly the same, but Are you familiar with Adirondack guide boats? there is an old tradition of there historical craft. I see a lot in the adks and they have an annual race.
 
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