Forward facing rowing system feedback?

[Easy Rider]

Yaker50,
Your choice of words seems disrespectful .. "wooden pulley system". Oh well. The WPS would likely be wonderful for birdwatching good for fishing and unsuitable for hunting. One of the really nice features of the WPS is that it can row at half throttle and 2/3 speed with only hands or only feet. The only feet function frees up the hands for fishing, photography, eating or nose picking. Raising the oar blades out of the water, lowering the oars back into the water and feathering of the blades all happens automatically. One can row into the wind really fast .. faster than a kayak. Cherry wood mounting blocks (about 9/16" thick and 3x6") blocks w threaded metal inserts are all that remains in the boat when the two wing nuts are loosened and the machine is lifted out of the boat. The outer 2/3rds of the oar blades come apart like a kayak paddle. One could carry on top of a car or inside many but prolly not on a sailboat. A very large double kayak could be modified for the WPS but a canoe is basically best. One can take big dogs or one or two humans (depending on human size and canoe size). As a roof top load the WPS is 25lbs, easily lifted to car top height. Front Rower makes a boat especially for the WPS available in kit form. I want the AO system for my sorta non-serious rowing.

Easy Rider

[ancient kayaker]

Originally Posted by kayaker50

...
Ancient kayaker, have you considered a sculling oar (single oar sticking out of the transom) for your sailboat ... you could sit near the transom and speed isn't a concern, it may be worth looking into.

Chip.

I use regular oars at present. I have considered a yuloh which is an asian take on the sculling oar and will probably try that. The yuloh is used standing up I believe but my sailboat is fairly stable so that would not be a problem (except under low bridges) and I can also sit near the stern.

[lang]

I got to this forum through my search on google for Yuloh ideas. Myself, I have a small sailboat and I hope to scull it effectively someday. I have setup a prototype pin and oar for scull testing. So far, I have gotten 1.2kns quite easily. I suppose if I scull really hard it could go up to 1.5kns max.

Anyway, I was searching for ideas on how my setup can be improved. Do let me know if you have any ideas. The details are on my blog post http://funvinyldecals.wordpress.com/...eanor-finally/

On 1 test day, I was unable to propel against wind(5kns) and current(suspect 1.5kns). So I was actually backing 0.3kns, despite trying my best to move forward. I track my sculling with GPS to get reliable test results. I would like to get 2kns easy if possible... pls share your ideas.

Happy holidays everybody.
Lang.

[kayaker50]

Lang, I did a little experimenting with a sculling oar on the back of my dory. The two things I learned are: 1) long sculling oars are better- I used a 16 footer on my 15 foot boat, and 2) a vertical handle makes it much, much easier to use the oar. I put a D-handle on mine, like a shovel. This made it much easier to rotate the oar and hold it at an angle during the stroke. But I found that I was getting most of my propulsion by making the oar kick back at the end of each stroke, rather than slicing the oar through the water during the back and forth stroke.
Ultimately I found the sculling stroke to be less efficient than plain old rowing because rowing oars don't waste energy by sweeping sideways. Good luck, Chip.

[Steve W]

Just in case you guys are not aware there is another foreward facing rowing system available,google ez row,it looks like a nice unit although not really what you are after.I too would like a simple,easily removable system for my 9ft dinghy and as it is my tender it cant be heavy or cumbersome.
Steve.

[Easy Rider]

Steve,
I looked at the ez rower system. Looks good for the price but all the rowing force goes through your upper body, arms and hands. With the Front Rower only half goes through the upper body and the rest goes directly from legs to oars. If you never intend to work up a sweat the ez-rower would probably do. I think what you need is the "forward facing rowing system"
Kyaker 50,
For your dory the only system so far on this thread that would work for you is the Forward Facing Rowing System. Articulated oarlocks.

Easy Rider

[kayaker50]

Yeah, I'd like to try it before I coughed up all that cash though. And as I look at the video more, it seems the oars they use are quite short. Makes me wonder if the articulators (my new word for the day) may not be up to the stress of 8 foot or 9 foot oars? Chip.

[Easy Rider]

Yaker 50,
Well I'm going to get the articulators. The three systems we've got on the table are $2000, $1000 and $500. What do you mean "all that money". This articulator is the cheapest. Yea the articulator website is crude but the product looks good. I think the geometry of the system is non linear. They say there is a 15% "gear up" effect and on my little whitehall I could use it. I need a bigger rowboat. I'd say go for it.

Easy Rider