Plans for a "universal" sliding seat rower rig?

[Squidly-Diddly]

Are there any home build plans for a sliding seat rowing "Oarmaster"(Alden) type of 'drop-in' that would work in.....

a canoe,

various alum. fishing boats,

Zodiac(with wood floor),

and hard dingys like Livingston or Walker Bay?


The factory units I've seen and used work great and seem pretty well engineered, too engineered.

I sure one could be made that would be 5 lbs heavier and $1000 cheaper. On a bicycle that might be worth it, but I can't see it as cost effective on even a light, fast boat.

The "rig" would have provision for a mast at the most forward and provision for side boards on the wings.



I'd also like to have the wings ready able to serve as fishing pole/drink/outrigger holders.

I'm thinking of using box beam aluminum for most of it, even if I have to take it somewhere for welding.

For use on different boats there would need to be some height adjustment for correct sculling action, but that would most likely be raising the whole thing up as a unit on a couple of temporary 'sleepers'.

I'm not sure of how best to secure it to various boats as many light boats don't have built-in tie-down points on the floor.

To stabilize in the hull(side to side) I might use a sleeved box beams inside a box beam to extend to meet both sides of the inside of the boat.

[nordvindcrew]

Glen-L designs, I believe, has plans to build your own sliding seat as well as a hardware kit. Looks like an easy build. Moving from boat to boat will require some sort of base for each boat to holdit in place at the correct height.