shoal oar prototype

[river runner]

Maybe I'm beating a dead horse, but there still seemed to be a lot of confusion about the purpose of my oar blade design, even after two posts and a sketch. The purpose of my design is to get more blade area in the water when the water is shallow. People that might find this useful are rafters and fishermen. This design isn't inteded for sculling or any other high performance application, but I did want to emphasize that these blades will work as good or better than standard rafting blades in deeper water.
At the bottom there should be a photo of my first attempt at a prototype. It is made from a Carlisle oversized blade and I think I was too concerned with aesthetics and not enough with function. I'm sure I'll do some more work on it. Also, starting with an existing blade is not ideal. But even this prototype should have a significant advantage, over stock blades, in shallow water.

[Squidly-Diddly]

Those plastic paddle blades crack and break pretty easy on rocks.

Plus, with an oar's arc, it wont be just a straight 'spiking' or poling on the bottom, but likely a movement over a bunch of rocks.