Spent the afternoon making a simple rowing outrigger for the new canoe. The geometry on this is actually a bit trickier than you would think to get all the appropriate clearances in all the right places.
Like everything I make, I designed this to be simple, inexpensive, easy to build, and easily removable and stowable even while on the water. The idea here is that you could switch between canoeing narrow passages and rowing open water, which isn’t really practical if you are using a full-on sliding seat rowing frame. The outrigger bolts through the existing seat mounting holes and has two positions for single person or double person use (with the second person just being a passenger in the latter case).
I left a little more meat on it than it really needs because I’m imagining that I’m going to want to cut all sorts of notches for mounting camera gear, fishing poles, and possibly the stem of a wine glass (Liz’s suggestion). Once I get that figured out I’ll trim it down a bit and stain it a reasonable color.
I chose Adirondack guide boat rowing geometry because that places the outriggers close enough to the boat that you can still step into the canoe from a dock or steep shore without making any special accommodations.
The overlapping handles provide a reasonable amount of leverage on a 40 inch spread, and the oars are 7 feet which can be handy for maneuvering in tight spaces. I might go 7’6” on the next set.
The pinned oarlocks have upsides and downsides and serious rowers would probably choose a different option. Personally, I like the simplicity and I already had a set just sitting here which definitely factored into my decision.
If the weather cooperates I’m hoping to launch this evening!
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