: Hi Chris,

: Oars would definitely be faster than a paddle. Additionally, with a little
: thought, you can rig an apparatus to hold the oars out on the water when
: fishing or photographing, for added stability and damping effect of the
: inevitable "rocking of the boat".
: If your canoe has spacers on the inside gunnels, you could fabricate a short
: version of a "wing" rigger, like that on some rowing shells. you
: could make it from wood laminations, or just go to the local Votech and
: have the metal machine shop and welding shop work together to build one
: for you out of aluminum. They may do it for free if they have the
: materials lying around, or maybe just for materials costs. These can be
: very lightweight.
: Since you only want to extend the oarlocks nine inches or so, it won't take a
: whole bunch of engineering to make it adequately strong and light, and if
: you spread the mounting over a nice section of the gunnels, using the
: spaces in the inner gunnel to route mounting hardware, you should have a
: strong enough platform for oars. You did not mention whether you were
: intending to use as a fixed seat rower or with a sliding seat. If you want
: a sliding seat rig, the Glen-L design would work with a few modifications
: (you could just make a narrower version of the sliding seat from Glen-L
: and use a wing rigger), or you could try to locate a rowing club and see
: if you could get a look at a Piantidosi drop-in unit, and then go to the
: Vo-tech school again with your ideas.
: One other thought is to just make some very short outriggers from aluminum or
: stainless and mount them to the sides of your canoe......you'll need some
: type of backing blocks though, and you'd have to go through the hull with
: the hardware. This, in my opinion would not be too good for the canoe, and
: you might even need to put a rib inside for the hardware to go through.
: That is the nice thing about wing type riggers.......... since they are
: one piece that spans the beam of the boat, they become a structural member
: of the boat, like another "removeable" thwart. Place a piece of
: mesh across the center section, and you'd have a nice little place to put
: you flybox or whatever.
: An interesting take on a recreational rowing/flyfishing shell..........
: www.bluegrouseboats.com Only downer is they use the commercial
: drop-ins.....way overpriced in my opinion.
: Hope this helps
: garland

By chance, I received a Shaw & Tenney catalog the other day which list a Rushton designed set of outriggers. They are bronze, screw to the gunwale and flip out for use or down in the boat otherwise. Gorgeous, but out of my price range. Most of the drop in designs, particularly the sliding seat ones, are far too cumbersome for my tastes.

Some version of the Rushton design, made of good old wood, might be feasible but might stretch my design talents beyond their limits. I've been thinking of a wide thwart like a mast step at the rear bulkhead, with arms extending forward from the center of the thwart clamped on the gunwales (creating a triangle) and extending as far forward as needed.

Since I've just finished the station molds and am just getting ready to cut the panels, I've got a bit of time to try to work something out.

Thanks to all for your comments.

Chris Luneski