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Looking for a Faering guinea pig
Over the last few years, I've been testing out a geared forward-rower. Basically the oarlocks are replaced with compact mini-transmissions that preserve the hand and body motions of conventional rowing.
The original idea was to use it for light car-toppable canoes and kayaks. I got curious how it would work on bigger CLC rowing boats. It turned out that the issues around switching to forward rowing in a given boat design were tricky and good results came only with trial and error. So far I've put it on single and tandem wherries and an Oxford Shell with some success.
Now I'm wondering how it would work on a REALLY big boat. Looking through the CLC stable, the Faering cruiser seems like it would be the ultimate test in size and weight. Since these boats are rowed into places where there's a lot to see, the improved scenery and safety of rowing forward could offer particular advantages. But it's too big a build for me and anyway I don't sail.
So is there anybody out there who'd like to play around with forward rowing on their Cruiser to see: can it fit? does it work? is it fun? how good does it look?
(Preferably - but not necessarily - in the mid-Atlantic area.)
4 replies:
RE: Looking for a Faering guinea pig
Yes it's me, and I was looking for you - I seem to have lost your contact info and wasn't sure about the etiquette of contacting through posts here. I saw your boat at Okoumefest a while ago and would love to look at it again. Please contact me at [email protected] . And if there are non-Hungarians interested in forward rowing, please feel free to weigh in here or coontact me.
If anyone's thinking about FR in something bigger than a canoe, my experience is that you're often better off building from scratch rather than trying to retrofit a boat already committed to seat you backwards. I think that S&G kits are a great way to build a nice boat while still being able to make the tweaks needed for FR.
RE: Looking for a Faering guinea pig
Maybe a Chester Yawl, with its "thwartless" interior, would make a good candidate for FR adaptation? The seating is already adjustable for solo or tandem rowing with various combinations of non-rowing passengers.
.....Michael
RE: Looking for a Faering guinea pig
That's right - an unobstructed interior will be the easiest case. With the wherries, center-of-gravity balancing may require shifting the seat-frames around a bit. With the Expedition Wherry, things get more serious - you may have to substantially change the position of the bulkheads to get footroom.
RE: Looking for a Faering guinea pig
» Submitted by Laszlo - Sun, 11/3/19 » 6:42 PM
Got Faering Cruiser - check
Interested in rowing facing forward - check
In the Mid-Atlantic area - check again
Is this Joe Ycas with his brother's brilliant geared forward rower design? If so, I met you at the last 2 MASCFs, as well as meeting your brother last month at the latest MASCF. You may recall me drooling over the rowing mechanism while you explained the conversion of the CLC Wherry to forward rowing, as well as pondering whether it would work on a larger boat.
So you may have guessed by now that I'm interested. If you're Joe Ycas, I have your card with your contact info and can get in touch with you. Otherwise, we can swap contact info.
Laszlo