Pete,

The season before last, I bought 9-foot oars for my Peeler Skiff. Because stowage was an issue, I got 2-piece oars. Duckworks sells carbon-fiber ferrules to make 2-piece oars.

Oars on a Peeler might seem like wearing a belt with suspenders, but I spend a lot of time out on Narragansett Bay and no outboard is 100% reliable. Sure enough, near the end of the season, the motor quit about 10 miles from my mooring. Though the Peeler Skiff is certainly not optimized for rowing, it does move well enough to get a guy in his 70s home after a reasonably pleasant row. Pleasant enough that I bought a rowing machine to keep in shape over the winter.

-Dick-

   I really hoped someone would pipe up and say that they were able to stow full length (7') oars and they really weren't in the way that much while sailing.  The Culler style ones might have a better chance than some in that they have very skinny blades and no spoon.

I dug out an old pair of 8' culler style ones I built decades ago from storage.  They weren't used much as the boat they were built for was sold not long after I made them.  They were very pleasant to use for the short while I did use them though.  If doing them over again, I'd probably make the grip portion a bit bigger diameter and either put no finish on it or use oil finish of some sort depending on the wood species.

Their diameter is too small for the Duckworks oar ferrules.  They would be a big knuckle in the middle and look like hell.   The Greenland paddle Ferrules are closer, but these oars have an oval cross section, so my idea of  cutting a foot out of the middle to make them a more appropriate 7' seems like less of a good idea.

I could build a new set the proper length that was made to fit either size couplers.  I really hate the idea of putting carbon coupler in these traditional style oars.  People put them in greenland style paddles though and sometimes function just has to trump aesthetics even when I find them pretty distasteful.

I guess one option is to have a set of the oars that I want to use when I plan to be rowing and a cheap two piece set to take along when sailing where I might need to row home.

I guess that there may also be the option of building a much shorter than optimum oars if they stowed more easily.  I know that I was surprised how well I managed with a way too short set that came with the tender on a sailbot that I once owned.  I rowed around in various anchorages quite a bit with them and was surprised that I didn't hate them like I expected.  I wouldn't have chosen them for a planned all day rowing trip, but they worked better that I'd heve expected.  Those oars must have been about 5' long and the dinghy was almost pretty beamy and had quite a bit of freeboard.

If you have two sets of oarlock sockets, as shown on the Jimmy Skiff II sketches, you could carry the oars with the grips forward, blades aft, with the shaft held by two sets of oarlocks, and some loops of light shock cord spring around from the outboard side, over the oars, and under the ends of the oarlocks protruding from the bottoms of the sockets.  All you need is an extra set of open oarlocks.

I've done this on our Passagemaker Dinghy to keep the oars out of the way while sailing, and found it works pretty well.  Harder to describe than it is to do.  I could probably come up with a photo if my pitiful attempt to describe the arrangement isn't working for you.

.....Michael

Hello Pete,  The JS2 looks like a seriously nice little boat.  Had it been available, it would have been a serious contender when I was choosing.  As it was, I built a Goat Island Skiff which obviously resembles a JS2 but is a bit longer and has a different interior layout.

On the GIS, 8-9' oars fit nicely with the blades forward against the stem and the handles lashed under the inwales.  I have no idea if this will work with a JS but the other part of the story is that I also carry a cheap two piece SUP paddle.  The oars stay semi-permenantly lashed in place and only used if I have to row some distance.  The SUP paddle is quick to stow/retrieve and is easy to use standing in the back of the boat.  I would not want to travel far, but it makes an easy way to propel the boat the first/last 100 yards around the marina.

The other point I will make is that unless you can put ashore someplace, you will end up rowing with the mast up if the weather gets nasty.  Trying to unstep the mast afloat will be perilous, especially in wind and/or waves.

   Thanks guys,  I will keep both of those options in mind to try before resorting to two piece oars since they are an option I prefer to avoid.

Yes, getting a mast down in snotty weather is not something to be relied on unless it can be done before the weather gets too bad.  Once the weather really turns you are kind of stuck dealing with it as is.  That isn't a great situation either though.

Pete,

I don't know the shaft diameter of your oars, but there are internal as well as external ferrules. These would require drilling 1 and 7/32 inch centered holes in the shaft pieces and a little epoxy to glue them in.

https://duckworks.com/carbon-fiber-double-paddle-ferrules-small/

Cheers,

-Dick-

   My JS II has 7'6" oars from CLC. They fit nicely in the 9'3" long "foot well" If you found them, or your 8 foot oars, in the way you could mount them on the face of the seat floatation chambers.

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Unstepping the mast underway?  I might have done it in my 20s or even my 30s, but now??...Not so much.  I haven't completed the rigging and gone sailing. Distractions running high.   Judging from rowing the skiff on our canoe club night paddle, 6 miles, I'd consider the mast, sail and boom stowed on the deck as a royal pain.   It is always good to think contingency for when weather turns bad. But if the wind is that bad, and you can't take in a reef,  why are you there? 

.

Of course our normal trip is a short tirp with the two big dogs up to the Tiny Dock concert once a quarter under power with some rowing amongst the boats in the fleet while the band plays. Then under power we escort the canoe club back to the club house with our   portable    nav-lights on.  The JS II insures that we get compliments from the other boaters and often our picture in the paper/media at the concert.

   The real problem with the rig on the deck to transom, other than unstepping it,  is that it might interfere with the rowing operation. For example you take a stroke. The blade comes up out of the water, feathers and moves forward. For that to happen the grips must go down to raise the blades. The diameter/bulk/etc of the rig laying at your side, bow to stern, may restrict the ability to take a stroke and have the blade clear the water.  A problem where the height of the rig prevents the grip end from going low.  Blade height off the water would be important in rough water.  That is a problem you'd have to look out for. Remember the bow is higher than the stern. 

Sorry I could go pile all that on the boat and see what happens,  but its put away in a couple of buildings. 

   Great info. Thanks.

Stowing them in the footwell, possibly against the flotation tank sounds like the amswer.

I had wondered if they would be in the way there.  After looking at the flat skinny oars I think maybe I was making a bigger deal of that than makes sense.

   I just realized that Woodenboat #272 shows the oars stowed in the footwell against the flotation tank.  They look like they'd be nicely out of the way.  I don't think they'd go in and out of that spot if the thwart seats were screwed in, but I think I'd leave the seats able to slide or be removed.

Leaving the seats mopveable seems like a plus for optimizing the cockpit in various uses.