Description
With the success of our Standard Paddle Ferrules and Greenland Style Ferrules, we naturally thought about having some made for oars. John Welsford approached us about using what were then the largest ferrules - the Greenland ones - to make take apart oars for Howard Rice's Special expedition SCAMP. He figured the Greenland ones would work but preferred something bigger. So we sent his specs to the factory that makes the ferrules for us and after a little time waiting for the special tooling, we received our first order.
These ferrules are custom made for Duckworks to exacting specifications. You will not be dissappointed by the workmanship or appearance.
There are other uses for these ferrules too, such as for pushpoles. Read Rob Rohde-Szudy's article on using a ferrule with a wood pushpole.
Feedback:
Cut my nice oars in half, epoxied on the carbon fiber ferrules from Duckworks before the Havasu/Topock trip. They worked great.
James Armstrong
Hi Chuck
Finally got around to using the carbon-fiber ferrules. They are great! Oar management has been a big challenge on the Piccup. The best I've come up with is to nestle the oar in a second oarlock mounted on the gunwale towards the stern of the boat. The problem with that, though, is that they interfere with hiking up on the gunwale when sailing hard.
We have a small inflatable dinghy. I had upgraded the oars on it with a pair of longer break-down oars. So, almost simultaneously with you announcing the ferrules available from Duckworks, I'd started looking around for even longer break-down oars that I could use for the Piccup Pram. It was very timely that you came up with this solution for me.
I noted that the spec for the ferrules indicated a somewhat too large an inner diameter; too large by almost two millimeters. I went ahead with the purchase anyway thinking that it would not matter all that much. Well, after I cut up my oars and dry fitted the ferrules, I realized that the gap was way too large. I had thought that I'd just fill the gap with a little epoxy-woodflour slurry. Too big a gap for that. So, I wrapped the oarshafts with fiberglass tape and then sanded that down to size. That worked great.
I took the boat out for a row this evening. The ferrules worked out fine. I am looking forward to going sailing and knowing that I have a pair of oars neatly stowed away and ready to go should I actually need to row, but otherwise staying out of my way.
All the best, Pehr
Here is a link to a Flicker album with pictures.
Read this article by Christopher Cunningham, first published in Small Boats Monthly.
Details for Oar size ferrules
These Carbon Fiber ferrules for Oars are 45mm ID and 48mm OD x 14" long. No screws are included - they can be epoxied to the shaft of your oar.
These ferrules weigh 10 oz. each
Dimensions: