I hadn't thought about it, but I grabbed one of my Tshirts to wear this

morning which had a Flying Pig on it. Good omen...

Today I christened our Porta-Bote, Flying Piglet II (I is the ribby)
and
took him for a row. It was the second time he'd been together, and the

first time he'd been wet.

Before I did that, however, I modified him to take sculling oarlocks in
what
I hoped would be adequately reinforced measure for mounting. I'll tell
the
short story first, in a moment. The full story, including the gory
details,
follows that; if you're not interested in Porta-Botes, or the
modifications
to allow real oars, this full story will bore you silly.

On the other hand, if you're considering a Porta-Bote, or have one and
would
like to improve the rowing experience, you'll enjoy the story. The
pictures
of all this can be found on my refit gallery
http://www.justpickone.org/skip/gall...ze=640&start=0,

under the sub-gallery Porta-Bote Maiden Voyage and Sculling
Modification.

The short story: I have put this together on the boatyard ground once
before, just after I got it. In the intervening months, the opening
stick
has gone missing. No problem; I just stepped in, stepped wide as I
opened
up the sides, put in one seat, and moved on from there. Not a problem.

I installed my sculling modification (detailed story below)
uneventfully,
and took it off to get wet.

From the time I laid all the stuff (bote, duffel with all the seats,
[supplied] oars, transom and hardware, and my sculls) on the ground to
the
time I was pulling it into the water was 6 minutes, including
installing the
rowlocks and sculling oars (what I started with, trying the supplied
oars
later). This is a 10' bote; bigger ones may take longer.

I waded in the requisite 6 inches, entered stern first, backed him out
a
bit, turned it around, and gave it a pull. Oops. Unforseen (didn't
think
far enough) wrinkle - I'd fully prepared for torque. I forgot about
flop.
The oarlocks went half horizontal, as the bote (of course) flexes.
More on
my thoughts on that below in the details.

It's been a couple of years since I rowed, what with all the surgery
and
working on the boat (the one we're going to cut the cords on and sail
away
in), so I had to remember a bit, but then settled down and in 5 strokes
or
so didn't quite plane it, but did, indeed, create a significant stern
turbulence and, as one of the pictures shows, a nice bow wave.

Ok. The concept works. What about the supplied oars? Oy.
Understand, of
course, that I come from a racing background, but even using all the
tricks
I could think of to improve the performance, by comparison, it scarcely

moved. The only-1" stick in the socket would wear out the nylon
bushing
very quickly if that were what I used to row with. And, of course,
with
that lovely high freeboard, you either have to adjust the oars to only
a
foot or so inboard, or raise them very high to even catch water.
Ehhh...
There is no dink oar worth much, and these are notably bigger than
most, so
for most, they'll make the typical ribby or blowup look sick. SS
nipple
spring and nub would last a great deal longer in salt water, ditto the
oarlock, but it's about par for the dinghy world. The oars themselves
are a
great deal better than the typical dink's.

So, end of short story, I rowed it back in, and from the time I stepped
on
ground to it being in the van, it was about 10 minutes. Can't ask for
much
better than that. We have a 6HP engine for it when we need to cover
some
real ground; all reports have us planing instantly with both of us and
all
the stuff we care to haul aboard.

Now for the gory details, for those more interested in minutiae of how
this
works/ed, and how the sculling adaptation went, and what I'd do
differently
if I were doing it again (and may, anyway, as it's so dead simple).
Blow by
blow:

I had originally conceived that one might be able to use sculling oars
-
296cm, or about 10', with efficient ends to catch the water - on a
Porta-Bote (hereafter PB). Not even having one in sight, let alone
owned, I
had to imagine how I might do that. First, of course, I had to have a
standard rowing oarlock - like you see in the Olympics.

Fortunately, they're not hard to find, and I got a pair. The second
is, of
course, you have to have the proper oars. That's a little harder, but
not
impossible. I had a spare pair from rowing regular shells, but row2k,
irow
and other sites have used oars listed for sale. You can also buy them
new,
for about $4-600 a pair. Used is better, as they're not going to be in
a
competitive situation and even a beater pair from a rowing club, where
I got
my recreational double's spare pair, will work just fine for this
application. You may be able to pick them up for $50, as I did.

My solution for the expected torque was angle aluminum, obtained scrap
from
a trailer fabricator. Most welders will have some lying around. I got
1"
Ell, 1/8 thick, 6" long. The initial pictures show me trying to make
that
work with a sufficient number of fasteners. In the end, after looking
at
how small that appeared, I chickened out and got 12" pieces - and this
time
1 1/2", as that's all they had lying around. The first pair cost me 2,
the
second, 3 dollars...

My rowlocks take 1/2" bolts, so I arranged it so that the attaching nut

could not turn when squeezed tight by putting the hole such that the
nut
bore slightly on the curve of the inside of the bend, pushing the flat
against the angle. I marked the center point of one of them, with the
appropriate center for the nut marked. Then I clamped the two
together, and
drilled both of them at the same time. I did the same for the 6
mounting
holes, on the other leg of the Ell.

With the PB spread-assembled (seats in to give me someplace to sit), I
dry-fitted the brackets. I used the seats' cup holders to hold my
hardware
:{)) Perfect! Same size as the existing oarlock receiver, so no change
to
the ability to fold it up. I pulled the insulation away a bit in order
to
drill my holes, and mounted the Ells with 8-32 1/2" bolts and nuts.
The
nuts pressed tightly enough to the PB soft poly that I didn't feel the
need
for lock washers, and the depth of the Ell and PB were such that no
thread
protrudes to catch something or somebody. So far, so good.

The solution for mounting the rowlocks was to get an overlong bolt, use
the
appropriate spacers (which were relatively of no consequence as you'll
see
later) to allow for the proper left-over-right oar handle passage, and
also
(likewise of no moment in the end) to allow the oarlock to clear the
rub
rail on the gunwale. It turned out that the proper number of spacers
for
this length bolt (provided with the Concept II oarlocks, along with
their
appropriate inserts to allow adjustment of the angle at which the
oarlock
met the bolt) was 6; I put 2 on top in the port arrangement, and all 6
under
in the starboard, allowing a higher left hand (if it mattered, as
you'll see
that it didn't). I also used a nylock nut under it, jammed up tight
against
the unthreaded shaft of the bolt, to provide the rest of the space
below the
oarlock. That would provide the bearing point on the top of the Ell
and
allow me to use a wrench on the top of the bolt to secure it. The nut
under
was just pushed in place with my finger, sitting on top of the
flotation,
and the bolt screwed down into it. Snubbed up with the bolt, it was
fixed
in place, but easily removable to fold back up.

So, I did (removed it) and disassembled it, putting the (PB) oars,
seats and
transom and hardware into an inexpensive nylon duffel obtained in a
buy-it-now retailer on eBay, put the PB, sculling oars and duffel into
the
van, and headed to a boat ramp.

As seen above, *I* think this boat is a piece of cake to put together.
My
missing secret stick isn't of any event to me; if I had a 14 footer, it

might, but I can't imagine it behaving any differently, other than
having
more seats. I opened it enough to stand on the sides (still folded
in).
stuck my foot under one of them, lifted the side and moved my foot over
to
the side seam. Ditto the other foot. Reached out and got a seat,
installed
it and repeated twice more. Kicked the center supports under the seats
into
the groove. Got out and put in the transom, installed the bolts,
tightened
the wing nuts. Installed the rowlocks. Shipped the PB oars.
Installed the
sculls (the long oars). Looked at my watch. 6 minutes.

So, now I go for my first scull. The oarlocks do what they're supposed
to
do. The oars swivel in them, allowing me to feather. I notice that I
dig a
bit, surprisingly, as I've set the posts to be relatively vertical.

Hm... The side of the bote is bending outward. Not making more beam -
the
top is bending over. Of course! There's this 5" tall or so stick on
top of
that Ell, and the least pressure makes the bote bend.

My perceived solution to that characteristic is to add some leverage
below.
The ideal, not so easily found, of course, would be a plate with a top
bent
over, making an Ell with a very long leg. A foot down would still be
well
above the water line (you could always either use caulk or, like the
transom, a rubber washer behind a SS washer, extending the 8-32 bolt to
an
inch or so, and with that arrangement, one could do with fewer top
bolts, as
there'd be less twist from the torque of your pulling on that post.

I don't know how I might alter what I have without compromising the
ability
to fold it flat. Right now, the Ell is the same dimension, space wise,
as
the existing oarlock point, and there's no impact on folding it up at
all.
Without a plate as described, something added on would not have the
same
up-down rigidity, as it would be attached only to the current (my
alteration) rowing bracket.

However, I also think that as I remember how to row, that flexing might
go
away, as part of it, no doubt, is my pushing a bit outward, which isn't
at
all needed. That's because of the width of the hull where it's
mounted.

When I first spoke with Sandy (PB President), he indicated a 5' beam,
which
is perfect for a sculling oars' setup. However, these mount
considerably
astern of the beam, and so, in addition to my having to move the
collars out
all the way, they still overlap more than usual, and I'll have to
relearn my
stroke to not have my hands exactly centered on the middle of the pull.

So, we'll see about that. However, I can say definitively that the PB
is a
great deal better rower with sculls, and it's possible to modify it
without
huge kludges or expense. If I consider the oars I have to be one of
the $50
pair, counting the new oarlocks and all the hardware, I have less than
$100
in this modification. I think I'll pay another visit to the welder and
see
about welding a leg onto these Ells. I believe that would resolve the
wobble (still might cause the side to go out a bit until I
remember/relearn
how to row with more overlap on the crossing-at-center stroke), and add
even
more momentum to the effectiveness of the oars.

So, in the end, a modification easy to do, and well worth the effort,
if you
like rowing. Another couple of thoughts occurred to me as I was
thinking
this through. The mount I installed is 6" aft of the standard. That
works
for me because I've got gorilla arms. It might not work for everyone.

This is a 10 footer. A 12' may have the oarlocks further forward
(which
would be better, IMO). But, more fun to think about, I'd bet that you
could
row a 14 double. Two middle seats for the rowers, two sets of however
it
modifies best, and that boat would *move!*

Heh.

Thanks for listening. This project (as seen in my May 1 "Life on the
hard"
post) was my treat to myself for finishing a set of projects on our
home
(the boat in the refit pages); I've got to go back to plumbing and
wiring
and refrigeration gasketing, lighting and shelving, and engine and
shaft
alignment, so won't pursue this again for a while. In the meantime,
I'll
cogitate on how I can take care of the outward flop and if I come up
with a
simple solution, I'll post again about it.

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
http://tinyurl.com/p7rb4 - NOTE:new URL! The vessel as Tehamana, as we
bought her

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely
nothing-half so
much worth doing as simply messing, messing-about-in-boats; messing
about in
boats-or *with* boats.
In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter,
that's
the charm of it.
Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never
get
anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to
do, and
you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

My apologies for the current state of the website. I'm hopeful the
crash
will be resolved soon; in the meantime, if you're interested in the
rowing
pictures or the rest of the modification pictures, please click the
link I
provided from time to time.

When the crash is resolved, there are detailed pictures of every phase
of my
post.

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
http://tinyurl.com/p7rb4 - NOTE:new URL! The vessel as Tehamana, as we
bought her

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely
nothing-half so
much worth doing as simply messing, messing-about-in-boats; messing
about in
boats-or *with* boats.
In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter,
that's
the charm of it.
Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never
get
anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to
do, and
you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

Hey Skip:

Took a look see at your pics. Looks like you fond some of the clear
helix coil pvc. Now tht you have some in your hands what do you think?

Bob

PS
Dude........you've been busy!

Pix are up, finally :{))

I like the Spiralite 115, what they had in stock. Virtually identical
specs to the 090 recommended. See the late May gallery towards the end
for the installation on the head. I got a whole roll of 3/4 and 25' of
the 1.25.

Looking at my pix, I see the flop of the oarlocks went away when I
started to use them, so perhaps I won't bother with getting extensions
made. As long as I'm not pushing out on the oar handles, the weight of
the oar in the flat of the lock ought to keep it relatively oriented to
the oar. So long as I can put strain on it, I can row it :{))

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
http://tinyurl.com/p7rb4 - NOTE:new URL! The vessel as Tehamana, as we
bought her

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely
nothing-half so
much worth doing as simply messing, messing-about-in-boats; messing
about in
boats-or *with* boats.
In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter,
that's
the charm of it.
Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never
get
anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to
do, and
you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."