Breakdown Oar Stowage

Breakdown oars allow you to get the length of oar you need while also storing the oar onboard Scamp.  Gig Harbor makes a great set that seem ideal for this design.  And yet, there’s a problem.  The problem is that by the time you install a 1.5″-2″ seat cushion, the oars will be very difficult to remove from behind the seat.

So, I decided to give my backrest a haircut.

Check it out:

The front portion of the oar is completely under the coaming and will be very difficult to remove with a seat cushion in place.  It will also be difficult to remove the screw down hatch in this current configuration.

The aft portion of the oar can tuck neatly behind the anchor bag.

So I removed a portion of the coaming to allow better access.

This now will allow me to remove my oars without too much struggling with the seat cushion.  It also improves access to the storage compartment.

Both pieces now fit nicely behind the coaming, improving access to the hatch and should be easy to remove — even with a seat cushion in place.

Summary:

I don’t think this modification jeopardizes the comfort of the backrest and yet improves accessibility to both the hatch and oar set.   It looks a little extreme now, but once the seat cushion are installed, it should be about right.  

On of these days I’m going to be ready to flip this thing…