If you let the oar lock socket, I suggest you bore all the way through to ensure a drain.
BBSB Pond Box Build
- Thread starter SJ Fairbank
- Start date
Good idea to point that out. I always do it, and the oarlock holder is shaped the way it is to allow flow through of the deck wash and relieve the drain hole. The photo was taken before the hardware and all the holes were drilled.
Capt Rich Geminski
Well-known member
Really like the group discussions here and all the helping hands.
Steve Sanford
Well-known member
Gents~
Yup.....allows deck wash, saves weight, drains sockets....
Such details aside - those portraits stopped this old heart for a beat - truly gorgeous!
All the best,
SJS
So, just curious. I think you said you prefer to row facing forward. I'm the opposite. The curiosity comes in regarding your photo, which way is forward on that scooter? Our boats had the spray shield forward.
Steve Sanford
Well-known member
SJ~
No, I always face the stern. It's my understanding, however, that traditional Barnegat Bay Sneakboxes were rowed facing forward. I will let Capt. Keeney illuminate.
We on Great South Bay (almost everybody) also shoot over the stern. The spray shield in my photo is on the foredeck.
All the best,
SJS
It must be a regional thing. All of our boats were rowed and gunned facing over the stern. I've tried to row a sneakbox facing forward and it just feels wrong, but to each his own.
As a point of interest, when we were young kids (8 on up) exploring alone in a boat, we weren't normally allowed outboards. My father and grandfather had a saying "If you can row, you can go". It was clear that we were never to go so far that we needed assistance to get back, or that was it for solo boating. I rowed six miles each way to fishing spots many, many times. Some boats such as sneakboxes are a joy to row. Others, such as locally made plywood skiffs, not so much. You learn a bit about playing the tides, too.
FWIW, blowboating was never an approved method so I can't sail worth a darn. One jib ho and I get whacked in the head.
Steve Sanford
Well-known member
Good morning, SJ~It must be a regional thing. All of our boats were rowed and gunned facing over the stern. I've tried to row a sneakbox facing forward and it just feels wrong, but to each his own.
As a point of interest, when we were young kids (8 on up) exploring alone in a boat, we weren't normally allowed outboards. My father and grandfather had a saying "If you can row, you can go". It was clear that we were never to go so far that we needed assistance to get back, or that was it for solo boating. I rowed six miles each way to fishing spots many, many times. Some boats such as sneakboxes are a joy to row. Others, such as locally made plywood skiffs, not so much. You learn a bit about playing the tides, too.
"If you can row, you can go".
I have never owned a gunning boat that could not be rowed (except for my canoes....). As it happens, I have an Armstrong Blackjack and a South Bay Duckboat in my restoration queue (for customers) right now - neither is set up for rowing. But - I also have a fully-restored (by me a couple of years ago) South Bay whose new owner wants me to install oarlock stanchions. The design is with the R&D Department at Pencil Brook Boatworks as we speak....
As you allude, the hull makes all the difference! My Great South Bay Scooter and my Barnegat are both displacement hulls and row beautifully. Those who have rowed only planing hulls have not known the efficient gliding motion of a sweet hull.
Sorry to hear about your bad experiences with sail. The solution is a larger boat! I do not enjoy scrambling around beneath the boom of smaller vessels - but the helm of my WILLET (22' LOA) was a very relaxing place to be. For me, the magic of sailing has been one of Life's great pleasures.
All the best,
SJS
Very true. It's hard to describe the feeling of one stroke and a long glide, together with the gentle hiss smooth water makes against the curved hull. Magical for the poet in the waterman.
I have not rowed a South Bay, is it a good hull for rowing? Actually I've never been aboard one in the water. They appear wide and squatty to my eye, not particularly well suited for oars.
I was being facetious about sailing. I am far from accomplished, but spend a day or two on friends sailboats most years. One more thing to improve upon when I retire.
The highlight of my sailing career came at the expense of my business partner's boat 35 years ago. It was a 38' custom racer, we were on a company day trip from Old Saybrook to Claudio's in Greenport with 14 people aboard. I know the route along Long Beach West of Orient Point, having motored through hundreds of times on the way in or out to the offshore grounds. I'm at the helm, my partner says tack now in a tight area, to which I say no bueno, it's shallow. Captain Sandbar insists so I oblige, which results in the cleaning of barnacles off the keel while we kedge back to deeper water for the next hour. I like to think it was a teaching moment. He paid for the beer.
Richard Lathrop
Well-known member
In a sneakbox you can lay out so the boom passes overhead no issues.It must be a regional thing. All of our boats were rowed and gunned facing over the stern. I've tried to row a sneakbox facing forward and it just feels wrong, but to each his own.
As a point of interest, when we were young kids (8 on up) exploring alone in a boat, we weren't normally allowed outboards. My father and grandfather had a saying "If you can row, you can go". It was clear that we were never to go so far that we needed assistance to get back, or that was it for solo boating. I rowed six miles each way to fishing spots many, many times. Some boats such as sneakboxes are a joy to row. Others, such as locally made plywood skiffs, not so much. You learn a bit about playing the tides, too.
Rick Lathrop