Rowing a Higbee?

Rossja

Active member
Good morning,

I am in the process of selling my traditional BBSB and using the money to buy a Higbee. (feeling the need for more speed and a bigger cockpit).

Has anyone ever added, or have any advice for adding oar locks to a Higbee? I searched this sight and google exhaustively, but found no evidence of this ever being done.
 
its been awhile... but if I remember correctly they had a inlaid socket and oarlock that was in the fixed duckboards/floatation on the sides
 
They all were designed with oar lock ports on the front of the decoy rails. Mine had them and was a newer version made by "Duck Machine" in the 1980's. Here's mine before I sold with the oar locks. I removed the clamps and used the hole there to put cord through to stick my sticks in the mud to anchor the boat. You can see them right in front of the corners on the dodger. You would need to put a board or something across to row. View attachment 118227218_1033233450447335_2268901910647439215_n.jpg
 
Jay K said:
They all were designed with oar lock ports on the front of the decoy rails. Mine had them and was a newer version made by "Duck Machine" in the 1980's. Here's mine before I sold with the oar locks. I removed the clamps and used the hole there to put cord through to stick my sticks in the mud to anchor the boat. You can see them right in front of the corners on the dodger. You would need to put a board or something across to row.

Got the boat on Friday night and hunted it Saturday, did great with old 9.9 on it. It does not have oar locks or any sign the they were originally on the racks.
 
Well, going off my picture, it likely wouldn't be too bad to install a set. As I mentioned, I unbolted the clamps to use the hole to thread a cord through.


They actually had these bushings/inserts:


https://www.amazon.com/SeaSense-Oar-Lock-Socket-Insert/dp/B004RDSOFY/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/132-2147541-4712850?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B004RDSOFY&pd_rd_r=8fa80f36-fb02-47b8-acb7-cd418cf04700&pd_rd_w=GbaBQ&pd_rd_wg=E5CJS&pf_rd_p=ce6c479b-ef53-49a6-845b-bbbf35c28dd3&pf_rd_r=2YCFPARHRHSGM76JZ5PE&psc=1&refRID=2YCFPARHRHSGM76JZ5PE


I'm fairly certain with a little work, you might be able to get your hands up into the decoy rails that run the length to the dodger and through-bolt these:


https://www.amazon.com/SeaSense-Lock-Sockets-2-Inch-Locks/dp/B004RDMNI8/ref=pd_sim_nf_200_6/132-2147541-4712850?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B004RDMNI8&pd_rd_r=10340a79-d75b-4b31-9080-7f27198433b0&pd_rd_w=F7l8G&pd_rd_wg=ot7tT&pf_rd_p=ec5f570b-7db1-4816-9bbe-a67d0b1d643f&pf_rd_r=5Q02AWJGV49PCD8VK7KG&psc=1&refRID=5Q02AWJGV49PCD8VK7KG
These are actually what was on the boat when I bought it:

https://www.amazon.com/SeaSense-91135-Clmp-Hvy-Locks/dp/B000QU5SVK

I definitely misspoke. The older generations didn't have oarlocks. If you don't have enough room to get your hand inside the decoy rails from the inside, you could through-bolt through the decoy rails with some SS hardware painted to match the boat.


Those boats move perfect with a 9.9. A 15 is plenty fast. They are super light boats. Just be very cautious crossing open water with them. I buried the bow on mine the end of last season and it got harrowing really quick.


 
Last edited:
Jay K said:
Well, going off my picture, it likely wouldn't be too bad to install a set. As I mentioned, I unbolted the clamps to use the hole to thread a cord through.


They actually had these bushings/inserts:


https://www.amazon.com/SeaSense-Oar-Lock-Socket-Insert/dp/B004RDSOFY/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/132-2147541-4712850?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B004RDSOFY&pd_rd_r=8fa80f36-fb02-47b8-acb7-cd418cf04700&pd_rd_w=GbaBQ&pd_rd_wg=E5CJS&pf_rd_p=ce6c479b-ef53-49a6-845b-bbbf35c28dd3&pf_rd_r=2YCFPARHRHSGM76JZ5PE&psc=1&refRID=2YCFPARHRHSGM76JZ5PE


I'm fairly certain with a little work, you might be able to get your hands up into the decoy rails that run the length to the dodger and through-bolt these:


https://www.amazon.com/SeaSense-Lock-Sockets-2-Inch-Locks/dp/B004RDMNI8/ref=pd_sim_nf_200_6/132-2147541-4712850?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B004RDMNI8&pd_rd_r=10340a79-d75b-4b31-9080-7f27198433b0&pd_rd_w=F7l8G&pd_rd_wg=ot7tT&pf_rd_p=ec5f570b-7db1-4816-9bbe-a67d0b1d643f&pf_rd_r=5Q02AWJGV49PCD8VK7KG&psc=1&refRID=5Q02AWJGV49PCD8VK7KG
These are actually what was on the boat when I bought it:

https://www.amazon.com/SeaSense-91135-Clmp-Hvy-Locks/dp/B000QU5SVK

I definitely misspoke. The older generations didn't have oarlocks. If you don't have enough room to get your hand inside the decoy rails from the inside, you could through-bolt through the decoy rails with some SS hardware painted to match the boat.


Those boats move perfect with a 9.9. A 15 is plenty fast. They are super light boats. Just be very cautious crossing open water with them. I buried the bow on mine the end of last season and it got harrowing really quick.


Thanks for the info... can I just sink sockets into to of rails and secure with 5200/resin? or do the sockets have to go into hardware?

I will be cautious in open water with it, definitely different, I've been running only displacement hulls and while slow never had a problem in rough water.
 

You can if you have enough "meat" in the top of the decoy rails. You definitely would need to bolt them through. I can't see just 5200 being enough to secure the oar locks in.
 
Actually, refer to this posting in the classifieds. You can see the flush mount oarlocks. This should get you going in the right direction.

http://www.duckboats.net/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=333036;do=post_view;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;page=unread#unread
 
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