It's been a long winter but spring has come to New Hampshire in full force, and I'm chomping at the bit to take this little guy (and my Catalina 22) out for a sail. One of my desires with my Kingfisher was to be able to row it as well, either as a tender, or if I'm out sailing and the wind dies. I already have a nice set of 7.5' oars for my Dyer Dhow dinghy. I put new leather protection on these over the winter. On the Kingfisher, I bought some stock Perko Oarlocks (4 in total). My friend Joe has a woodshop and he took a piece of 1" thick mahogany I had laying around and made me some blocks to raise the oarlocks above the lip on the gunwale. I through-bolted them using 2" #10-24 stainless machine screws and nylock nuts. I made a backing plate out of an old 1/2" kitchen cutting board.
Maybe I'll get this out for a row and a sail this weekend at the Massabesic Yacht Club.
Fair winds!
Closeup of the forward port oarlock. I should have clearance over the chainplate, even if the mast is up and the shrouds are installed. The forward one will really only be used if I do not have the mast stepped though as it is stepped right where I would sit.
Rear port oarlock. This will be the one used most often.
