As I have been rowing Gwragedd Annwn, I have found that one of her flaws (if she really has any) with the spread of her oars is that she needs an 18′ wide channel to row in. I have taken her into narrower channels, usually by paddling her with an oar. Not very efficient. I have decided to give her a sculling notch for the next narrow channel or if for some reason I am reduced to only having one oar, or break all of my oarlocks.
The first step is to determine where to place the notch. I have seen very experienced scullers scull without a notch, just resting the oar on the transom. I am not that good. I will scull with my right hand, facing forward, so my notch will be offset to Starboard.
Locating the Sculling notch for Gwragedd Annwn
I stood in Gwragedd Annwn and using duct tape, found a comfortable place for the oar.
I used a bucket to get the angle for the notch.
I set my jigsaw to the oar angle.
Looks about right….
I used duct tape to keep the splintering down.
View from the inside:
Now it is just a matter of shaping the notch to fit the oar at the sculling angle…
The wine glass is the shape I am aiming for.
After shaping and sanding.
The notch has to be big enough to allow for a large range of motion and for the leather liner.
The next step is to varnish the notch. I put on eight coats.
I have some left-over leather from leathering the oars. I cut it to fit. I use some small brass screws and washers to secure the leather. I work in some “Snowseal”.
The finished Sculling Notch Outside view:
Inside view:
To date, the notch has performed well. I did make the notch a little larger after some trial runs. The more skilled I get, the better the notch works. This opens up even more waters for Gwragedd Annwn to explore!
Happy Sculling,
Mike