Quote:
Originally Posted by fatlazyless
"...Here's a fixer-upper for someone that wants a fiberglass repair project; posted in craigslist on July 24 titled "Recreational Rowing Shell," and located in nearby Bristol, NH...say-hey....looks like the seller has lowered the price down from $275 to 225...and, by the way...I am extremely pleased with myself for NOT buying this.....but it could be a steal-of-a-deal for rowing the Big Lake, or to repair and re-sell.....if u know fiberglass repair on very thin fiberglass! ...doing repairs on aluminum is just a heck of a lot easier than with fiberglass!"
|
• As to working with "fiberglass", the entire field was revised years ago with
West-System© epoxy, and its many options. Safe, comprehensive, wood-friendly, and easy to work with, the
Goudgeon brothers revolutionized fiberglass repair ~50 years ago in iceboats and catamarans.
It's
carbon-fiber that I wouldn't want to repair, although West-System© epoxy might work!
• Although there are a dozen "sculls" just a mile from my location, I'd leave a rowing shell for quieter waters: they're just "not enough boat". The few around are seen only minutes after sunrise on rough-and-tumble Lake Winnipesaukee.
• What has made rowing an aluminum boat difficult is that oftentimes, the provided (or selected) oars are too short: spend a few bucks, and get oars that are longer than what you have been using.
• But a rowing canoe is certainly an improvement: there's even a device that converts canoe "rowing" to the desirable forward-facing concept.
I only know this, as I bought an interesting gizmo at a Mirror Lake garage-sale. Not knowing what it was—just one handle
—I Googled the 1800s patent date, and it turned up as just that—with the second handle provided in the U. S. patent office sketch.
Alas, what I bought was only the top half; however, the bottom half could still be devised by a clever metals-workman with skills that are today disappearing to foreign markets.
In the below attachment, my garage-sale treasure is photographed from the bottom.
Just where this 2003 revision is going, I don't know—
yet...
