[skitterbug]

I'm curious if any one has had a failure of their rack & pinion system on their frameless boat?(Water masters, NFO, Outcast)

Where was the failure?(pin fracture, oar, pad attaches to craft) What were the circumstances?

Thanks.

 

[middlecalf]

Jammed an oar (my fault, downstream oar in thin water), oar broke (end of the plastic blade) but no damage to oar lock. NFO Renegade. No other problems so far (wrt to oar system). Fairly easy floats (e.g. Sandy River from Oxbow to L&C)

 

[sleestak]

I don't know of any personal watercraft that uses a "rack and pinon" system for the oars...as far as I can tell that would serve no functional purpose.

I have a Watermaster and have rowed easily over 1,000 miles on it. I haven't had any problems with the mounts for the oars. I did blow a rivet on one of the heavy duty oars, which led to my blade falling out, but that was after many miles. Over time, the pre-drilled holes on the oars where they slide into the mount will begin to widen from use (just a function of the mounting system) and the oars will get a bit "sloppier" but no issue.

 

[skitterbug]

NFO calls it a rack and pinion, anyway the "oar lock" system on frameless boats.

What type of rivers are you rowing down?

 

[NVswitch]

My friend and I have had our outlaw boats since they first came out. 5-6 years? Don't know for sure but no problems at all with oar attachments to raft. Row both lakes and rivers all the time with no issues with the oars and their system. Mike

 

[wrx_canoe]

ditto. stock NFO "oars" are like toys. I need to upgrade to a set of caviness or something else made for real-world conditions.

Jammed an oar (my fault, downstream oar in thin water), oar broke (end of the plastic blade) but no damage to oar lock. NFO Renegade. No other problems so far (wrt to oar system). Fairly easy floats (e.g. Sandy River from Oxbow to L&C)

 

[AKspey]

Scadden boat

3rd season of regular use, easy to moderate rivers, no problem with oar setup.

 

[Saltymykiss]

No problem with the oar setup on mine... Doesn't mean I like it. Wish someone would come out with a conversion to give me little oar locks.

 

[NVswitch]

agree totally about the stock oars being toys. I bought upgraded oars from North Fork Outfitters and my friend purchased some Carlile graphite. Both much better.
Mike

 

[middlecalf]

I know I've said this in other posts about these oar systems... unless the oar can slide in and out of the oar lock I'm going to want the oar to fail (jammed oar) instead of the oar lock (cam system), so I just carry an extra of the cheap toy oars (and just the lower section), easier to "field" repair than a broken oar lock/cam.

 

[ralfish]

Yeah, the stainless pin(ion) pulled out of the plastic housing on the POS Assault. This is a lightly used club camp boat, failed on the Dean. I doubt it has 4 miles on it (4-5 years old)

On my WM I have broken nothing but oars due to spiking. I upgraded the pivot shaft in the gimbal mount, which comes as a honeycomb (sort of) bit of 5/8" dia. ABS to solid UHMW and made ABS sleeves for the oars to prevent ovalisation of the pin(ion) holes on upgraded oars..several thousand miles rowed/drifted

 

[wrx_canoe]

Something like that should be covered by the "lifetime" warranty on the NFO boats. Care to share whether your problem was rectified by Dave?

Yeah, the stainless pin(ion) pulled out of the plastic housing on the POS Assault. This is a lightly used club camp boat, failed on the Dean. I doubt it has 4 miles on it (4-5 years old)

On my WM I have broken nothing but oars due to spiking. I upgraded the pivot shaft in the gimbal mount, which comes as a honeycomb (sort of) bit of 5/8" dia. ABS to solid UHMW and made ABS sleeves for the oars to prevent ovalisation of the pin(ion) holes on upgraded oars..several thousand miles rowed/drifted

 

[ralfish]

Warranty doesn't mean much when the boat fails at a critical time on the water, especially when you are in a remote fly in only location..

We simply borrowed the piece from another boat. That meant we lost use of the boat for the duration of our trip until the replacement piece was brought in by the next group for their own use.

** edit to add: An email into this to find out how things were resolved and yes Dave quickly made good. The replacement part had to be modified to fit the boat we robbed the piece from in the first place. Ends up that the stainless pin is spot welded to a washer that is embedded into a cast plastic part. The spot weld failed and the pin pulled out during a routine river crossing.

 

[skitterbug]

Is the design of the oar lock system the same between NFO, Water master and Outcast? Material the same?

 

[Saltymykiss]

Is the design of the oar lock system the same between NFO, Water master and Outcast? Material the same?

From what I've seen, yes.

 

[wrx_canoe]

Thanks for the update. Makes me think twice now when I row hard across on those river ferries... Hopefully a one-off problem and not reflective of a larger problem.

re: NFO and WM. Exact same set-up on our boats. WM comes with a much better (Caviness vs. no-name Chinese) 2-piece aluminum/plastic oar.

Warranty doesn't mean much when the boat fails at a critical time on the water, especially when you are in a remote fly in only location..

We simply borrowed the piece from another boat. That meant we lost use of the boat for the duration of our trip until the replacement piece was brought in by the next group for their own use.

** edit to add: An email into this to find out how things were resolved and yes Dave quickly made good. The replacement part had to be modified to fit the boat we robbed the piece from in the first place. Ends up that the stainless pin is spot welded to a washer that is embedded into a cast plastic part. The spot weld failed and the pin pulled out during a routine river crossing.

 

[flygolf65]

Not a fan

Had a Scadden Assault. Also stuck the downstream oar and had boat lifted at 45 degree angle before the blade on the oar broke a piece and freed me. though I was going to flip, happened so quickly.

I owned the Assault for a couple years, fished mostly lakes, but one trip on the Grande Ronde. I'm not very big, 5'-7" and 165, but found the rowing with the oarlocks so low to be very uncomfortable, hard to keep my knees out of the way. I can understand using this type of system for a fly in trip, but sold the boat as I never rowed on the lake anyway, got a float tube, and for the rivers bought a Hyside MiniMax. Definitely bigger and heavier, but way more comfortable.

Wayne

 

[skitterbug]

surprised

I'm surprised there isn't more failures looking at the design, but I guess with the shorter oars it reduces the stress on the oar lock/pin system.

 

[trico22]

I upgraded the pivot shaft in the gimbal mount, which comes as a honeycomb (sort of) bit of 5/8" dia. ABS to solid UHMW and made ABS sleeves for the oars to prevent ovalisation of the pin(ion) holes on upgraded oars..several thousand miles rowed/drifted[/QUOTE]

Any pics of this, thanks.

 

[ralfish]

its a solid piece of UMHW that is about 5/8" diameter. I have no pics