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A few questions for you fellow Whitehall owners:

What length oars are you using?

I need to purchase the lumber to start my oars soon and would like input from actual Whitehall rowers as to the best oar length. My thoughts are that with one rower a shorter set would give more leverage, but if two are rowing a couple longer sets could be used, so if that makes sense I might build three sets.

What is a good cruising speed? By cruising, I mean a speed you could keep up for a long time period or several miles.

What maximum (sprint) speed can be expected when the situation calls for it?

Thanks,

Scott

I used 9' oars made from spruce. I've used all rowing positions and the work fine for me at 6' tall. To tweak them for performance/comfort you could trim the blade by 6" without a problem. That would adjust for the change in beam at each station. Re: speed, I don't go there. I'm pretty sure I make 4kts when rowing. Thats just by "feel" though. I did check the speed using my trolling motor (35# thrust) and a phone app. It read 4kts. One adjustment I found necessary was to shim the oarlock up about 3/16" to clear the rub rail with the oar. The shorter the oar, the more shim will be required.

Howard

_________________
"It's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
Abraham Lincoln

Howard,

Thanks for the reply. As I've only rowed a shorter boat with 7 1/2 foot oars I didn't know what to expect from the Whitehall.

I'm working on the garboards now. It will be lapstrake with 8 or 9 planks. I might use top mount oarlock sockets instead of side mount, that would help with the clearance of the rubrail you mentioned. It would also make it easier to shim them if still needed.

Scott