Porta-bote haters: what's not to like?

[hpeer]

Mike,
Over or under the life lines? Or do you drop them?
I might be able to do it without life lines but no way (I can imagine) with.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Mike,
Over or under the life lines? Or do you drop them?
I might be able to do it without life lines but no way (I can imagine) with.

I drop the lifelines. No way could I lift it over manually. I'm no where near that strong.

My technique is to drop the lifelines at the pulpit (I have a simple clip there). Then I pull the bow of the bote up from the water to the foredeck, using the bote painter. This leaves the stern floating in the water. From there I can grab first the front, then the middle seats, and just pull it up over the toerail.

The initial part of the lift is the hardest, but once it gets 1/2 way over the toerail it's more about leverage. I usually do this by myself, although sometimes my partner (Ann) is there to assist, which makes it even easier.

[hpeer]

Mike,

Whew!!! You had me worried that I was really off my game!

We may rejigger my life lines to allow that.

Would also facilitate assembly/disassembly.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Mike,

Whew!!! You had me worried that I was really off my game!

We may rejigger my life lines to allow that.

Would also facilitate assembly/disassembly.

I know I look all muscular and brutish ... but I'm really not .

We assemble/disassemble on our foredeck with the lifelines down. It would be harder to do it with the lines in place. Getting the bote in the water is also the reverse of hauling up; I just slide the stern over the toerail (lifelines down). Just be sure to grab the painter as the bow is going by .

[ejlindahl]

Skip.

I made a similar reinforcement for the oar locks. I think the longitudinal aluminum bar along the black plastic "cap rail" I used is is longer than yours but I still get a lot of intolerable flex of the boat sides as I row. It flexes at the end of the reinforcing bar now. Its worse the warmer it is.

Do you still have considerable flex of the boat sides when you row with those long sweeps?

I suppose I could reduce the flex by running the reinforcing bar all along the side of the bote, but the curve of the bote-side/cap rail would limit that and it would make the bote heavier and harder to fold. I'm just wondering what your experience is with flexing bote sides as you row.

QUOTE:
My first water entry (seen here and in the subsequent pages: Pictures: Flying Pig Early Refit + Projects/Finishing_Touches-Readying_To_Splash/Porta-Bote_Maiden_Voyage_and_Sculling_Modifications ) was, including the installation of the custom mod for fiberglass sculls and their regular oarlocks, 5 minutes from opening the van doors, and the same was true in reverse...

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by ejlindahl

Skip.

I made a similar reinforcement for the oar locks. I think the longitudinal aluminum bar along the black plastic "cap rail" I used is is longer than yours but I still get a lot of intolerable flex of the boat sides as I row. It flexes at the end of the reinforcing bar now. Its worse the warmer it is.

Do you still have considerable flex of the boat sides when you row with those long sweeps?

I suppose I could reduce the flex by running the reinforcing bar all along the side of the bote, but the curve of the bote-side/cap rail would limit that and it would make the bote heavier and harder to fold. I'm just wondering what your experience is with flexing bote sides as you row.

It's all in the form. When I was teaching sliding seat rowing to new customers of Indian River Marine shells and dories, I cautioned the typical newbies to concentrate entirely on form before putting in any power as power exacerbates any errors.

So what I would do is make sure that you are in whatever position you prefer(I used my knee patella joint locked into the seat aft of me for the reverse thrust, e.g.), and then do just paddling-strength movement of your arms (and feathering, if that's how you are rowing - and, ideally, the side-view would not be the typical rowboat circle, but a pretty tight rectangular box - up at the end, back just enough off the water to avoid crabbing, and down far enough - only - to cover the blade. Both fore and aft strokes should be parallel to the water.). After 100 or so consecutive strokes without any distortion, start adding power in very small steps.

As you continue to add power without distortion (the thrust, to be effective, should all be in a line forward, no L-R or top/bottom rotations), you'll get to the point where the rowlock should rotate on the pin, and nothing else...

Hope that helps.

PS Everything should be relatively relaxed. You can (and might, when you're really exercising) feather with your fingers alone, and the place for your thumbs would be on the end of the handle, not clutching it.

Also, you'll find much more power with wrists, palms, and first joints parallel to the water, wth the last 3 joints carrying the load (think of carrying a bucket of rocks by the bail-handle; you would not normally use the flat of your first joints from the palm to support the load). At least, that's the case for the typical relatively-thin oar handle; if you were on a sweep oar, you likely would involve the first joint just because of the radius of the handle...

[hpeer]

I used mahogany to reinforce the area around the oar locks.

I think Skip and I have the same idea, different material. For me the 1/4” mahogany seems to he working fine. I havent rowed a lot but Enough to see problems, I think.

[ejlindahl]

Thanks Skip. Thats a lot of technical jargon that I will have to digest. I used to do some sculling as my best friend was a rower for the UW Huskies in the 1970s and he gave me his old 1966 Pocock rowing shell. But I'm a hack with no formal instruction. Unfortunately I've developed bad wrist and hand arthritis and really can't do significant feathering actions any more, it just hurts too much.

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by ejlindahl

Thanks Skip. Thats a lot of technical jargon that I will have to digest. I used to do some sculling as my best friend was a rower for the UW Huskies in the 1970s and he gave me his old 1966 Pocock rowing shell. But I'm a hack with no formal instruction. Unfortunately I've developed bad wrist and hand arthritis and really can't do significant feathering actions any more, it just hurts too much.

The point of feathering is twofold.

First is to minimize wave slap if there is one large enough to cause a "crab" - a violent stopping motion which with the motion forward of the boat could cause it to eject you, or certainly slow or even stop the boat.

The second is nitpicking - less air resistance.

For your purposes, it may not be needed - just raise the oar (lower the handle) sufficiently to clear any waves. But don't make circles - it's inefficient. Rectangles of slightly higher clearance will suffice...

[skipgundlach]

Likely anyone interested will have noticed that my fingers are multi-jointed.

Not any more than anyone else; my numbers were off.

I trust you understood

[PozitivePlanez]

So to kinda pick this up again, It would be great for some input. This was a great thread but hasn't been used in a while. Earlier in the thread someone posted a Pinterest link to someone vinyl wrapping their Porta bote, does anyone have any pointers or tips for me to use, I have been searching for info but I keep getting bummed links. Do you have any recommendations on the type of vinyl or any other keys I should look out for with this project?

[skipgundlach]

As long as we're on minor alterations, and notwithstanding that I was forced to sell my bote due to the characteristic, has anyone found a reasonable means to prevent the tubes from marking the hulls of fiberglass boats?

The new botes supposedly use a different compound but the owner would not sell me a set...

... and the transom is not sufficiently robust, IMO, to handle the 6-8HP needed to get the speeds needed for remote travel (to a snorkeling location, e.g.)...

[PozitivePlanez]

Yea, this is also one of the things I was trying to stop by wrapping it, at least make it less visible. When I fold the bote the black bumpers mark up the white boat and it gets to a pretty rough looking state, quick. The wrap I was looking for I was wondering if there was a preferred type of vinyl or if people are just using the same car vinyl, I just want to know how it sticks to the PB and is it a long term solution or will it peel instantly. I think this would definitely help with the marking of the PB especially if I chose a darker color that blends in more. But for the bigger boats to stop getting scratched maybe you can use the dock bumpers when your pulling up to other boats to prevent them from actually hitting each other and if you are dragging the PB onto your boat maybe you can DIY like a carpet type of mount to drag it over reducing the amount of black bumper marks.

[hpeer]

Skip,

I am in the middle of building a new transom to replace the factory folding transom. I think I have a decent design worked out, my fiberglassing skills leave much to be desired. It will be heavier than the factory folder but should fit both old and new transom designs.

I should have it completed within a week.

But ALSO, I was able to move the engine mount back about an inch. This should allow more room so the lower unit is less likely to push on bottom seam. I know my motor has at times pushed there. Others report a problem with that, I have not seen a problem with it but still would like to avoid it.

Where are you located these days?

PS: I think I mentioned before I never had the black marking problem you and other have reported. I suspect it is some minor difference in the plastic makeup. The boat hills are a polypropolene, but the top black tube might be something different. I suspect polyethelene (black water pipe) might work adequately with less marking. I think it would be worth a try anyway. Get a piece a Home Depot and rub it on the hull. If it dose t scratch or mar then get piece to replace one side of the hull moulding and see how it works.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by skipgundlach

As long as we're on minor alterations, and notwithstanding that I was forced to sell my bote due to the characteristic, has anyone found a reasonable means to prevent the tubes from marking the hulls of fiberglass boats?

It is a problem. We carry a couple of small fenders that we flip out whenever we come alongside.

Originally Posted by skipgundlach

... and the transom is not sufficiently robust, IMO, to handle the 6-8HP needed to get the speeds needed for remote travel (to a snorkeling location, e.g.)...

Don't know about the new transoms, but I have the previous generation PB. It is speced for a max. weight of outboard. I think an 8 hp would be above that max weight. We use a 3.5 hp 4-stroke.