What’s going on, some needful science, and someone you might want to follow…
I spent yesterday afternoon dealing with an outboard motor which did its best to uphold my preference of oars to internal combustion engines.
Oars seldom, if ever, need fixing.
On those rare times when they do, you won’t find yourself covered in grease, soot, and oily nastiness.
Oars don’t run out of gas or pollute.
Lastly, when you leave your dinghy at the dock to go shopping, your chances of someone stealing your boat pretty much nil. Dinghy thieves seldom row which is no bad thing from where I sit.
To be honest, the only reason I’m fixing this outboard is that a running one sells for a lot more than one that doesn’t.
Oars are mostly dependable. I just got back from a month and a half trip up the British Columbia coast and in one of the less traveled areas was putting the dingy in the water, heard a splash and discovered one of my oarlocks had just fallen into fifty feet of water with no spare. I now have a spare.