Probably the dumbest question ever asked but I'm going to ask it anyway.

Anyone ever heard of or have an opinion about adding oarlocks to a canoe
and rowing it like a row boat?****




***It's almost 2 am so this type question is not entirely off the wall.
Make jokes if you want but please express a yes or no and why?

The handle section between the oar lock and hand hold is too short for comfortable rowing plus leverage control issues?

PC

My Meyers Sportspal S-15 has oar locks as an option and I bought them just to have them. You never know.

It is a wide canoe, 38", and so it would negate "part" of the issue PC brought up regarding the ergonomics of good rowing.

Better? I use a double bladed 280cm paddle (about 9' 3") and I really like it. One of the issues with a wide bodied canoe is it is the very least efficient paddler out there of all canoes; but, the good thing is it is super stable and I stand in it effortlessly, even in wind and rough water. But, you have to sacrifice one to get the other and I like to stand to fish so I burn some extra calories paddling, that is for sure.

Oh! If you "single" paddle a wide bodied canoe, you quickly lose forward momentum while moving the paddle back and forth side to side. Inertia is your enemy. But, with a double bladed long paddle, it seems to keep things moving along better. as each stroke is closer to the next in time. Hope this helps. Brad

They make some attachments for canoes that spread the oar locks out farther, but they are some what pricey. Just taking a quick look at them online it looks you could probably make something similar.

I'm new, but I built my own canoe several years ago and will be building a new one soon. You need to go to some of the boat building forums and look up what others have done. The one I built was based off the "cheap canoe" which is a set of free plans you can download. I used it for my own design with a total length of 15' 6.5" and a draft of 3" with me in it. There are options so you can shorten it or make it longer as well as add oars or even a sail if you want. I ended up using a kayak paddle whether I was a single or double which helped a lot of keeping it straight. There are so many options on building your own boat that you can build a dink that's 4' long, all the way up to a 72' steelside sailer if that's what you want. Most of the less expensive ones can be built for less than $200 and are really light. Mine weighed in just under 60 lbs and was extremely easy to handle in or out of the water. Good luck with what you want to do and tell us how it came out.