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Sculling with a Yuloh

Started by Old Forum, April 06, 2014, 07:10:53 AM

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Old Forum


Roger Parish
   
Posted on Thursday, December 20, 2007 - 10:16 pm:      
Julian, thought I would start a new thread with this one as it did not fit well under rubbing strakes! Over a year ago I was enraged by the threat of Windermere registration fees for a Winkle Brig rising to £80 that I looked for an alternative to the outboard.No charge for pure sail. At about same time an article appeared in Watercraft on building and using a Yuloh (issue54 Nov/Dec2006). For the unintiated the yuloh is a curved sculling oar which pivots in a transom mounted rowlock and the inboard end is restrained by a vertical lanyard. The oar is then waggled back and forth and the lanyard causes the tilting of the oar as in traditional sculling. It does the difficult bit for you! Clever the Chinese!
My Yuloh is 3 metres long and has a centre deflection of 150mm. The problem with Partan is the fixed boom crutch so I had to position the rowlock centrally and actually fitted it temporarily on top of the rudder. Ideally it would be fitted either side of the rudder. Yes it worked but I could only comfortably sustain a speed of one knot in calm conditions. Looked at another way it would take me 10hours to travel the length of Windermere on a calm day! In the article the author claims to have propelled a similar length boat at 3/4 knots. It was much lighter. The fees then went back to £5/yr so the problem went away but this week threat of new charges is in the news again. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of the Yuloh in operation. If you cant track down the article then I could email pictures to you.

Old Forum


Julian Swindell
Username: Julian_swindell

Registered: 03-2007
   
Posted on Friday, December 21, 2007 - 02:17 pm:      
Thanks Roger, I think I have seen the article somewhere, but the old website is now empty. I was interested to hear that someone had tried it with a Winkle Brig. Could you store it on board easily?

Old Forum


Julian Swindell
Username: Julian_swindell

Registered: 03-2007
   
Posted on Friday, December 21, 2007 - 02:18 pm:      
I've just tracked down the "All about Yulohs" page
http://www.simplicityboats.com/yulohpage.html

Old Forum


Roger Parish
   
Posted on Saturday, December 22, 2007 - 07:56 pm:      
The yuloh can be stowed alongside the bulwark as it has the same curvature, with some suitable brackets. These pictures taken today show the Yuloh positioned to the starboard side. Clearly it would not work with the fixed boom crutch.
yuloh fixed to Partan

Old Forum

Additional photo

Old Forum


Adrian Evans
   
Posted on Sunday, December 23, 2007 - 01:24 am:      
That looks like a fine piece of work, Roger.
I have been pleased with my Canadian canoe paddles as an alternative - when there's two on board,- but they do need to be long ones. Kirsty and I paddled Peggoty from st.Herbert'S island to Derwent Water Marina quite comfortably on a windless morning too beautiful to disturb with the motor.

Old Forum


Martin_cartwright
Username: Martin_cartwright

Registered: 04-2008
   
Posted on Thursday, December 23, 2010 - 02:25 pm:      
Roger very kindly passed his Yuloh onto me when he sold Partan. I have adjusted it by replacing the blade with a much larger one and giving it a 900mm extension. I haven't tried it yet but hope that the extra blade and leverage will push Winkle along a bit faster.
Descriptive text

Old Forum


Martin_cartwright
Username: Martin_cartwright

Registered: 04-2008
   
Posted on Thursday, December 23, 2010 - 02:45 pm:      
Here is a picture:-

Old Forum


Martin_cartwright
Username: Martin_cartwright

Registered: 04-2008
   
Posted on Sunday, May 22, 2011 - 02:25 pm:      
Regrettably, Roger's oar with my amendments did not survive, so I used it as a template for Jeremy Freeland at Collars (jeremy@collars.co.uk) to make me one. I took delivery last week and tried it out on the Broads yesterday.
It was extremely successful, and even on a very gusty day I was able to make modest headway. I will be using it in the Venice lagoon next month and will post photos.If anyone is interested in the final design, I can post details.