row2k Features
Rigger Tricks
Rowing Hack: Wooden Break-Away Fins
March 23, 2023
John FX Flynn, row2k

Wooden Fin Hack, installed (photos courtesy of Dave Specca, Rutgers)

Here's a hack that makes losing a skeg mid-row a bit easier on the budget: Wooden Break-Away Fins.

The men's coaches at Rutgers figured out this slick trick and their custom wooden skegs are both cheaper to make and far less likely to damage the shell, because they use thinner threaded rods for extra break-away-ability.

Rutger Assistant Coach Dave Specca told us all about this one:

"Every fall the Raritan River is full of logs, trees, and more, hiding just below the surface and getting smoked by our coxswains. Each time we would hit something, we were getting the skeg through the bottom of the hull and sometimes through both the bottom and top of the fin box. This was especially true on our Vespoli 8s where the skeg was over the rudder."

The solution: more breakable skegs they could make cheaply in-house.

"We cut and formed our own out of 6" wide poplar board available off the shelf at Home Depot and thinner 1/8" instead of 1/4" threaded rod. They break off much easier than even the 'break away' yellow skegs from Vespoli. When we hit submerged logs now, instead of the boat being out for a week or more for a repair, it only means the end of that practice."

The factory spare and the home-hacked remedy, side by side (note the heat shrink wrapped posts on the right)
The factory spare and the home-hacked remedy, side by side (note the heat shrink wrapped posts on the right)

"Probably not useful for everyone but certainly useful for those of us with serious debris in the water."

Specca credits his predecessor Shane Farrell with coming up with this idea in the first place, but Specca has been tinkering with--and using--this hack ever since. In fact, the team trusts the homemade skegs enough that they stay on the boats for most of the year, and Rutgers has even raced with them on occasion rather than risk damaging a shell.

Along the way, these hackers realized they could use some heat shrink wrapped around the thinner posts (to keep water from seeping through the slightly larger factory-made holes) and experimented with different waterproofing for the wood. Using deck stain allowed the skegs to warp, but when they added an epoxy coat, they wound up with a skeg hard enough to damage the shell. They settled on marine varnish and have been using the wooden skegs ever since, pretty much whenever they are rowing at home on the Raritan.

The evolution of this hack: in addition to starting to use marine varnish (right), they also figured out that the early, shallower angle design didn't fare any better against logs (and leaked!).
The evolution of this hack: in addition to starting to use marine varnish (right), they also figured out that the early, shallower angle design didn't fare any better against logs (and leaked!).

This hacks works best, of course, on shells like Vespolis--where the skeg is bolted on through the outer skin rather than attached to a fin box built into the hull--but Specca is working on a design that will work for fin-boxed skegs as well. Anything to save the team a lengthy boat repair the next time a log is lurking under the water at the wrong time.

Specca shared a complete list of directions if you want to try home-making a few of these yourself--we will include those below.

Do you have a hack that works so well that it keeps your boats on the water and out of the shop? If so, share your tips--and hacks--in the comments below.

If you have a great rowing hack to suggest for future inclusion, then please send it to us like Coach Specca did and we will feature your idea in a future column.



Basic instructions for building:

1. Go to Home Depot and buy a Poplar board: a four foot length of 6"x1/2" will do the trick. Trace factory Vespoli Skeg to match the angle of the front end and cut

2. Mark the fins at 3/4 of an inch from the new angled cut, and from top of the fin. Belt sand the angled edge and top of the fin to the 3/4" mark, on roughly a 20 degree angle

3. Mark the bottom of the fins using the factory-made skeg's threaded rods as a guide.

4. Drill two holes at the marks with a 1/8" drill bit. You must ensure the hole is perfectly vertical or the rod won't be straight and then neither will the skeg on the boat. Drill 1" deep into the skeg.

Proof is in the after-pics: a damaged skeg sure beats a damaged boat
Proof is in the after-pics: a damaged skeg sure beats a damaged boat

5. Cut 1/8" Brass threaded rod into 4" lengths.

6. Add 3-4 drops of superglue into each hole and press the threaded rod into the hole.

7. Take a vice grip and spin the threaded rod all the way into the hole. Using the vice grip will damage the threads so make sure to grip close to the end of the threaded rod which is getting screwed into the skeg. The damaged threads won't matter if they are close to the skeg because this is the part of the rod which is in the stern block in the boat and won't be in play when threading the wing nuts on.

8. Use Marine Varnish, or paint to waterproof the wood and let dry.

9. Cut heat shrink into 3/4" strips. Put one on each threaded rod as close to the wood as possible, and shrink to the threads. This helps seal the factory skeg hole, which is cut for a 1/4" threaded rod.

10. Apply Vaseline or plumbers putty to each skeg rod hole before installation to ensure no water gets around the thinner threaded rod.

11. Two 1/8" brass wing nuts will be needed. Be sure to thread the wing nut on and off each rod a few times before inserting into the boat to make sure cutting the threaded rod has not messed up the threads, so that the wing nut will go on easily inside the stern.

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Comments

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jesscambridge
03/23/2023  3:00:43 PM
Agree with @rigger…this is one of the best hacks I’ve seen. Top 10, indeed! And thanks for the step by step instructions @Coach Specca! <3 I’ve already shared the link with our boathouse equipment committee to show them what’s in store this season. I fixed at least five fins last season, and went around in circles looking for a fin that would break away, but not too easily. Excited to work with wood this year!


rigger
03/23/2023  12:46:00 PM
2 people like this
That is truly a great hack, Top 10!



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