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So suppose you are drifting along in your rowboat, some distance from shore, and you happen to spring a leak.
Now, In a normal wooden or aluminum rowboat, this can take the form of a hole or crack in the keel, or in an inflatable boat, a hole in the pontoon (losing air).
In either case, you
are likely to get wet.
The Coast Guard recommends that you carry a "de-watering device" - usually a bucket or coffee can. This could work for a slow leak, but you may have to alternate rowing with bailing, doing neither efficiently.
Why not have a pump driven by the oars? If your inflatable is deflating, pump air into the pontoons. If your wooden or aluminum rowboat is leaking, place the input hose in the bilge and the output over the side.
Continue to row to safety, while simultaneously pumping!
There could be a valve to adjust the flow, and with both lines overboard, the apparatus may be used to form a variable resistance for use as exercise!
bilge pump
http://www.sailnet..../item.cfm?pid=15605
one version of a bilge bailing pump based on reciprocation [csea, Oct 05 2004]
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Some minor quibbles: if you are "drifting along in your rowboat" then you are not rowing, and have plenty of time to deploy your "dewatering device." And if you're rowing at sea, getting wet is something that's going to happen anyway, whether or not you are bailing. |
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But apart from that, yeah, sounds like an idea. I would just modify it slightly: connecting the oars to a pump would be quite awkward (as far as I can see, anyway). Why not use a sliding seat, like those used in sculls, then use the seat to drive the pump? |
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{DrCurry]
Thanks for the critique - I was imagining being out fishing, or otherwise drifting, and relatively suddenly discovering a leak. And if you spend all your time working the "dewatering device", you're not making any progress toward shore. |
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As to pump, there are plenty of reciprocating pumps, which whould quite naturally be driven by the pin of an oarlock (while the pump bearing serves as the axis for rowing -might have to be gimballed -see [link].) |
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[tsuka], nice link, hadn't thought to use the feet! |
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