# Oar tethers



## CoMtnMan (May 15, 2011)

I use similar ones sold by 4 Corners Riversports

OAR LEASHES, STITCHES | 4CORNERS RIVERSPORTS

The only issue I've had with the ring is that if your oar gets bucked back toward you, the ring can catch where the blade meets the shaft making it difficult to get it back in place in the midst of rapids (usually when you need the oars the most). It looks like the ones you posted are very short and you may not run into this problem. I'm interested in what more seasoned pros think.


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## tango (Feb 1, 2006)

get some 5 mm prussik, maybe 6 feet long. tie one end to your frame near the oar tower. tie the other end on the oar using a bowline. make the last tuck of the bowline knot a bite, so that you can quick release it when done.


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## boredrafter (Jun 25, 2012)

I used the ones like the cascade outfitters for years. The only problem was that after many years of UV exposure the buckle in the middle became brittle. This was something I didn't notice until it was to late and one broke right when I needed it to do its job and lost an oar. Stick with the rope!!


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## rwhyman (May 23, 2005)

I just use a 4 ft loop strap.


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## GBWW (Apr 26, 2010)

I use the one made by camstraps.com. It has a cam buckle that clips to the frame, and a ring that goes around the oar. The rings are large enought that they don't bind. (unlike my last ones)


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## rwhyman (May 23, 2005)

GBWW said:


> The rings are large enought that they don't bind. (unlike my last ones)


Having the rings bind is why I quit using them. And they would only bind when I really needed a big stroke. I guess maybe I just needed bigger rings.


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## slamkal (Apr 8, 2009)

I'd avoid using any plastic buckle it will snap when you least expect it. The nrs ones are metal reinforced and have last four years and counting. There older spare oar keeper ones were 2" wide plastic and i snapped one the second time i used it

If you run carlise blades you will have problems with the ring snagging on the neck of your blade. Use a rubber donut to keep it from traveling down there


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## DanCan (Jul 22, 2011)

I'm sure glad I ask these questions... you guys come up with all sorts of solutions when I have just found 1.

DanCan


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## Pinned (Apr 19, 2012)

I used the ones from Cascade and lost an oar when the buckle snapped. I have had good experience with the NRS metal reinforced style, never lost an oar when using them...but.. now I use 5mm cord and couldn't be happier. I take my blade off to route the oar shaft through and just have permanent loops on either end of the cord. Remember to wrap your teathers around the frame not the lock, locks can break and then you have no oar.


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

tango said:


> get some 5 mm prussik, maybe 6 feet long. tie one end to your frame near the oar tower. tie the other end on the oar using a bowline. make the last tuck of the bowline knot a bite, so that you can quick release it when done.


I've always used prussik, but a tight bowline. Thanks for the bite/QR suggestion.


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## melissawd (Apr 20, 2005)

*hoopie*

I've been using old school hoopie (1/2" tubular webbing) for the past 25 yrs and its always worked perfectly. It's a cheap option. I tie it to the frame with a bowline or jack bowline, and to the oar with the same. I leave the loop around the oar loose enough to travel and not hang up on the rope wrap or sleeve, but tight enough to not pass over the oar stop. The hoopie is around 4' long I think, and I run 10' oars. Now, when shopping for hoopie, there seem to be 2 kinds out there. There is some hoopie that seems to be favored by climbers and it's really slick and smoothe. I don't like this for rafting purposes, because bowlines can slip undone if not tied really tightly and then loaded. The kind of hoopie I like is less expensive, and has tiny little ridges down it. The kind with ridges holds knots really well and I also use it a lot for rigging with a truckers hitch knot. Until they came out with those 2 part cam straps I preferred rigging with hoopie and a truckers hitch to rigging with traditional cam straps. Any of you newbies out there scratchin for cash to get your rigs together might want to check out using hoopie to tie your loads. You'ld need bascially 2 knots; the bowline and the truckers hitch. Me and my buddies used nothing else to rig the whole raft, frame and all, back in the day, when we were young , broke and fearless. Over the years I've had my share of carne (flips, wraps, high sides, surf sessions, popped oars etc), ran class V commercially and never had any problems with hoopie oar leashes or hoopie rigging. It's becoming a lost art...an art I hate to see lost. Maybe some other old school rigger can explain a truckers hitch and how to avoid a 'f*ck you' knot to any interested folks...


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## melissawd (Apr 20, 2005)

tango said:


> get some 5 mm prussik, maybe 6 feet long. tie one end to your frame near the oar tower. tie the other end on the oar using a bowline. make the last tuck of the bowline knot a bite, so that you can quick release it when done.


Tango, have you put the bite thru any significant carne? I like the idea too, but I'm worried that it could work loose in a chunder fest...


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## theBoatPeople (Jun 19, 2012)

I know this is low-tech and against the grain of the thread here, but my rowing bud's, I, and lots of our local customers use nothing more than 5/16" bungie cord. This is with oar locks, oar sleeves & often OarRights, not pins & clips. We just tie a snug knot on the frame near the oarlock stands, and a looped slip knot around the shaft below the oar sleeve. We leave enough slack that there would never be any binding. 
Although nowhere near as strong as tubular nylon webbing, I have never had any break, and if strength is important you can always go to 3/8" or even 1/2". I like the smaller size though for a simple reason: if a blade gets jammed into rocks and the shaft backs up and pops out of the oarlock horns, it's still connected to the boat. But if things get pushy and the raft pivots broadside to the current, the 5/16" bungie will break under enough stress. Hoopi usually won't so you are more likely to damage an oar or blade. 
We don't like the attachment to be too strong. If an oar gets stuck in rocks, you are going to have to take some aggressive measures to get it back anyway. If it just got away and is floating downstream, get your spare out and chase that sucker. A good reason not to buy bland colored oar & blades. 
I also don't want my oarlock horns so tight that the shaft cannot pass through them below the sleeve or rope wrap. If the horns are tighter than the o.d. of the oar shaft, it's a great way to pinch and damage the oar - especially glass shafts. 
A lot of folks row with more coordination than me and never pop oars, but even in a flip the bungie seems to work.


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## catwoman (Jun 22, 2009)

Boat people, I like your low tech solution. I have fancy metal ring loop cam strap buggers. The metal ring is constantly catching on the sleeve or oar at the blade (Carlisle), or on the rope (Cataract) when a pull my oars in to dodge rocks. Becasue of this I tend to run with them quite short so I can reach the ring to guide it over when it hangs up. I remember being surfed some years ago, the hole was just sucking on my oar holding me there. I couldn't move that oar with all my might (ok - I am not so mighty). I popped the oar and was free. I didn't have oar keepers back then. I have often wondered if my new, fancy, sturdy, oar keepers would be bummer in that situation. I used to just have some simple utlity cord oar keepers. I never had issues with them, tied them with a bowline. I think I might be going back to low tech. Bungee sounds good


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## cpollema (Mar 9, 2009)

I just lost two oars. One oar was tethered and the other a spare. Both systems failed due to plastic hardware. I plan to switch to a river strap style tether and secure my spares in with straps as well. No more plastic for me....


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## Barney Fife (May 25, 2009)

*Strong, Inexpensive and Reliable*



rwhyman said:


> I just use a 4 ft loop strap.


I use 4 foot loop straps as well and have had great luck related to strength and reliability. Plus, I believe the price of these straps beats any tether on the market.


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## wildh2onriver (Jul 21, 2009)

Barney Fife said:


> I use 4 foot loop straps as well and have had great luck related to strength and reliability. Plus, I believe the price of these straps beats any tether on the market.


I use the exact same thing and wrap the strap end around the oar twice before pulling it tight through the loop, this keeps it from sliding down the shaft and causing the oar to bind. Been doing that for years with no issues.


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## Gremlin (Jun 24, 2010)

*please explain; how is this different?*



rwhyman said:


> I just use a 4 ft loop strap.


I have been using 5mm cord tied securely to the frame with a short piece of cord tied into a loop (bowline) just large enough to pass down the oar shaft, past the donut and cord wrap to the end of the blade where it is narrow enough to drop into the oarlock. I don't have a buckle to release but don't know when I would want to...

My oarlocks are tight and have never popped. It has never been rubber-side up. 

It is inexpensive and has worked for five years. Should I change something?


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## riverjunky (May 11, 2011)

I use the tethers my brother makes, sown in Spokane, Washington by a fellow boater and they are bomber. Get some for yourself.

Show Ad | NRS Community


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## Randaddy (Jun 8, 2007)

tango said:


> get some 5 mm prussik, maybe 6 feet long. tie one end to your frame near the oar tower. tie the other end on the oar using a bowline. make the last tuck of the bowline knot a bite, so that you can quick release it when done.


This is the best oar tether advice I've seen yet. The "slippery bowline" is a great quick release. I can't believe these companies get away with selling specialized oar tethers. I find the metal rings clink and clank and annoy me anyway.


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## backwardsraft (Jun 4, 2009)

I use parachute cord tied from the frame and a loop that I slide the oar through when I put the blade on. The cord slides nicely on the oar and does not bind. I have even tested it on a flip (not on purpose) a high water on the middle fork of the flathead. Went through three rapids upside down and they were still tied on when we flipped her over.


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## cataraftgirl (Jun 5, 2009)

The last pair of oar tethers I got from Cascade have a metal buckle, not the plastic one that's shown on their website. I have had the plastic one break over time, but the newer design seems much better. I'm not sure why they still have the old design on their website??? But I'm positive that's where I got mine from. You can shorten them by using the snaps and avoid the jammed ring on the oar blade problem.....been there, done that. My oars get used to put up the tarp at camp, so I like having the quick release feature.


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## Wavester (Jul 2, 2010)

Your right, had the same problem with the old plastic ones they sucked. The newer ones witht he metal buckles are great and I bought them at Cascade a couple of years ago. I like the way these are designed, they work seamlessly for me.





cataraftgirl said:


> The last pair of oar tethers I got from Cascade have a metal buckle, not the plastic one that's shown on their website. I have had the plastic one break over time, but the newer design seems much better. I'm not sure why they still have the old design on their website??? But I'm positive that's where I got mine from. You can shorten them by using the snaps and avoid the jammed ring on the oar blade problem.....been there, done that. My oars get used to put up the tarp at camp, so I like having the quick release feature.


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## Colorado Ice (Jul 7, 2009)

4 foot loop strap works well. I initially used a metal ring around the oar but it started to discolor the wooden oars so I switched and now use a ring of 5mm accessory cord
loop strap does not tie in directly to the oar but via a ring secured to the oar shaft

R


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## solboater (May 9, 2011)

+1 for 5mm cord with the bowlines on both ends. This one falls under the keep it simple catagory.


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## malloypc (Jun 6, 2009)

Colorado Ice said:


> 4 foot loop strap works well. ...
> R


That's what I thought up until a couple years ago. 
Here's an extract from a September 2010 Rogue trip report:
Day 4 we broke camp in the steady rain, put our helmets on and headed into Mule Creek Canyon. Shortly before reaching the jaws, I clipped more of a hole on river left than I expected and suddenly the left tube was under water, Katie was flushed out the side, and I slid out the back left corner while holding the oars in my hands long enough to pull both of them out of the oar locks. After Barbara’s out of boat experience on the Snake, Jeni was prepared to help get Katie back in the boat. She just wasn’t expecting to find me out of the boat as well! 
Meanwhile I was trying to figure out why I was still in a heads-down position next to the boat and when I first raised up was shocked to see the strap of my left Chaco hooked on the left oar lock! With my next lunge up (need to get back to Pilates soon) I was able to grab the oar stand long enough to pull my foot off the lock. By now Jeni had Katie in the boat and we were fortunate to be slowing down along the right bank. I was still having trouble getting into the boat, now because the oar leash was wrapped around my leg and the oar was under the boat! Finally I managed to disentangle myself, get in (rescue rung worked great), and be ready on the sticks albeit with a more rapid heartbeat than a few minutes earlier. I couldn’t figure out why my gear pile was shifted so far right when it was the left tube that got sucked down. That was until Ryan described how close I’d come to flipping and how violently the raft slammed back down after Katie and I exited.​Changes since then include:

Cobra oar locks
Closed shoes when rowing
Short (and small dia.) prussic cord leashes
Ahoy!
Malloy


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## salmonjammer (Dec 14, 2011)

*Rope, but modified blade.*

I am a firm believer in tethering the oars, after picking up two of a buddies oars,(he was in the back of the 5 boat group) and having to trudge back up the shore line to so he could continue back down stream!!
We just use about a 3' length of rope, 1/4" Polyester or Nylon, tie a bowline with about 1/2" slack. On the other end we use a halter snap, clip it into itself after wrapping around the oar tower. This year, after seeing that the Sawyer blades I just purchased had a smooth surface where the blade attaches to the handle, I used the JB Weld two part putty and smoothed the transfer portion of my Carlisle blades, thus eliminating the rope from hanging up if it gets pulled off of the handle onto the blade. Worked great!


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## peernisse (Jun 1, 2011)

DanCan said:


> I've been using home made oar tethers for quite some time. They let me down or more to the point, hindered me, last trip. So I have been looking around. Cascade Outfitters sells these:
> https://www.cascadeoutfitters.com/images/products/0347.jpg
> 
> Anyone using them? Like them? What is the inside diameter of the ring that rides the oar shaft?
> ...





riverjunky said:


> I use the tethers my brother makes, sown in Spokane, Washington by a fellow boater and they are bomber. Get some for yourself.
> 
> Show Ad | NRS Community





DanCan said:


> I've been using home made oar tethers for quite some time. They let me down or more to the point, hindered me, last trip. So I have been looking around. Cascade Outfitters sells these:
> https://www.cascadeoutfitters.com/images/products/0347.jpg
> 
> Anyone using them? Like them? What is the inside diameter of the ring that rides the oar shaft?
> ...





DanCan said:


> I've been using home made oar tethers for quite some time. They let me down or more to the point, hindered me, last trip. So I have been looking around. Cascade Outfitters sells these:
> https://www.cascadeoutfitters.com/images/products/0347.jpg
> 
> Anyone using them? Like them? What is the inside diameter of the ring that rides the oar shaft?
> ...


For the reasons you mention, commercial products with metal rings often hang up on the end of the shaft where the blade attaches, preventing use of the oar until you pull it in and physically reach down to free it. For this reason, many folks including myself just use a piece of cord and two bowlines, one on the oar tower and one on the oar. Cheers


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## whip (Oct 23, 2003)

I use the the NRS loop strap but wrap a 1' NRS strap around frame and slide the loop strap buckle right up to the frame. Easy on/off and I leave the loops on all my oars for that reason. Never lost an oar with that system.


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## goldenrafter (Jun 23, 2016)

I was using a ring/cam strap/loop system, but the rings were always sliding down my oars, and the cam buckle banged against my frame making an irritating sound. On another oar tether discussion thread on this site, I found a reference to a relatively simple system in "Waterlog", the Washington Recreational River Runner's monthly newsletter Vol 12, No 4, April 2012. I tried that system out this summer and am very happy with its performance - quiet and the rope has enough friction on my oar wrap to keep it in place all day. The system utilizes a fisherman's knot and figure eight stop that makes it easy to remove the oar from the tether during transport and re-install at put-in. I wasn't familiar with the "fisherman's knot" but Youtube has several videos showing how to tie it.

I am still experimenting on the optimum length for my frame set-up and curious to any thoughts on what strength rope to use - compromising safety with not losing an oar. 

Below is a link to the Waterlog newsletter:



http://wrrr.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Waterlog_v12_n04.pdf


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

With square tops and non-removable blades, rings are out.

I tie a very short loop of Prussik cord or 3/16 solid braid cord around the shaft of my oar.









then use a figure-8 to tie a 2.5’ cord to the frame or gunnel. The other end of this cord has a small brass trigger snap to clip to the loop on the oar shaft.


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## Whitewater Worthy Equip (Dec 11, 2013)

If you want a quite simple solution here is what we use. Oar Tethers - Whitewater Worthy


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