# Blisters and bliss



## wharf-rat (Jan 29, 2019)

Just did a 3 day trip.. my hands are cut up, dry and blistered. My one finger is swollen. What do u all recommend to avoid such hand carnage while oaring?


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## rtsideup (Mar 29, 2009)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EY7lYRneHc


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## codycleve (Mar 26, 2012)

I always keep a pair of leather gloves in my captains box for Rig day. I have found that rigging the boat with dry webbing is what really eats my hands up. also great for loading and unloading the boat at camp.. The beating my hands take is rarely on the water but rigging the boat.


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## wharf-rat (Jan 29, 2019)

rtsideup said:


> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EY7lYRneHc


. 

That’s awesome. Pretty much what all my buds tell me. But my hands are really mangled... might try bike gloves


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## MontanaLaz (Feb 15, 2018)

gloves for rigging and aquaphor to rub into dry skin


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## cupido76 (May 22, 2009)

Vaseline is cheap and works great.

2nd gloves for rigging and I also wear some light nrs gloves on the river.


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## SherpaDave (Dec 28, 2017)

Working hands. Does great to help repair the small cracks.


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## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

I picked up a pair of cheap gardening gloves at the murder mart in Fruita a little while back. These work just fine for my sissified pale, tender digits with nothing but keyboard callouses.

Especially when rigging.

Oh yeah, and I harden the fuck up on the way to the river.

-AH


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## FlyingDutchman (Mar 25, 2014)

rtsideup. Hilarious!


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## zbaird (Oct 11, 2003)

row more


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## noahfecks (Jun 14, 2008)

Teat and Udder balm from the farm supply. Worked better for my hands and feet than anything made for humans and it doesn't carry an organic-lacto-ovo-vegan-wholeearth-GMOfree-conflictfree-carbonneutral price tag


and harden the fawk up


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## smhoeher (Jun 14, 2015)

Try Bag Balm. I know a guy that smeared it all over his hands then put his hands in his leather gloves so every time he put his hands in he got lubed. I never saw his gloves come off while working.

Bag Balm are also good for using on the udder teats in your tent!


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## elkhaven (Sep 11, 2013)

what ever you use to treat your dry hands (aquaphor, bag balm, etc) the key is putting it on then putting your hands in gloves for a while (like while rigging). The silt and clays in the river and on your dried out straps are desiccants, so they will sap moisture from your hands no matter how tough you are. I've had to super glue cracks in my fingers early on in my river running career. Since I started using some sort of balm inside gloves and/or rigging with gloves they rarely even get dry. My hands were worse off when I worked for a living... now that they are keyboard bound and taken care of when on the water they do way better.


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## markchengr (Nov 1, 2013)

I wear cheap nitrile gloves from Wal Mart. Surprisingly they last for several trips. Put them on when breaking camp in the morning and leave them on until the next camp is set up except for lunch and potty breaks. No more sore hands.


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## unlucky (Sep 2, 2012)

The silty rivers really dry my feet and hands out too. Lots of people in my profession have problems with their hands - I have been lucky at work but the river gets them too.

I row a lot at home on an indoor rower and I never use gloves, but on the river I row with 3/4 finger sailing gloves and they seem to help a lot. The Gill Pro gloves are great, but there are lots of good choices and rowing is not as hard on them as sailing. Rowing seems to be tougher on the palms because that's where mine fail but when sailing the fingers fail first. 

Sun lotion also seems to help my hands but sometimes I need a bit of hand lotion.

Otherwise toughen up seems to be the consensus of this thread...


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## Lipripper60 (Jul 1, 2018)

Try unrefined shea butter. It absorbs and makes a barrier to water both ways. I don’t go without it.


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## peernisse (Jun 1, 2011)

*Rigging*

Rowing should not cause any trouble to your hands because you should not be gripping the oars hard. Only caveat to this would be flat water miles in really strong wind, maybe. 

Rigging is what kills your hands. When I was a young guide wearing any kind of glove would have been grounds for total hazing. However, nowadays I have keyboard hands and I have leather gloves in my ammo can and wear them any time I pull a strap, handle rope, or lift / carry rocket boxes etc. and my boating ego is still intact . Sometimes I even just dip my gloved hands in the river at camp and wear them around for a while. Plus some bag balm or mane-and-tail lotion is a good moisturizer also. 

Anyway, all my forty-something aged boater friends and I carry and use rigging gloves now. Cheers!


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## raymo (Aug 10, 2008)

*Definitely hand cream...*



wharf-rat said:


> Just did a 3 day trip.. my hands are cut up, dry and blistered. My one finger is swollen. What do u all recommend to avoid such hand carnage while oaring?


Definitely hand cream, see how soft and smooth my hands are after rigg and rowing a few boats from 18 foot to 30 foot. Make sure it's of good quality though, too prevent blistering, drying and cuts, especially when lifting 90 lb grill boxes, cook boxes, frames, etc., gloves will help too.


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## eddie (Apr 12, 2005)

I've struggled with this all through my boating career. This summer I just went back to guiding desert trips commercially after a long hiatus and have been able to keep my hands relatively healthy. The advice above is spot on, be anal about wearing rigging gloves and using a good salve. Two additional things I would advise are drinking twice as much water as you think you need and wearing dish gloves when doing dishes.


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## ozzmith (May 29, 2017)

The hand sanitizer messes up my hands more than anything on the river. Soap and water is enough imho.


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