A Very Cheap Canoe Rowing Setup

I'm in the process of converting the 17ft. Grumman canoe I got at a garage sale for rowing. It cost me $50 about five or six years ago, so I'm not real concerned with aesthetics. Just function. I added a center seat, which will come in handy this spring for regular canoeing with the family, and I added oarlocks and outriggers. They're on hinges to fold out of the way when not in use.

This almost worked. It needs some tuning by doing something to keep the rowing outrigger wings from floating upward and popping the oars out of the locks. I probably need to collar the oars, too. They are crappy ones I slapped together a few years ago for my first boat build, a Phil Bolger Elegant Punt.

After rowing a bit and fighting the setup on Sunday evening, I decided to just paddle around for an hour till sunset. It was pretty cold (temps in the low 50s F, water much colder than that) and I had some worry of being out by myself in a canoe I hadn't paddled in a few years. The sunset was nice, though.