Outboard Pitch

[sicknote]

Hi All.

'tis the time to be practising a start sequence which has bought something to my attention...

The lateral pitch adjustment mech' on my wing rigger only has the capabilities to adjust by about 2.5 degrees, which would not be so much of a problem if either end of the 2.5 deg fell in a convenient place. But, alas; no. I can have either half a degree of what i would call negative pitch (narrower span at the top of the pins) or 2 degrees of positive pitch (narrower at the bottom). The former is requiring me to put an too much emphasis on the extraction, the latter is causing depth issues at the catch.

Not looking for the definitive answer, we all have different preferences, but any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Sicknote, currently accompanied with a cold.

[Slim]

I would experiment with 2 degrees of lateral and 2 degrees on the bushings and see if that works for you.

[Long'n Strong]

You may need to use a bender...

[petermech]

Maybe you could make a couple of wedges that fit on each side of where you are bolting the pin to give you the pitch you wish to have. Another option is to check out what Carl Douglas has to offer. I have seen it but I do not know a lot of details about his assembly.
http://www.carldouglas.co.uk/aerowing.html
Perhaps this pitch assembly would work for you. You could ask Carl Douglas if it would work with the equipment you have.
https://www.carldouglas.co.uk/index-shop.html
AxioR™ complete pitch assembly
(6 components + retainer)
refit instructions will be included

[completeIgnorance]

get a pipe and bend it. or vespoli sell tools for bending it

[sicknote]

im not sure that the Carl Douglas option would work as the pin is fixed to a 'C' bracket, which in turn is fixed to the wing rigger. Difficult to explain, so will post a photo of my bendy ol' buccaneer of a boat on thursday. Watch this space, rigging fans!!

[petermech]

For a C type yoke you may want to try Wintech
http://store.wintechracing.com/pins.php
If it looks like it would work you can give them a call and ask what set up they would recommend.

[Withoutmercy]

check the oars,sounds as if the pitch changed. heat will do this. Gripping the oars too tightly will also cause a pitch problem. 0*-1* is best for lateral layout. heights too high can cause the same problems. check your layout of entry and exit.

[KiwiCanuck]

I can recall one boat on which I've rigged outboard pitch on purpose - since about 1994, that is... It was an empacher, belonging to Nathan Cohen, in 2006, at Ruataniwha. He (rather his coach at the time) wanted a bit of outboard pitch so I put it there.

Apart from that I've rigged boats with vertical pins and 3 or 4 (or occasionally 5) degree pitch on the gate, and zero pitched blades as defined by the oar-makers... since 1994. Made life much easier. The idea is that if the boat/rigger is stiff enough, the blade in the water will stay at the same pitch through the whole stroke, and (like any rig, really) you learn to row with that, rather than having the pitch vary through the range of your stroke as guestimated on shore. Of course the materials do flex slightly, and pitches do change through the stroke no matter how stiff. There are rigger designs that flex less than others and hold their pitch better through the range. Some of that was studied in the late 90s by someone at the University of Canterbury on behalf of an NZ rigger-maker whose paper was "proprietary" - and I can't remember where I've put my (unauthorized) copy.

Howard Croker suggests vertical pins and 3 deg pitch on the gate for his blades - or at least that's what he said last time we were on the topic...
Last time I asked, Concept 2 recommended 4 degree pitch on the gate for their blades, but I don't remember if they talk about lateral.

[sicknote]

Better late than never....

Attached is the back view of the gate/pin/rigger on my single. The 'vertical' lines are unfortunatly not 'vertical', both sides point inwards/upwards. The current outboard pitch is about haf a degree of negative, but moving the upper or lower bolt over by 1 'notch' alters the pitch by 2.5 degrees, giving 2 degrees of positive pitch.

Regards

Sicknote

[petermech]

Looks like the end of a Wintech rigger. At the bottom of the link/page there are fitting that look like yours. The best bet may be to contact Wintech and see what they suggest. There are two bolts that hold the aluminum bracket to the rigger. For a quick try you could loosen those bolts and put a wedge in to adjust the outboard pitch.
http://store.wintechracing.com/index.ph ... &Itemid=36