Resleeving Croker Oars

The following instructions will help guide you in the installation of new asymmetric sleeves on your Croker oars.

1. Place masking tape around the shaft at the outboard (blade end) limit of the old sleeve. This will help you position the new sleeve later.

2. Remove old sleeve and clean excess glue from shaft. This will require a hammer and chisel to chip away the hardened epoxy form left from the original sleeve. Final scraping with a drawknife should get down to the outer carbon of the shaft. No old glue means NO OLD GLUE. You will not be able to properly set the new sleeve if you cannot remove all the old glue.

3. IMPORTANT....FOR THE SCULLING SLEEVE ONLY WHEN REPLACING THE OLD STYLE THREE SIDED SLEEVE.....with the shaft now clean and your tape marker in place, take the masking tape and overwrap the existing wrap, creating a wrap that is 2mm closer to the handle end of the shaft. The asymmetric sculling sleeve is 2mm offset from the old style 3-sided sleeves. This new tape line is where the outboard end of the asymmetric sculling sleeve will stop. This does NOT need to be done for the sweep rowing sleeve. You also do NOT need to do this if you are resleeving an existing asymmetric sleeve.

4. Prepare new asymmetric sleeves by separating into their respective top and bottom halves.

5. Mix up West System 2-part epoxy (slow hardener) according to manufacturer's instructions. Add West System 410 Microlight filler and mix to a consistency of fluffy peanut butter (not too runny!). You have about 20 minutes of working time.

6. Place the port oar on pitching bench (see diagram below). The block of wood supporting the blade MUST BE LEVEL. LEVEL BLADE is reference for LEVEL SLEEVE!

7. Fill the insides of the halves of the asymmetic sleeves with a heaping spoonful each of the epoxy mix. Be sure to fill the voids on the inside, but do not overfill.

8. Using the tape marker you created in #1 (or #3), take a bottom half of the sleeve and make sure that with the port oar, you position the "S" (for STROKESIDE) toward the blade end of the shaft. This means the "B" will be toward the handle end of the shaft. Set the bottom half of the sleeve on the shaft.

9. Take a top half and position it to meet up with the bottom half. The teeth ridges only fit one way.

10. Snap the tabs into their slots until they click or the sleeve halves fully join and then rotate the sleeve several times to distribute the epoxy inside the voids.

11. Set the pitch with a spirit level against the back side of the sleeve (with "B" and "S" on it.). When the blade is facing downward, the B-S side should be facing upward. Twist the sleeve until the bubble is level. REMEMBER to make sure the BLADE IS LEVEL, per #6.

12. Without bumping or resting the oar on the sleeve, set the oar in a horizontal position, blade curled upward, to dry. Workshop sawhorses are good for this.

13. Repeat steps 6-12 for the starboard oar, making sure the "B" (for BOWSIDE) is toward the end of the blade.

14. After 24 hours the oars will be cured for rowing.