Gear Review: Swivellock Oar Locks 2

I ran into Ron Reed at the Washington Sportsmans Show in Puyallup back in January and he was kind enough to hand me a set of his spiffy new oar locks to try out. Ron is the maker of Swivellock Oar Locks, an innovative driftboat oar lock that pivots, swivels, and has an oar-right built right into the lock.

The oar locks have been on my driftboat in the driveway for three weeks now waiting for the opportune time to test them out and that day came yesterday on one of the Southwest Washington rivers. 

Having spent god-only-knows how many days in a driftboat it doesn't take me long to determine if something is going to work, or not. Three oar strokes into yesterdays river trip and I was immediately sold on these oar locks. 

Swivellocks fit up and over the rope wraps on the oars and when you have to pull the oars in to miss something in the river they then easily slide right back into place on the rope again.  I thought the transition between the rope and the shaft of the oar might hang up a bit, but I was wrong. The oar locks operated flawlessly. 

The pivot option makes Swivellock's absolutely dead quiet on the river. No more clunking and banging on the oar locks as you're trying to sneak into a steelhead run in low and clear water. This option also makes it easy to stand up and row, which I like to do when I'm trying to get a better view down river or I'm stretching the ol' back out.

The open top on these oar locks is perfectly spaced to allow a standard Oar Right to slide into place and keep the oars in the upright position when on anchor. Again, there's no slop between the Oar Right and the oar lock. It's a perfect fit!

The only drawback I can find with the Swivellocks is that they don't give like a brass oar lock. If you hang up an oar in some timber or in some boulders on an uber-technical river like the Sol Duc brass oar locks will expand just enough to allow the oar to come free before there's a serious problem. 

Here's a few photos of the Swivellocks to give you a better idear of what I'm talkin' bout:  

The only time I may take Ron's Swivellocks off my driftboat is if I'm fishing the Sol Duc or perhaps one of Washington's other gnarly rivers, but the rest of the time these babies are staying on my boat. They make a noticeable difference when I'm rowing the driftboat and I think he's definitely produced a winner here.

Even though Ron designed them for the driftboat crowd I think these oar locks could find their way into the yachting crowd, as well. They would sure look nice on a dingy or shore launch.

To pick up a set of Swivellocks for your driftboat you can get ahold of Ron at "ronjreed1@hotmail.com" or call him at 971-400-0828. Ron can also be found on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1577644824.

Rob Endsley
The Outdoor Line
710 ESPN Seattle
www.theoutdoorline.com