Navigate without a backward glance

EDINBURG, Pa. — Like all other inventors, Scott Buckner is forward-thinking.

There’ll be no more backward glances now for him or for anyone else who uses Easy Oars, a forward-facing rowing system that fits row boats, canoes or dinghies.

It solves that old problem of not being able to see where you’re going while rowing. The system of four fabricated aluminum tubes and pivots allows for a better range of motion for the oars, and you can row in the direction you’re facing.

A 38-year-old mechanical engineer, Buckner, who lives on Skyhill Road in Edinburg, Pa., designed Easy Oars in 2002.

But he didn’t get his feet wet with a working prototype until it was finally ready earlier this month. He took it out for a spin last week — literally: With this system, you can whirl your boat around pretty easily.

On the pond across the road from his house, he demonstrated the agility the system gives a boat. Gliding quickly across the water, he turned his canoe in any direction he wanted to go with little effort.

What direction will his invention take now? He’s not sure. But he is glad that his prototype is finally a reality.

It was born from his interest in rowing.

“My wife and I have always canoed, but I wanted to start rowing for fitness reasons,” he said.

He checked into what was available.

There are two other forward-facing rowing systems on the market. One of those, he said, is an adaptation of a system developed in the 1800s. The other uses pedals as well as oars.

They have their faults, he said, one with poor efficiency, and the other with a design that doesn’t fit every boat. So he set out to make something easier to use.

He started sketching — “Drawing on napkins,” said his wife, Deana.

Within three to four months, he came up with his design. He built a working model using 3D computer-aided design software.

He began building a prototype in 2005, having access to a machine shop at the Eaton Corp. in Beaver, Pa., his employer at the time. But he never put the prototype together until he had more time after being laid off in March from General Electric in Grove City, Pa.

Finding help to bend and weld the aluminum parts of his system was a challenge, he said.

His invention drew interest from Popular Mechanics after he won a worldwide design contest in June 2008, but because he didn’t have a working prototype ready at the time, they wouldn’t feature it, he said.

The contest, sponsored by Parametric Technologies Corp., the company that makes the software he used to design his system, did get him a writeup in Machine Design magazine.

His design is still drawing interest. Andre de Bardelaben, a boat designer from Edinburg, was at the pond last week to watch the launch of Easy Oars.

De Bardelaben said that every couple of years, someone brings an idea for a forward-rowing system to his attention.

There have been 400 attempts to float a successful design since the first system was developed in 1860, Buckner said.

“This looks like one maybe I could recommend,” de Bardelaben said.

Buckner isn’t sure what will happen next with Easy Oars. He doesn’t have the time or the resources to build it himself.

“I have a prototype and a design for a mass-produced version,” he said, adding that he’d like to sell the licensing rights.

If no one buys the rights? “I might look into manufacturing it myself.”

“There is a market for it,” he continued. “Rowing is still very popular in Europe, and I’m hoping the fitness boom will accept it.”

starmack@vindy.com