1. Even Out the Weight in Your Rowboat
There's not too much involved in steering a rowboat, but you can make the whole process a lot easier by making sure you distribute the weight evenly in your boat. This means spread your gear out evenly on the bottom of the boat and seat any passengers evenly. If it's just you in the rowboat, you'll need to balance your weight with that of your gear. If you have no gear, sit in the middle of the rowboat. Evenly balancing weight in a rowboat makes it sit flatter in the water with neither the front or the rear of the boat sticking up which can affect steering adjustments.
2. If You Have Rowing Stations, Use Them
Rowing stations will hold your oars in place. Otherwise you waste too much energy and effort trying to keep the oars from sliding into the water as you row and move them from side to side. They will also let you easily hold one oar out of the water as you steer and turn with the other one. Rowing stations give you something to prop your oars up on too if you're tired and would like to pull both out of the water. Rowing stations are either oarlocks or rings. The oarlocks are metal or plastic u-shaped holders that make it easy to ship your oars quickly. Rings are o-shaped holders also made out of plastic or metal. They're great rowing stations to use for a new rowers since they hold the oars in place securely.
3. Choose the Right Oar Size
Steering a rowboat will be much easier if you have oars that are long enough. The best length oars are ones that are twice the length of your boat.
4. Width-to-Length Rowboat Ratio Matters
For ease of steering when rowing, longer boats are a better option. They also tend to move faster through the water. Wider boats provide great stability. But to have a boat that steers as easy as possible, the ratio between the width and the length should be perfect. Rowing experts suggest a 1:4 width to length ratio is good because there's plenty of room to sit and hold gear, yet the boat is long enough to steer and move easily.
5. Steering Is Done With One Oar
Steering when rowing requires the use of one oar while rowing and moving involves the use of both. To steer, simply lift one oar out of the water while the boat is moving and guide the boat in the direction you would like it to go using the other oar.
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