Today was a fun day. After some paint and sanding...drilling out the "bushings" I have in the oar carrier gudgeons, I screwed the gudgeons to the oar carrier and...wow....put the pieces together.
That's a 6-foot tall garden ladder, except that it's more like about 5' 10". The pendulum oar is about 2 inches off the ground. It's got two coats of gloss exterior latex on it. Anything above the waterline on the pendulum oar is hella strong and also hella UGLY. If it all works, I might hit the upper half of the oar with paint stripper, then add a fairing compound to prettify it. Or not.
Right now the oar is a little tight, but I'll waggle it back and forth a whole lot over the next couple of weeks and see if it eases up.
I also made these two little thingamabobs, the function of which you'll just have to wait and see!