The NFO Outlaw Escape comes with oars that work okay but given my height the handles were always banging into my knees if I have the footrest in place.These are NOT true oars in the classic sense where the oar is cradled in a “U” shaped bracket. Since the oar is held in one position you can not twist the oars.

I solved this problem by modifying the sections of the oars that have the grips and oar lock mounts.

The lower part of the image above is the part I modified .

It is the part with the grip and oar lock mount. The part I modified is about 33 1/2″ long in total. After my modification, the section with the grip measured from the end of the grip to the center of the oar lock mounting hole is about 15″ and the other section, the one that “plugs” into the paddle part, is about 18 1/2″. Prior to modification the dimensions were reversed.

This way I reduced the length of the grip section by about 3 1/2″ per side and the grip ends of the oars no longer hit my knees. I had to drill an 11/32″ hole at the end to match up with the pin on the paddle part.

The trickiest part is removing the grips. I used a compressor and a high pressure nozzle to “lift” the grip off the tubing.

Even with some reduced length between the grips and oar lock mounting points the oars work great.