Shorten Iliad Paddle

[swp123]

Hey folks. Brand new member, though I have regularly checked the classifieds for some time. New to solo whitewater canoeing, though I have spent some time in tandem canoes, kayaks and rafts.

Does anyone have any advice on cutting down an Iliad paddle. Many paddles are no brainers in that its just a matter of cutting the shaft, getting the old t-grip out (which I suppose could be problematic depending on the glue) and regluing. But the Iliad t-grip is installed on the outside of a shaft that ovals at the end. So I'm reluctant to take a heat gun to the plastic grip before discussing it with someone who has done it, and knows that the glass shaft can be ovalled for installation of the grip. I suppose I could find a t-grip from another manufacturer, and install it in the cut shaft, but I also don't know if would be the same inside diameter as my paddle.

And yes, I know that I could buy a new "modern" paddle, but I'm a cheap SOB, and am trying to do this on the cheap. And I kind of like this old stick!

Thanks for any help you might be able to give.

Steve

[ezwater]

Assuming the plastic grip is kind of like the Norse grips, can you tell how far down the shaft the grip plug extends?

How many inches do you want to shorten the paddle?

If you're lucky, the plug may be about as long as the number of inches you plan to remove. Then you can just saw through that oval shaft down the requisite number of inches. That may leave you, at worst, maybe 1/2 to 3/4 inches of plug in the shaft, or maybe none at all. Whatever plug is still there, you can remove by carefully drilling down, striving not to drill into the sides.

Then you can clean the shaft remnants off the outside of the plug attached to the grip. With patience, you should be able to attach the grip to the shaft again. I hope Iliad hasn't tapered the shaft much up near the grip, which would complicate things.

Did you know Homer Simpson wrote the book on Iliad paddles?

Try a modern slalom paddle, and you'll throw rocks at Homer and his dam paddles.

d-a-m-n paddles. The cboats auto editor strikes again. c-r-a-p

[swp123]

I guess that's what I tried to indicate on my first post. The Iliad T-grip is not the same as a Norse or other typical paddles. The T-grip on the Iliad goes over the shaft. The shaft is inserted in to the grip, rather than inserting the grip in the shaft, if you will. And further, the shaft itself is oval at the point that it meets the grip.

This would be much easier to see in a photo, than to understand from my description. I will take a picture and post it when I get a chance.

Steve

[Jim Michaud]

In the old pre school days I would buy Iliad paddles but I didn't like the Iliad T-grips. I would therefore buy extra long Iliad paddles then cut them down and insert Norse T-grips.

[swp123]

Do you have any sources for grips? Norse of course is no longer.

[sbroam]

gone for a while, but resurrected :

http://www.norsepaddles.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[swp123]

Thanks! I just emailed them.

Steve

[clt_capt]

It is actually not that hard to use a large dowel to create a replacement grip... If you cannot get a norse t-grip

[swp123]

Got word back from Norse. Twenty bucks plus shipping for a grip. Seems a little spendy, but if I understand him right, he'll match the inside and outside diameters. I'll have to mull this over for a bit. Is there anything online about making the T-grip from a dowel?

Steve

[griffen_williams]

I don't know of any online directions for a using a dowel, but it is super simple. This is what I did.

I used was a utility knife with a sharp blade and a hole saw bit. I think it was a 3/4''. The dowels that I used were 1 1/8''. Just cut the t grip section then in the center drill the hole through. I manually shaved down the dowel to just barely fit into the new grip section. Then did the same to the other end that plugged into the paddle. I coated the plug with some JB weld and pushed it down into the shaft. I think the plug end went into the shaft at least a three inches.

I was worried about creating somewhat of a stress riser but so far it seems to not be a issue.

Also, if you are worried about T Grip slippage drill a small hole through the grip where the dowel is inserted then hammer in a small dowel (maybe the size of a pencil) to lock it into place.

I think the whole thing took an hour or two to get it done. So far no issues but YMMV if you try it.

[sbroam]

My approach was similar to Griffen's, but i used the opportunity to lengthen the paddle. 1 dowel close to the ID of the shaft, a larger dowel for the grip (1.25" for me, I'd like larger), a Forstner bit the size if the first dowel, a drill press/jig (free hand could work) and gorilla glue or gflex.

The red tape is electrical tape. Below that is my gorilla tape.

[griffen_williams]

Yep Scott, I did the same thing to a Mohawk paddle. Turned it into a 58'' from a 50''. Made the paddle actually nice to use.

[swp123]

Are you using regular hardware store dowels or fancy hardwood?

Steve

[sbroam]

Regular dowel, think it was oak. You sometimes see poplar, but I think that would be too soft.

[ezwater]

Hardwood dowel is ok. To be OCD, you can cut the lower end at an angle to reduce the risk of a stress riser where the dowel ends.

Below is another example of lengthening and adding a custom grip. The method is a bit screwy. First I epoxied dowel into the carbon shaft. The upper end of the dowel and the shaft end flush with one another.

Then I took some smaller dowel, 3/8" I think, and drilled two holes in line with where the grip would be, in the end of the large dowel. These two smaller dowels extended upward to meet a mortise in the grip. The two small dowels were epoxied into the mortise, being careful with alignment as the epoxy hardened.

Then I mixed a batch of epoxy, microballoons, microfibers, and sawdust, and pasted it all around the dowels to fill the space. I used plastic food wrap to get a smooth surface. Finally, I epoxied on a couple of bits of Kevlar tape cut from Kevlar cloth, to make the junctures smoother.

This has held up under some pretty hard use. The stress up by the upper hand actually isn't as severe as it is down by the lower hand.