C-Forum

I've got two paddles with a carbon fiber blades and an aluminum tips. On the first, when the aluminum mushroomed, as it eventually will, I removed the aluminum and replaced it with epoxy and several passes of accessory cord (as a filler). This has worked pretty well, lasting almost a year so far.

The second paddle is now showing this same mushrooming and I'm getting ready to perform a similar operation. But I'm wondering what is the ideal material to replace this with? Epoxy? Or maybe nylon? McMaster-Carr has something that looks likely (can't figure out how to link to one of their specific pages - go to www.mcmaster.com and search for "8751K21") - it is even the right color, black. Is there a better choice?

Thanks!

Scott

sbroam- Try looking at #8818K43 rope. This is one of the materials used by a highly reputable WW custom paddle maker which I know. Wet it up with epoxy and sand smooth. Not sure what diameter works for your application but this is the one for wooden blades. Also, some of the paddle manufacturers of wooden blades have a white protective strip on the tips that looks like teflon. It's not. Go to John Sweets catalog and order some Dynel cord. Use epoxy on this as well. Had good luck with both. Just remember that in the whitewater world, no tip lasts forever.
SYOTW, CRod

Yea, good topic. I bought an Echo C-1 in Jan. It was a good paddle but it falls apart. I lost the aluminum tip last weekend on the river. I had the same with my Mitchell and I replaced the tip with Supplex Nylon. I put resin (West System) on the cloth and then folded it tightly and pressed it into the notch. I put clamps around it to hold it together while curing. It holds well so far but I do not paddle with that paddle very often.

The sad thing is: The search for a tough creeking paddle continues.
I am padlding with a Waterstick Carbon and a Robson C-1 Rodeo right now.
Both seem to be tougher than the wood core paddles.
Time will tell how they deal with the punishment on low volume creeks.

Jan

Have you considered Dynel? I used some to edge a wooden paddle and it has held up pretty well. It's really abrasion resistant (polyester?) and you can buy it from John Sweet in cord that would probably fit perfectly into the slot left where the aluminum was.
-K

Clinch River... Bailey made me this paddle over four years ago and I pound the tar out of it.... seriously. We have a lot of granite in our rivers up here and the aluminum tip he put in is barely rounded on the corners. This is the most durable paddle and most bombproof I've owned... and broken or damaged the best of them.

What is the reason you are wearing out the tips so fast... low water creeks?

Craig

I really not really pounding it, though the river here is low. Now that I am using wooden paddles (shafts and/or blades) I'm a lot easier on paddles than I used to be.

The two paddles in question are Maxwell's; the blades have wood cores and carbon faces (if that is the correct terminology). With my first one, the aluminum mushroomed and started to split the blade - Maxwell said to pop it out and replace it with epoxy. The insert was maybe an inch wide by 1/8" thick; instead of filling that entirely with epoxy I wetted some accessory cord of the right size and put about four passes of it in the groove and filled in the rest with epoxy. I used tape around the end to form it up, next time I will use something more rigid. The results were a little sloppy but it has held up well.

He said that was a problem he had been having and he was switching materials (to nylon?). I got another stick from him, one of his close out creek sticks, and it has an aluminum tip and is doing the same thing.

I wonder if Bailey used a different grade of aluminum or if he built the paddle differently?

Thanks for the feedback folks, those are some good ideas.

An epoxy resin fill adds little durabiltiy to the paddle tip. A pure epoxy pour (filler) is heavy and brittle. Gotta lighten' up, dude!

Use the dynel rope from Sweet (it is a synthetic material used in automotive tires), and ask him about adding some microballons to the resin mix. Such things can improve both the repair process and the final results. If JRS says using microballoons, etc., for the job is a good idea...do it.

The idea is to get something in the tip that will abraid well, is structurally sound, will not swell or seperate in normal use, and is as lightweight as possible.

Remember, the epoxy is there to reinforce the dynel and make it stay put next to, and protect, the wood. It is the dynel that forms the tip, and takes the abuse for the wood. The epoxy's role is secondary to that of the dynel!

You will have to let the paddle dry out thoroughly before installing the tip. Allow several days or more for this. Control the temperature and humidity when the epoxy is curing. Get a data sheet for the West epoxy system, and check to see if using a heat cure improves performance. If so, consider doing that, too.

Keep it clean, and tight, and a high-quality wood paddle will last many years. The material was decades old before even the paddlemaker saw it!

Craig,

yes, low volume creeks. I got about 35 days of creeking out of my paddle before the aluminum fell out. That was not the onlt thing. The paddle has rope edges as well and pounding on rocks loosened the carbon-kevlar cloth from the rope edges (dynel).
I also punctured the paddle well into the wood core a couple of times. This happened because I do not have a reliable cross boof. So I did a couple full on boof strokes into rocks. I know, I could have avoided that with better technique but sometimes there is not much time to think. (Still, the Cameron was worth it! 9kilometers, 4.1% and 96 drops (plus minus a few) )

I will send my Echo in and Andy will put Dynel in. Maybe that will work better. The thing is, the Echo is the best blade shape in wood core paddles I have paddled with so far.

Cheers, Jan