C-Forum

Will epoxy do for gluing the T grip back in?

Elvis broke his carbon shafted Warner this Saturday. I will be puttin a tee grip on it later this week to make a paddle for the 8 year old. The other half ( the trainin blade part) will be discarded.

What kind of glue are you gonna use? I hoping to use another Werner plastic T grip, but I don't want to cut until I'm reasonably sure I can get the new T grip to hold solid...

West System I figured, I was going to put a wooden dowel in the lath and turn it to where it had to be driven in to the shaft. Coat the inside of the shaft and the dowel with the West System and use a dead blow hammer to drive the dowel into the shaft.

have had good results using regular 5-min type epoxy, to put a t-grip back on a Werner ... and not so good results, using the two part putty type... prep inside of shaft and t-grip, by lightly sanding and wiping clean with a clean drying (non oily) solvent... a later to be discarded wrap of tape around outside of shaft, will insure a neat finish... average PV electrical tape works great

a word of caution about putting unsealed wood into a composite shaft... if not sealed and impervious to water, the wood part stuck into the shaft... it might expand and could result in a split shaft

I cut my Werner down and re-used the plastic t grip with great results. I used JB Weld and put a metal dowel pin as well like the old Perception paddles had.
Last spring I had my wooden t grip ( form another brand of paddle ) come off while low bracing going off baby falls.. So I tested the werner re-glue pretty thoroughly. Worked great..

When the (old wooden) T-grip in the Bandit I once had came off I initially used a regular hardware store grade epoxy. after extended exposure to water, it came loose again. Glued in a new wooden T-grip, only this time I used West Systems marine epoxy.
As far as I know this paddle is still used by the friend I passed it on to.

TGG!

I just cut one down this weekend and used Loctite marine epoxy... let it set overnight. I set it upside down so all the excess epoxy would gather near the tgrip instead of seeping down the shaft... After it dried, I sanded the excess off, it appears to be bombproof.... Took it out paddling today and it held up perfectly...

if you're gluing a plastic T grip into a glass or carbon shaft, use DEVCON PLASTIC WELDER II

Used it a number of times on the old Bandits. No problem, even after years of paddling. Wore the blade on one paddle down to almost nothing, aquaseal still holding. And it does not leak. Tried epoxy without succcess.

I've had no problems using West 105/205 epoxy to glue dowel into carbon shafts. I expect West G-flex to be even better.

If people have success with fancy name stuff they get in the hardware store, that's not surprising. But if people fail using serious epoxy like West, it's technique, not the tool.

All above.... PLUS (big additional "three to do's")...

When you have the t grip off make sure there is floation in the shaft (aka ; mini cell, etc.) so that just in case it goes for a float...it floats!

Make sure that you get a good seal on the T grip so water does not get in (you'll hate the feel'n if you don't) .

When the glue is drying place the paddle on its Tgrip with the blade up to keep the glue from running down the shaft. If not the glue will slow break away from the shaft and you get a funky noise as the shaft flexs.

My $.01 based on experience!