Frankenstein paddle

golder · Post by **golder** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:31 am

so i've got an aqua bound paddle that i'm not crazy about--i dont like the corners on the blade. i've got a few other paddles with blades that i like and shafts that are too short. there i'm thinking of trying to take the shafts and blades apart and combine them into a paddle thats a better combination of parts.

whats the best way to take them apart? heat gun?

and to put them back together? contact cement? epoxy?

i guess i could also grind the corners off the aqua bound blade. ...

any thoughts/suggestions?

iRolled · Post by **iRolled** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 1:09 pm

cut & paste

Atucky · Post by **Atucky** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 1:45 pm

Hey Golder,

I would definitely use epoxy to put everything back together.

I had an aquabound. the edges wore down on their own from pushing off rocks. The t grip broke, and the blade came off on it's own. Once the blade came off, my friend epoxied it back on, and he made a custom T grip as well. This gave the paddle a couple extra months until I broke the blade in half.

good luck!

marclamenace · Post by **marclamenace** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 3:43 pm

I hate the tiny grip and flexible blade of these AB (edge model at least)

Also a problem generally is the you have to cut and loose some lenght when you refit paddles like that but goos luck!

mahyongg · Post by **mahyongg** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 3:23 pm

Try heat-gunning it slowly to get the blade off (t-grip too). Cutting the blade off at the shaft and carving out the rest would get rid of the blade if no other way shows itself. Have the same project going on here - have an old wooden blade I want to re-shape, then cover with carbon, and an aquabound flatwater paddle (those ones with the thick edges, no slicing and virtually no catch unless you stick it in slowly and deep and wait a little and then pull all the while your boat has moved another meter..) Anyways thats what my plans are, likely to post here what happened when I'm done..

yarnellboat · Post by **yarnellboat** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 5:47 am

Being too cheap to spend good money on a breakdown paddle as a spare I hope to never use, I just made a Frankenstein paddle -

- breakdown shaft from an aluminium kayak paddle, cut for canoe length and added a second pop-button thing to hold the parts together more tightly

- t-grip using an old paddle shaft on a dowel

- an old "Bob Foote" Norse blade

- glued using some JB Weld and some 3M 2-part

Probably not the best paddle in the world - the Norse blade is a spare part to begin with because I bent that aluminium shaft - and certainly not the prettiest or lightest, but for some reason I've wanted to get that Norse blade back in action.

I've gone from having some junk in the shed to having a breakdown for a spare in the C-1.

I also have a nice wooden Mitchell blade I'd like to get servicable too (leftover from buying the kayak paddle cheap and making a canoe paddle out of one end - Jan, that's what your t-grip is on now), and I saw some nice fiberglass and carbon kayak shafts at a sports consignment store, so I may make more Frankenpaddles.

Pat.

philcanoe · Post by **philcanoe** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 11:16 am

eeeaaaugh.... a NORSE blade !!!

Pretty scary - Frankenstein indeed.

yarnellboat · Post by **yarnellboat** » Mon Jun 28, 2010 3:05 am

If you're going to going to go Frankenstein, might as well go full effect and look the part! It's a decent t-grip, and goes way downhill from there!

The plan is to never use it, other than as a conversation starter with old school folks who either loved or hated the Norse paddles.

P.