C-Forum

I have a wood shaft (curved carbon blade) Mitchell paddle and I'm wondering about shaft protection. I often have the shaft touching the gunwale.

What do you do to protect wooden shafts?

I cut two thin plastic strips from a sign and put one on each side of the shaft then wrapped the shaft and plastic strips with cheap electrical tape. The cheap stuff really does work better because it slides more easily and doesn't get torn up so fast.

I had Mitchell wrap the lower half of my wood premier shaft with fine weave glass. You could send it in for this or it's a fairly easy DIY project.

If you want to go DIY, you could also consider buying some dynel sleeve (dynel in tubular form) from a supplier like Sweet Composites and use that to add a layer of composite protection to the shaft. You wouldn't think it from looking at it, by I have gotten an intact dynel sleeve overtop of a wood Mitchell T-grip enroute to its position on the shaft; it stretches quite a bit. Dynel is typically used in composite layups solely for areas that need a high degree of abrasion resistance, as this is its primary attribute.

John

If a paddle shaft is hardwood, then some coats of high quality spar varnish may suffice. Or, one can apply a coat or two of West epoxy, and then sand and varnish.

Varnish can pick up hand oils and become slick. I grab some river sand and gently sand the varnished surface. It removes the oils and roughens the surface a bit. "Washing" the hands with sand helps also.

I have had my carbon shaft Mitchell and Clinch River paddle shafts protected by long shrink-down vinyl sleeves by the makers. These sleeves are (I believe) almost essential to protect carbon matrices from nicks and wear which can lead to sudden breakage. But I might not want to have them on wooden shafts because I would not want moisture trapped between the sleeve and the paddle.

I have a wood shaft paddle that the builder protected with Dynel sleeve and black epoxy, the latter perhaps containing graphite powder. About the time that I could see that wear had gone through the Dynel sleeve in places, I started to have black, cracking skin on my palms and fingers. This continued even after I switched to other paddles. I had always had "good" hands when rowing, sculling, and canoeing. Eventually the skin condition was diagnoses as "psoriasis" and slowly resolved with use of a strong steroid ointment. I remain suspicious of Dynel and graphite. I would not want to use glass on a paddle shaft, either, unless it was well covered.

I use 10 mil pvc pipe wrap tape. It's cheap (because I have it already) & tough and doesn't make the shaft extra stiff like an extra layer of glass will.
it's not very pretty but that's fine w/me.

dynel is best. easy diy.

Thanks for all the ideas. No decision yet.

EZ - re your statement "essential to protect carbon matrices from nicks and wear which can lead to sudden breakage". Sudden breakage doesn't sound good. I just picked up an Aquabound Edge with a carbon shaft. Would you suggest getting some kind of protection on it right off the bat? Any other Aquabound users have any thoughts on that?
Thanks,
Hans

Hans, I don't know why canoe paddle makers don't push the option of vinyl sleeves to protect the shafts. But I don't have any statistics on how often carbon shafts break if nicked or abraded through the outer cloth matrix. Tape may be a good idea, though you'll have to renew it.

I notice some folks are pushing Dynel sleeve or a FG layer. Fiberglass may shed bits into one's hands, and why add glass to carbon? The strength to weight of the paddle, and its flexibility, are set by the maker based on the chosen carbon shaft. So, why add glass or Dynel? Glass just stiffens the shaft. Dynel, in my opinion, is overrated and oversold. I've put Dynel sleeve on wooden paddles, and I was not impressed. Absorbs lots of resin and swells some, as we were told by John Sweet.

I really think 18 inches of shrink down tubing is the best solution. Thick enough to partly absorb point sources, durable, doesn't change paddle stiffness, not very heavy.

Hans, removing a T grip often isn't that hard, and the paddle maker may be able to send you the shrink down sleeve and tell you how to apply it.

Delete

Maybe manufactures don't do sleeves because it adds weight and people that get carbon shafts probably look at wieght specs.. I dunno.

Hey Hanz, I can verify carbon shafts will unexpectedly explode. I would not over think it and just wrap the dang thing with tape. pvc pipe wrap is tough. I've only had to rewrap one paddle. I don't have a gunwale or whatever you call it to rub it on but i do smash and grind it on rocks regularly.
When you wrap it (with whatever), it's easy to put an index on the shaft if you like that sort of thing. I use plastic, but my friend matt just uses a rolled up piece of cloth (if I recall) in there and that makes a sweet index.

Thanks EZ, good info there.

I got me some of that tape, Larry, think I'll go that route for now since a sleeve isn't gonna happen by paddling time tomorrow.
BTW, I'll be up your way on Sunday to watch the big bike race, probly be on the third steep W of Caz somewhere, drinkin' beer and watching the euro pros go by

well hanz, stop by if you have the time, i'll be working around the property untill the choppers show up. then I'll go down the driveway and watch the show.
Are you going to the north american tomorrow? I might be there for a couple laps on chambies and it would be cool to drag you down it..we can totally cruz it slow..

Larry - I'm heading for the Cache slalom course today, since its not every day there's a course nearby. Have fun on Chamberlain, sounds cool. Wonder how long it'll hold up. Next weekend I'm on the Upper Sac for a couple of days.

You're right, btw - that tape looks ugly!