Re: Carbon Fiber Paddle

Posted by FrankP on Jul 14, 2004

Actually I found Shawn Baker's site (again) and he shows how he made some fiberglass blades that he put on a wooden shaft. I think I'll try his method, making the blades out of fiberglass scraps first then, if all goes well, try to do the same thing with CF.

I ordered some 10.9 oz CF from Raka today and it's a 60" wide roll so I should have plenty to make a couple of different paddle shafts from. I'll be buying a ferule at some point I guess, so that will make it easier to use smaller sheets of CF. I may make my daughter a paddle too if all works out well. 60" by 72" sheet of 10.9 oz for $58 plus shipping doesn't seem like a lot for making a couple of CF paddles. Cheaper than buying wooden paddles or even cheap aluminum ones. Plus I can make them to the length I want, not someone elses idea of what length I should want.

My boat has a beam of 20" so I'm looking to go for a shortish paddle. I'm used to really long paddles though, so this might feel a little weird to me, but I'm going to try it anyway. I'm planning (right now) an overall length of about 210-215, and blades approximately 6" by 20". Anyone have any suggestion about whether this would be a good touring blade size? It seems so looking at a general mockup of the basic size.

Anyway, thanks for the information everyone.

FrankP

Growing old is inevitible, growing up is optional. Live well, play hard.

In Response to: Re: Carbon Fiber Paddle by Kurt Loup on Jul 14, 2004

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