Re: kayak paddle length

Posted by Jay on May 11, 2005

Jay, You can spend a lot of time and money trying to find not only the right lenght but also blade width. I,ve just bought a $300 Carbon Fiber paddle and tried three lenghts and two different blade widths before I felt it was right. I also specified 60 degree feather which works a lot better for me than 75 degrees. Also the strenght size of the paddler and the width and depth of the boat comes into play. So what I'm trying to say is ,you'll have to experiment to find the right combination. I have an old alum shafted paddle that was way to short for my seakayaks. I just went to a alum supply store and bought a whole 21ft lenght of tube. I drilled out two alum pop rivets that hold the plastic blade on, and just added a longer shaft. Put a couple of rivets in and away you go. If its too long as mine was ,drill out one rivet take a blade off and cut some off the shaft. This also lets you alter feather angle as you wish. Just make sure you silicon a foam plug in each end deeper than the rivets ,to seal the tube, or the paddle WILL sink.

Hope this helps , Paul

In Response to: kayak paddle length by Jay on May 11, 2005

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