Hi Guys,

Been thinking about making a couple of paddles myself.

For a "hollow" shaft I was going to try using a length of styrofoam (say 5/8" square) as a core and laminate cedar on all four sides (1-1/2" x 1/2" for top and bottom and 7/16" x 5/8" on either side, length to suit) to create a rectangular shaft that I could round off the corners to suit.

It might be possible to use a short section of hardwood in the "core" to create a ferrule of types for take-apart shaft.

It would not be too difficult to build in a taper either. With a taper, the styrofoam could be more trouble that it is worth - a couple of well placed wooden spacers would probably do fine.

I like the idea of using a florescent tube as a core and laminating up a shaft. I wonder how much weight of resin/glass would be required to get the stiffness/strength as compared with wood which is very rigid relative to its weight.

For the blade I was going to use 1/8" luaun "panels" cut to shape and joined stitch&glue or tape&glue style. I figure if the blades are concave in shape they should be very rigid and need the minimum of fiberglass for strength. The shaft itself, if extended a bit, could supply a lot of the strength in the blade as well.

Anyway, just rambling for now. I will have to do something this winter though.

Hank