First a confession- I am really a single paddle guy. I am looking to build a double paddle,as a second paddle,because my canoe is too tender to use sitting (vs kneeling) unless the seat is near the bottem and also because my favorate single paddle needs 3 ft of water to work properly. The commercial plastic doubles are ugly and the wood ones I have seen are heavy and loose at the ferrule. Besides I am a DIY'er so please do not give up me yet.

I want to make a double like my favorate single (hashwaakpaddles.com worth a look because unique and they make doubles). I know the blades are going to get beat up in shallow water and have to be replaced maybe one to two years.

So my proposal/question is why not use a carbon shaft(for light weight and stiffness) and hardwood blades epoxied to the shaft.Perhaps by drilling out a blade or cutting of an inch of shaft I can get 4 paddles out of one carbon shaft.The only source I know of for carbon shafts is Zeravel( any others?).

The hardest question is how to do a non-wobble ferrule.I have no idea how to do one of the spring loaded buttons like in a commercial shaft. One way to do a non wobble shaft is a bolt and a speed nut (Veritas, very ugly). Any sugestions?