: Hey gang,

: Once again this year (out in Montana) our annual Peaks to Prairie spring race
: is rapidly approaching (April 27th, see link below if you are interested)
: and I have been asked to paddle for a team. So this whole discussion is
: around making a good paddle so that my wimpy old butt can keep up with the
: young guys.

: I am tossing around some ideas for an "ultra-light" kayak paddle. I
: have been looking at some fancy carbon fiber paddles with hollow shafts,
: but they are about $400 and wouldn’t really look good with the Orca Kayak
: (sorry Nick – the Alutesque forms are just in the mail from CLC, maybe
: next year) I am going to be paddling.

: My thought is I could take a Douglas Fir / Cedar / Douglas Fir lamination for
: the shaft. Then shape the shaft to a 1 1/4” x 1 1/8” oval and steam bend
: the ends into the cup for the blades. Then I could take cedar strips and
: make a nice design (similar to the fancy one in the back of Nick's book)
: with the strip ends sandwiched in between the Douglas Fir.

: Then the whole thing could be shaped nicely and a layer of 6 oz. cloth on
: both sides of the blade and up the shaft about 2". The ends would be
: protected with some extra epoxy with wood flour.

: It seems to me that this would be a really light paddle and would be
: adequately strong for the above mentioned river race and would be a good
: all around paddle.

: What do you all think? I sure don’t want to break a paddle in the middle of a
: race.

: Thanks,
: Stephan

I did essentially what you are planning. I used 4 oz. glass over the entire blade and because I thought the shaft was a little too flexible it got a wrap too. My cedar/ash paddle is very very light and finished out only a couple of ounces heavier than my $400 Warner. I’ve owned three different carbon paddles and I based the blade shape of my build on the one I liked best. I also bought a carbon fiber ferrule from Noah’s so I could break it down. I couldn’t believe how well this thing paddles and I plan to make some copies in the future.

--KT--