: Over the winter I built a Cheasapeake 16 and a paddle to go with it. I
: consulted this forum for many things. Those I knew I needed to find out
: and those I had no idea I needed to find out about; but did need to know.
: So, thank you all for all of your work on this site.

: Anyway, the paddle is two piece that initially was held together with PVC
: pipe and duct tape. This weekend I made a f-glass ferrule. First, a layer
: of wax paper on the paddle shafts then layer after layer of glass and
: epoxy. I waited 24 hours.

: To get it apart, I tied each end to trees in my back yard and cranked on it.
: I had to wiggle it and so on. I ran back and forth yanking on the straps,
: providing more and more tension. Eventually one shaft end popped out with
: a popgun sound. Then I drove the other end out with a dowel.

: I cut down the ends and have a nice ferrule, with one major problem. The
: problem is the ferrule bends...in half. My question is, will the ferrule
: hardened and no longer bend or does it need layers of some other kind of
: material? Just by way of information, it is about 1/8" thick made
: with 6 oz glass and epoxy from US Composites.

It should harden up enought to work. When in use the paddle should fill the ferrule so it's job then is only holding the two pieces together. Most commercially built two piece paddles are glass and not nearly that thick.

How did you hold the layers together when you built this? It may be fairly resin rich and that won't help with it's rigidity.

Bill H.