I've always been intrigued by Duane Strosaker's carbon paddle project (http://rollordrown.com/kayak/gstick.html), and I finally got around to trying it for myself. I deviated slightly from Duane's instructions by making a full-length mold so I could avoid having a joint in the center of the loom. I didn't have enough material on hand to make an all-carbon paddle, but I had enough for one outside layer of carbon (one initial bias-cut strip the length of loom to conceal the overlap of two 50" strips applied next) followed by 7 layers of 6oz glass. I used this project as an excuse to try my hand at vacuum bagging as well, so I started off by building a little vacuum pump. After some trial-and-error in repurposing existing material as bagging supplies (MacGyver-ing), I managed to create a couple decent half-paddles. The finished paddle is 30.8 oz. - not too bad for a mostly glass paddle, and the process went smoothly enough that I'm sure to try it again with all carbon in the future. (Chasing Duane's elusive 19oz paddle.) More photos of the project at the link below.

Ross