I am nearing the end of stripping the deck of my Guillemot and have spent a little time building another paddle. It looks a bit like a GP but I'm sure the purists will tell me differently. It is 84" long almost 4" wide blades, and a 22" loom, although it has no shoulders so this is a notional length. It is a composite, mainly WRC with some ash and walnut accents and a walnut crescent tip to each blade, all glued with Titebond 111,the finished weight is 40oz, although I could probably do a little more blade thinning to reduce this. My only other paddles were euro style, which were varnished over epoxy. What do people suggest I should use as a finish on this one, and is the weight OK? I have spar varnish and can buy tung oil localy.
The reason I don't think it is truly a GP is because it has one curved face and a one flat on each blade. What does that make it?
I enjoyed the build and spent some time thinking! (Never a good sign!) Given the narrow and relatively small blade area, I can see the big attraction for all day touring, as perhaps the original GPs were used, since the pressure the blades can exert back into your shoulders must be relatively low. Surely it must therefore follow that it's outright power and efficiency it can never be as high as a well made euro or similar blade. If this were not the case, we might see GPs being used in sprint sports, which in my experience, isn't the case.