i just bought my first decked canoe, a poke boat pheonix vagabond (kevlar) for conoe camping southwest florida...and then i saw the prices of carbon angled canoe paddles $200-$300...woha!.....then i noticed stand up surfboard paddles are less than half this price and have similar 12 degree angles and similar paddle shape/size....also carbon...and also many SUP paddlers break their shafts and must buy new ones,, their "broken" paddles can be cut down to 48-50" length for canoe purposes. Anyone else think of this?
paddle Why a carbon fiber canoe paddle? I don’t see the point. CF is used on kayak paddles and maybe SUP paddle because of the length of those paddles, canoe paddles are short. There isn’t a real reason for using carbon fiber for them. A decent wood bent shaft canoe paddle will be less than half that price.
Carbon SUP paddle 1/2 price of canoe carbon paddle? I haven’t seen a full carbon SUP paddle that costs anywhere near half price of a full carbon canoe paddle.
I have seen “carbon” SUP paddles that list carbon as one of the materials that are $75 to $200, but they aren’t full carbon and weigh at least 2x as much as a full carbon SUP paddle.
USCA Several thousand USCA marathon racers use carbon paddles. There must be reasons: among which are minimal weight to improve cadence and minimize effort, stiffness for more direct force transfer, durability.
Thanks great points everybody. So theres no free lunch! i will read the fine print. I don’t plan on doing the Everglades Challenge but i plan on some fatigue inducing lengthy paddles down there, so my theory for carbon is its lightweight and should improve my endurance. Since i’m a beginner i will start with a wood paddle then ‘upgrade’ to carbon later when i know what size works with me and my boat.
I’m still going to keep my eye out for broken shaft carbon S.U.P paddle, i love to tinker and i’m handy with epoxy:)
I was patient and found all of my Zaveral and Wenonah carbon paddles for about 1/2 price on either craigslist, p.net classifieds, ebay or rivermiles.com.
I have a Phoenix Vagabond and the trick to solo paddling it is to find the trim that gets the boat to handle best for your desires. I ended up with the seat between the middle and rear positions.
SUP NOT cheap SUP paddles are basically longer versions of outrigger canoe paddles. They are NOT cheap. A quality carbon (as mentioned, you don’t want any other material) paddle will be between $350 and $450 new.
Broken shafts indicate the problem exists. Stay away period. Sure, you can reinforce with various inserts, but the weight increases. Best to look around for a used ZRE or QB carbon canoe paddles. And if by chance, you ever meet someone willing to let go of their Black Bart Carbon paddle, buy it.
i will read the fine print. I don’t plan on doing the Everglades Challenge but i plan on some fatigue inducing lengthy paddles down there, so my theory for carbon is its lightweight and should improve my endurance. Since i’m a beginner i will start with a wood paddle then ‘upgrade’ to carbon later when i know what size works with me and my boat.