I recently picked up a new carbon fiber wing paddle from Epic. I made the mistake of not taking it apart after paddling last week. This morning when I tried to pull it apart to put it in my jeep, the paddle halves were stuck together. The paddle uses the Epic Length Lock system; It’s a little sleeve that screws down over some small fingers. Each of the small fingers is free, it seems to be stuck internally.
Does anyone have any suggestions for getting the halves back apart again? I’m afraid to try anything that might make it worse. Thanks for any ideas you’ve got.
I recommended the “jaws of life” to
someone else with that problem, but all the snobs came out from under their rocks, whining about…“don’t use force, you’ll damage the paddle” blah-blah-blah.
They seemed to think that gentle, back and forth “micro” movements would do the trick, maybe grasping one blade and putting the other between your feet and gently pulling and gently twisting back and forth.
It just ‘happened’ to work for the last person. Lucky guess I say.
Stuck!
Give Epic a call they will help. I have an adj. wing & experienced some slipping problems. Greg Barton was quick to the rescue! With the adj. you should probably take it apart & clean the threads pretty often. This is what I didn’t do & had a piece of grit on my threads. No more problems. Good luck.
Dwan
KY
The Silky…drip around the edges and let it seep…once it frees the threads, clean them well…
stuck paddle
Hey,
Was this a salt water trip. My take apart would fuse after salt water trips. I actually liked it since it took the wobble out of the joint. Anyway just soaking in fresh water worked to get mine apart. Good luck, Frogge.
My Epic
– Last Updated: May-16-05 12:13 PM EST –
came with a bag with a wrench on the bag. It works. Next time, go easy on tightening, Hercules. I made the same mistake first time out with the paddle.
stuck paddle
I had the same problem and we finally got it to come apart by putting it one blade in a fixed wood working clamp and then putting a wood double screw wood clamp on the other blade and then turning. It was that leave the paddle in the stuck together position. Now I take the paddle apart after every trip.
which begs the question, Tumble:
What was so urgent after yourt trip that you couldn’t take the 6 seconds required to unscrew the paddle?
this is why
I only get one piece paddles!!!
I put one blade between my feet,
grabbed the other with my hands and forced with all my strength. It took 10 minutes of twisting each direction, and I developed a nice blister, but the halves came apart.
Welcome to my world ericnyre … LOL : )
I drive a truck
shrug I’m a whitewater guy, and I drive a truck, I tossed the paddle into the back, closed the canopy and drove home. I’ve now learned that I should always take the paddle apart.
I really do appreciate everyones tips, I’m going to try some of the ideas this evening and see what happens. Thanks for all of the help everybody.
Success!
So… I stuck the paddle in my shower and soaked it for a while. I dried it off. I took a large beach towel and wrapped a corner around the shaft just above the blade. I wrapped diagonally around the blade and past the end. This allowed me to stand on the end of the towel and pull upward on the other half of the paddle. I held the blade itself between my knees. I then summoned all my anger about the current Bush administration and took it out as a grudge on the paddle. After about an hour I was able to free the paddle by twisting about 2 degrees and about 1/16 inch at a time. Other than some swelling in my left hand, no damage was done. It really was a grudge match.
I’m going to take ericnyre’s suggestion and do a little bit of sanding tomorrow. I promise to keep it lubed and disassembled. Thanks again for all of your help and suggestions.
and I got a good tip from you
focusing my thoughts on the Bush administration would definitley give me sufficient anger to increase my strength. I knew that Texas turd was good for something.
same here
Man, I’ve heard of a lot of uses
for KY lube, but this one is by far the most boring of all!