I’m looking for opinions. I have a small outfitting business. My customers are often canoeing a fairly rocky Class I and II river for up to a week at a time. I’m looking for a paddle that’s decently built and comfortable for multi-day trips. Still, it’s rental equipment, so it has to be cheap. In this case, there’s the possibility of the customers keeping the paddles at the end of the trip (it’s complicated), so I’m not really looking for an expensive durable paddle.
I’m not a big fan of plastic paddles for a weeklong trip, but maybe I should just accept them.
I’ve used Bending Branches Loons, which are a joy to use and pretty durable; Seasense cheapos (arrived already delaminating); Feather brand, and a few others. I need something in the $25 or less range. I’ve glassed some of the cheapo paddles I’ve acquired, but it’d be nice not to have to do that.
can’t help you
But here is what I always want when renting - paying a little bit more for a decent paddle.
Don’t know of any in the $25 range
worth much. I’ve got a small touring biz in SW. Fl and the cheapest I use are the Aquabound Stingray, on up thru my GP’s, Werner Camano’s and Werner or Lendal Bent Shafts. Obviously I keep an eye on the paddles, but after paddling with nice equipment, people just keep coming back over and over rather than use 40 oz aluminum paddles elsewhere.
Caviness for $29
http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3964241
For the money it is really pretty good.
dri ki
you can get a solid ash beavertail for $30 from Dri Ki. http://dri-kiwoodworking.com/id1.html I don’t know if that meets your needs quite exactly, but Dri Ki makes the best paddles for the money I’ve ever seen.