Don't mean to slam your gear, as whatever works for you works (and I have put more than a few mile on such paddles. Well, before I found what I was missing anyway).
I'm asking more as market/customer/curiosity research, as I can't for the life me figure out what a cheaper grade paddle would be, except maybe a lesser version/model of plastic/aluminum paddle (as they do vary widely). To me those are low end, glass blades/shafts are mid, and carbon are high end. That said, I paddle 90% of the time with wood!
Back to the original question: Can you get the broken down paddles into a hatch? Even stuffing them in the cockpit is better than leaving them on deck. Hatch covers also come in handy - and someone even slightly handy can make one that locks. Turning the kayaks over can also help (and may be the only option for some SOTs).
Basic thought here being (in line with Grayhawk) "Out of sight out of mind" - as stuff like this is mostly stolen by opportunistic punk kids that will trash it nearby anyway, not people really out to purposely steal paddles. Easy to walk by and pick something up as they pass, a bit more difficult to flip the kayaks over and dig around without risking being caught in the act.
The added hole in male end idea above, with a simple small cable lock or long paddlock through both and a hardpoint on kayak is also a good thought that's easy to implement.
Dedicated thieves carry tools, and will defeat such locks, but rarely want this stuff as it's not really easy/profitable to pawn (and really easy to etch ID info on inconspicuously).
Second way to approach this: Might try more bag lunches/beach picnics in sight of your kayaks.
I RARELY leave any gear out of my sight around these parts! Something unfortunately learned the hard way, right in my front yard, preparing to launch (canal is just on other side of the street right at the end of my very short driveway). I just ran back inside for 30 seconds. Cost me $600 worth of color GPS and VHF. That a-hole probably got $10 for them. I'd just gotten laid off and still haven't been able to replace them. Still pissed, can you tell? Probably best I didn't catch him though. Can't afford the jail time for vigilante justice either...
Some Christians stole his VHF and GPS!!! So no, I wouldn’t trust anyone, bible belt or not.
Personally, I usually take the GPS off the deck and take it with me if I’m away from the boat. My PFD goes with me everywhere because there’re simply too many items in the pockets that add up to be nearly half a grand (digital camera, VHF, knife, light…)!
Take my boat if you can. But you’d better have a rack or a truck with a long bed (not so easy). I’ll be off $1500. Walk off with my PFD (too easy), you got me for nearly half the cost of my boat! Prime target for “crime of opportunity”, Christians or not.
Guitar Case What i have used for carrying my paddles to keep my hands free is a soft guitar case, can strap it to your back, which leaves your hands free, and you don’t get the strange looks and questions of a rifle case
Even MORE Info Again, thanks for all of the ideas.
I realize that I neglected to mention that these are sit-on-top kayaks (so we can take them into the surf as well as the river) so no cockpit.
One concensus seems to be that nobody makes a commercial product for this purpose.
These are approx $100 paddles. Not sure exactly what we paid for them as the dealer lumped in a bunch of stuff and then applied a discount to the whole bundle. But they listed around $100 each. Not graphite but enough to care about and we definitely don’t want to paddle back up the river with our hands.
seems like a few good comercial ideas were presented. Maybe You missed the fine steel mesh idea made for locking backpacks. or the drill a hole in the blade theme.
Otherwise a few companies do make 4 piece paddles that would go with you in a small backpack.
Better to take the paddle with you! There’s a strong case for getting a bag and taking the paddle with you. Not so much to protect the paddle but to NOT encourage any mischieving youth from paddling your boat away for the fun of it!
I don’t know the area well enough to know what you really need to worry about. But if you’re concerned about people stealing your paddle, you’d probably also worry about people taking your boat, PFD etc. A cable lock is really a “gentlemen’s lock”. It can be cut pretty easily.
Tried it Out Today Well, we liked Randy’s idea about using bags from folding chairs and tried it today. This worked GREAT!!! We paddled across and down the river to a nice little park, hoisted the kayaks out, and had lunch.
We’ve got a really stout cable that fits through scupper holes in both kayaks and around any relatively thin fixed object (sign post in this case). We carry two cables in case we have to lock them around something stouter like a tree trunk. The cables go through the PDFs (not expensive ones).
Anyway, the chair bag worked great. All four paddle sections fit into the bag with the blades down. No problem at all to tote them along. A small back-pack for other sundries and we were in business. Beer and hot Italian subs and no worries.
Y’all might be paranoid . . . . . . on my trip down the Mississippi had had no choice but to leave boat and gear unprotected in dozens of little towns and many big cities to include, Minneapolis, Memphis, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Natchez.
I would take stash stuff that had pawnshop value or kid appeal like gps and binoculars in the cockpit. Sometimes I would put the pfd, skirt, paddle taken apart in cockpit with cover on.
Most folks have no use for paddle and don’t have anyway to move kayak.
I agree Most of my paddles are in those folding Captain’s Chair bags. They are pulled closed at the opening and the shoulder strap lets me carry then over-the-shoulder or as a suitcase.
Later I found a camo bow-bag for a compound bow (I am a traditionalist but carry a 30# take-down in my kayak for plinking).
So I sewed an extra name-tape and some webbing for handles and use that for my fave paddles as the bag collapses to pocket-sized when empty.
BUT, and here is the neat thing… I found a padded snow-board case at a yard sale for $3 which holds 6 take-down paddles! And it pads them plus has a hand-grip and shoulder strap. THIS is airline safe but does not fold down.
Cheap locks The little curly bike locks from Wally World can give the appearance that they are locked up tight and the locks are pretty cheap. Put the paddle together and let it curl around the shaft several times and secure it to something. You and I know that you don’t have to unlock the lock to get the paddle, but most people wouldn’t know that.
For most thieves, the appearance of security is enough to convince them to move along.
No way I’m buying a $50 hard case for a $100 paddle.
suggestion… Paint the paddles the ugliest colors you can imagine …no one will take them !! 1st, cause the diff colors will make them easily ID’able and 2nd, cause no one else is gonna want the ugly things!
Another way is to use a “Python” lock and cable—these are usually 8’ length of 3/8" steel cable covered with plastic. They are hard to cut(unless the thief has a grinder with cut-off blade). The cable fits thru your scupper holes easily and you could drill a 1/2" hole in one of your paddles or run a small clamp around the shaft to pass the Python cable thru. Not a completely theft-proof system but will stop most mischievious sorts.