I wear gloves year round when paddling. The grip on the paddle is a bit slippery when wearing the gloves unless I apply paddle wax. I'm tired of always using the wax and would like to put a permanent rough surface in the grip area of the paddle. I was thinking of taping off the area and applying epoxy resin then sprinkling a little sand over the top but sand is heavy and I'd prefer to keep it as light as possible. Also am thinking about just applying resin and after it gets tacky taking a brush and poking it to rough it up. Anyone here done something like this? Suggestions?
BTW, I tried a commercial product that is labeled "ecologically responsible" and it worked well but was not very durable.
Thanks,
Bob
What paddle?
Canoe/Kayak?
For kayak - Lendal used to have rubberized sleeve that goes over the paddle shaft. Something similar can be accomplished with heat shrink tubing - home improvement stores carry it.
Other options - there is epoxy product to make tool handles not slip, home improvement store again.
Be careful that you don’t overdo the
roughening. There’s a relatively narrow zone between “too smooth to grip reliably” and “rough enough to mess up your hands.”
On my canoe paddles, I have vinyl sleeves that protect the carbon shafts. If I have trouble with a sleeve being slippery, I pull over to a sandbank, rub some sand on the sleeve, and lightly scrub my palms with sand. This is enough to restore good grip for the rest of the run.
On my bent shaft kayak WW paddle, I covered the control hand grip with bicycle inner tube rubber, backing up the seam with tube patches. This has been a nice, tacky surface that doesn’t require me to death-grip the shaft.
Oh, and there’s a “what gloves” issue.
For summer paddling, I’m using some very light, fingerless, paddling gloves that have synthetic “leather” palms. Traction is as good or better than the best I get bare-handed.
maybe just non-skid tape
such as 3M’s marine non-skid tape. Just one wrap around the key areas and if you don’t like you can remove later.
Alternate idea
First let me state that I do not like gloves. So be it.
That said, I have a pair of NRS Crew gloves that have a single layer of synthetic leather that has appliques of some kind of grippy stuff. I wonder if you could apply Goop (a polyurethane sealant) in thin ribbons to the fingers and palm to improve the grippiness?
Just thinkin’ outside the box.
Jim
another vote for fingerless gloves
all the goodness of gloves with none of the drawbacks of the full fingered kind.
This might work too
Some Aquaseal with a little bit of clean sand mixed into it. If you want to remove it that could be a problem, but not impossible.
no gloves
consider getting away from having to rely on gloves - be a minimalist.
Prep your paddle shaft by lightly sanding the grip areas with finer and finer grit paper, and end with 2000 grit wet/dry which you can buy from any auto parts store. That fine a grit will pretty much prevent blisters from occurring. Sanding the shaft will get rid of the slippery surface that all the paddles come with.
Thanks for all the responses (NM)
The NRS gloves are very grippy
and if you spend much time in the sun,protect the backs of your hands.