Question About Carbon Paddle

-- Last Updated: May-29-07 9:46 AM EST --

Got a chance to try out my new Werner Carbon Camano this weekend (along with my new boat), and I really like this paddle. Just unbeliveably light. (This is my first carbon paddle.) My question is, how strong is a carbon paddle? Has any of you ever broke one? I just feel like I have to baby this paddle because if feels like blade will snap like an empty egg shell. I'm I worrying too much?

Carbon paddle life
I’ve a carbon Barton paddle that has been used hard for 18 years or so/ AT Exceptions are the standard demo sticks at our on water shop - never a break yet.



That said, when/if one breaks, OK, it has enhanced your paddling for years; go get another!


Not easily
It can break but not so easily unless the individual paddle has a manufacturing defect or you do something overtly hard on it like having a big guy sit on it regularly. We take our foam core Epics to Maine each year and they get pretty bashed on rocks - I have a couple of small nicks here and there but no structural issues at all.

I’m curious too
How do the tips of carbon blades hold up to shallow, rocky bottoms with the occasional scrape? Do they chip easy?

Not so easy
If they chipped real easily I wouldn’t have much blade left - I am not kind to paddles. I am talking like a few little nicks, from real hard knocks.

just fine
I’ve had a carbon Lendal for about four years and it’s doing just fine. I don’t use a paddle to get in the boat (just slide in, it’s not hard) and the edges don’t chip very easily.



I got stuck in a storm on Lake Superior with 40kt head winds a couple years ago and it did flex a lot because I was paddling so hard just trying to make any amount of forward progress. If it didn’t break then, it probably won’t…

Good to hear…
I got an Epic Relaxed Tour Hybrid on a great deal as a second and love it. I’ve been concerned about how well the blades would hold up, but you’ve made me feel better! I paddle in a lot of small shallow creeks and streams with shallow pebbly rocky bottoms and lots of large trees and stumps etc just below the surface. I as afraid I’d be likely to damage it easily in those conditions. But if you’ve not hurt yours in the abuse you’ve shown I don’t think I have much to worry about.



Thanks.

my carbon camano and ikelos
have gone to the bahamas and back via airline twice, thats via miami, watched the camano get run over by a baggage cart. They’re pretty tuff

watch out for the mud
I snapped the blade in a carbon padlde. I was in about a foot or so of heavy mud, and was not about to get out and try to push my boat through it. I shoved the paddle in and leaned on it hard in order to move backward from where I was. It sounds like a tree branch snapping. And I’m getting another. I kind of fixed the other paddle but it’s definitely a spare.

Chips, etc. are repairable…
You can use epoxy to fix chips, and you should…

You want to keep water out of the unsealed fiber.



Epic (etc) recommend a light sanding and a coat of car wax for scratches.



The funniest thing is that they say to keep out of direct sunlight for extended periods of time… I always thought that was funny… :wink:

From Epic…
Paddle Care

To prolong the life of your Epic paddle, rinse in fresh water after use and store in its cover. If the paddle gets scratched, restore by light sanding and polishing with car wax. Chips can be filled with epoxy. Do not leave your paddle in direct sunlight for long periods of time. Treat your paddle with care for a long life of optimal performance.