I have a 230cm Aquabound Stingray w/ aluminum shaft. Bought it for my wife and guy at the shop suggested the 230, so against better judgement went with the longer length. She has paddled my 220 and likes it much better, which means I’m stuck with the longer paddle when we’re together.
It would seem an easy enough solution to carefully cut off 10 cm or so from the female end, carefully measure and drill a hole for the catch to pop into. What are the tricks? Would it be easier to convert to a one piece to ensure no wobble at the new joint?
Thanks - Jamie
Worked on a carbon
Friend Dan shortened his 230 carbon Aquabound - worked nicely.
Alan
Done just that…
To several paddles and they have been just fine. easier than removing the blades but will move the centerline seam off center. You can remark the new shaft center for reference. These are paddles you are not happy with so very little to loose.
Now for the pitfall. Some shafts start out round and then turn into an oval for indexing. On these if you cut too much off the female side the male(round) end will not slide into the female oval. If this is the case I would start by cutting off 5cm and working up to 10cm. If I cut off a “little” too much I have taken a “little” off the male side to fit.
Contact Aquabound, they may do it for
you. A pretty good outfit up there.
It’s easy to do
Email me and I’ll send you some instructions.
Shortening is pretty easy
Start out drilling with a small drill bit and then put the paddle together and see how close you came to aligning the button with the new hole. I like to use a small round file to finish the hole and keep putting the paddle together to make sure I’m going in the right direction. Make the button a tight fit and use it a couple times and see if the hole needs more work.
Diane, if you’re out there…
…Earthlink blocked my response with instructions and their verification utility doesn’t work (the graphic with the text to be typed in doesn’t appear in either Firefox or IE).
Second contacting Aquabound…
Definitely give them a call. I needed to cut down a carbon paddle from 240 to 220 and they did it for what i thought was a very reasonable rate. If I remember correctly, they cut down the paddle and replaced both blades for $35.00. That was a couple of years ago so the price might be a little different now.
Scott
Any experience with Werner
I have a Molokai (AKA Mongo, think big bladed Corryvrecken) that I want to shorten and trim the blades but don’t know quite how to go about it.
Trimming the blades looks easy, but not sure how to deal with the Adjustable Ferrule.
Brian
I did get your e-mail and thanks again. Diane