Solid wood canoe paddle suggestions

I got lucky
My canoeing mentor has sold me a lot of great paddles for very little money. I feel very lucky to have top-notch stuff that I could never have otherwise afforded.



You say you think your double paddle is a bit short. How long is it? The Prism has fairly narrow gunwales for a touring canoe, so you don’t need a very long paddle. Too long is just as bad as too short. For example, my Blackhawk Starship has 28" gunwale width and my 230cm double works fine. I used to have a 240cm, but it doesn’t need to be that long and the shorter shaft requires less effort.

Kayak paddle
My kayak paddle is 230 cm. I’m able to control the boat quite well with it but my strokes are fairly vertical so it’s a bit of a wet ride. The Prism is quite fast actually with a double blade. I feel like I could go up a size but a straight shaft single blade paddle is more of a priority at the moment.

Double blading a canoe
is always a rather wet proposition. You will always have water dripping into the boat. I suggest you keep a large sponge on the bottom right in front of you to soak up the water and get it out of the boat.



I really wouldn’t go any longer than 230cm on that boat. One thing that can minimize the dripping is making sure you have a good, efficient stroke. That means a rather short, quick stroke that starts by putting the blade in the water by your feet, with your arm fully extended, and taking it out by your hip. If you make the stroke longer than that (that is, you carry it further back), it becomes inefficient, slowing you down and you also end up with more of the opposite blade above the boat, thereby dripping more water inside.

I just re -read your post above
and you say you’ve been paddling kayaks for 12 years. You probably have a pretty good stroke and I didn’t mean to tell a fish how to swim. :wink:

you’re a woodworker…
Why not make your own paddle?



About 16 months ago I built up a laminate blank (paddle tips are osage orange, edge strips rock maple, paddle core is cedar & poplar, and osage orange for the outer faces of the handle) and carved greenland kayak paddle. Actually I made two of them. While I do have some woodworking/cabinet building experience, I’ve never carved anything nor ever built a paddle of any type. It was fun, and both paddles came out very nice & work well.



If you make one you may find yourself making more.



I adapted a Chuck Holst design and drew up a sketchup model for the greenland paddle, but I’d guess the web has canoe paddle designs available.

Sanborn Gunflint Paddle From Minnesota
Is what I bought my daughter, three years ago, to paddle her solo outrigger canoe with. Now, it usually takes her an hour and 5 to 10 minutes to do a simple out, around an island and back run (depending on wind, current, tide and chop) using any of her old wooden or carbon canoe paddles. This time, however, using the Sanborn 14 deg. bent Gunflint, she did the run in under an hour. My only regret was not getting her this paddle earlier, before the State Champ’s Race.



It’s a nifty light weight paddle that feels like it weighs much less than the 19 oz. advertized weight. It’s made from scratch and not off the shelf. And yes, the top grip is oiled, but you got to remove the finish from the bottom grip to oil it. You can paddle for hours with this paddle. I recommend it.