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Carbon paddle repair?

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A couple of used ZRE paddles came into my possession. One of them has some nicks and dings in the edges of the blade, with a little fabric showing. Should I just fill the dings with epoxy and sand to fair - or should I wrap a thin layer of carbon over the edges first?
 
Just fill with G-flex thickened epoxy(I think it is the 655) and then sand to fair it will be as good as new...
 
A couple of used ZRE paddles came into my possession.

Steve, do tell. I have never got that paddle lucky.

One of them has some nicks and dings in the edges of the blade, with a little fabric showing. Should I just fill the dings with epoxy and sand to fair - or should I wrap a thin layer of carbon over the edges first?

I have laid carbon fiber tow and G/flex epoxy as edging on some wood paddles. The G/flex may be doing more as blade protection than the carbon fiber tow, but the skinny black strip looks sharp on an old wood blade and I have refinished many of our wood sticks with carbon fiber tow and a bead of G/flex.

Some of that is here (sorry about the weirdo symbol text):

http://www.canoetripping.net/forums/...rk-in-progress

In any case I would not want exposed fibers showing, and think you probably need to repair the nicks and dings first. Somehow build the nicked and dinged blade edges back out to near perfect blade curvature, before trying to do any wrap. Which may then be unnecessary.

Maybe some painters tape dams and judicious layers of G/flex laid in place, later sanding down any G/flex imperfections. You could add a little black pigment to the G/flex to hide the honey color on the black carbon edge, without the carbon tow.

BTW, those carbon fiber tow blade edge wrapped Beavertails were Joel and his brothers paddles, from their family-camp Canadian youth 40 years ago.

I have since heard that each of them now absolutely refuses to allow anyone else to even touch their paddle, and one keeps his hanging protectively in his living room, far from the family camp in Canada.

I can not tell you how pleased I am with that Smeagol Precious, My Precious paddle refurbishment result.
 
Look at the edge of the paddles and you should be able to see an area maybe 3/8" wide around the rim that's extra thin. This is where there is solid fabric. Farther in is the foam core. Once you get past the section of solid fabric they'll start to delaminate. I usually just sand out minor nicks and chips until I start getting close to foam.

I've tried wrapping the edge with fiberglass but if you're paddling hard and scraping them across rocks/gravel it wears away very quickly. I've had my best luck wrapping the edges with dynel. It's ugly but it works great and provides much more wear resistance. You can spend the time to sand the transition, fill the weave, and paint but I quit worrying about that. On my tripping paddles I wrap the edge with dynel fabric even if there is no wear but I subject them to much worse conditions than most people would think of doing to a carbon blade.

I've never used any carbon, kevlar, or dynel tow but I'd be worried that anything thick enough to work on the edge of a wood paddle would be too thick for the Zavs.

For regular paddling where they're not getting scraped on rocks the factory edge will last a long time. Pushing off rocks isn't a real big deal, it's scraping over them when paddling up shallow rapids or banging them off rocks in whitewater that takes the toll.

Alan
 
Thanks, guys. The nicks and dings are small. I think I will do the G-flex with black pigment and sand fair for now.

Steve, do tell. I have never got that paddle lucky.

Well, they weren't free. But I got the pair off CL for $200. That makes them each $50 less than the last one. Seems a lot to pay for a dinged up paddle, but not really. Craigslist - it's an addiction.

One will have to be shortened, but I understand that is not difficult.
 
One will have to be shortened, but I understand that is not difficult.

Sometimes yes and sometimes no. I had one where the handle popped right out after heating with a heat gun. The others I've done (3?) have been a real fight but they finally came. On one the handle started to crush but after reinstalling it and a little epoxy it was fine. If they have the plastic handles don't expect them to come out and still be reusable. I tried (and failed) with one of those.

Alan
 
Congrats on your new Zav's Steve. I agree that a little epoxy and sanding is all you need. Sometimes I used to take a toothpick or wooden skewer and dip it in epoxy and just roll it on the blade tip to give it a small sacrificial edge. The only way I ever managed to damage a Zav was by slamming it in a car door and even then it survived with one small puncture.

As far as shortening Zav's my experience is same as Alan's...sometimes easy and sometimes not. I use a candle and rotate the paddle...the original glue will loosen at the right temp and your challenge is to try not to overheat and cook the shaft since it can get brittle.

Adding more carbon would throw off the balance and make it blade heavy and surely the mutant paddle would fly right out of your hands and potentially injure an innocent fish.
 
Steve, it's easy to cut the paddle shaft with a hacksaw but you do want to first wrap a piece of tape around the shaft and cut through the tape since carbon shafts can splinter. Also, once you get the handle out you do not have to reglue it, electrical tape will hold it in place and if you like you can experiment and shorten the shaft a little bit at a time until you find your ideal length. I think you may be surprised at how easily you can feel a 1/4 inch or even 1/8 inch change in paddle length.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. I did fill the dings with G-flex and black pigment and sand to fair, and it looks good.

Sometimes yes and sometimes no. I had one where the handle popped right out after heating with a heat gun. The others I've done (3?) have been a real fight but they finally came. On one the handle started to crush but after reinstalling it and a little epoxy it was fine. If they have the plastic handles don't expect them to come out and still be reusable. I tried (and failed) with one of those.

Alan

Alan, thanks for the warning. Since it had the plastic handle, I opted to remove it surgically, rather than with heat. First, I cut the shaft as described by Gumpus. Then I clamped the piece with the grip in it in a vice and attacked it with a cutting wheel in the Dremel tool. Folks - that carbon shaft cuts easy, but is some stiff material! Cutting it gradually lengthwise (very carefully, with multiple passes) on opposite sides, it popped right off. With just the single first cut, that shaft wouldn't flex at all. It had to be cut the entire length on both sides for it to come off. I only got a slight nick the in plug section of the grip. Don't try this without a solid rest and clamping system, or if your hands are shaky! A Workmate stand is ideal.
 
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