Paddle blade protection

[Muskrat]

I got to go out on one last canoe trip for the season this weekend. We paddled the Big Piney River in Missouri. It is a low water river especially with the lack of rain here lately. We got out and drug a lot and did a lot of pushing with our paddles and butt scooting over the rocky shoals. All in all a perfect test for abrasion on a paddle blade. I used my aquabound edge almost exclusively for the trip. It has a carbon shaft with a carbon reinforced ABS blade. A trick I learned from whitewater guys is to use car door edge guard on the blade edge. I bought 18' for $12 at O'Reilly. It has its own adhesive so you just stick it on the blade and you're ready to go. I had to round the corners some on the aquabound to get it to fit, but I think the paddle looks and feels better that way anyway. The edge guard can fit on any blade that isn't too thick. It would work great on carbon zre's, and I don't notice any performance differences. Attached are some before and after pictures. This is the kind of river that you would only normally use a rental Carlisle paddle on, and I think the edge guard worked great. A couple bucks worth of plastic that I can swap out whenever gives me a lot of piece of mind for bringing my own paddles on the roughest trips.

 

[Muskrat]

No Title

This is what the stuff looks like at the auto parts store.

 

[latremorej]

Interesting, you didn't notice any extra noise while dipping the blade?

 

[Muskrat]

No extra noise. Adding the edge guard doesn't make it any thicker than a normal wood blade paddle so the entry isn't much different than those. In fact, it makes it more similar to the wood blades I normally use on easier water. Also, It's not the best blade for an in water recovery being spooned and having a big central rib, but I don't notice any difference while slicing through the water either.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Car door edge guard also works on the stems of canoes at the sheer lines. That little inch long or so section if there is no deck or end cap It protects the sharp edge of the hull from getting ground into ..well the ground if you "ranger" the boat.

 

[Guest]

A trick I learned from whitewater guys is to use car door edge guard on the blade edge. I bought 18' for $12 at O'Reilly. It has its own adhesive so you just stick it on the blade and you're ready to go. I had to round the corners some on the aquabound to get it to fit, but I think the paddle looks and feels better that way anyway.

I understand about the need to round off the corners and that looks very smoothly wrapped.

I may have to look for that brand of car door edging. I tried some once years ago and the edging wasn’t pliable enough to wrap much of a curve smoothly. It was also kind of kerplunky thick.

 

[Canotrouge]

I paddle ww a lot, notting to crazy, but class II III III+ every weekend and some evenings during the season, and I tried a bunch of things, and I give up, I have a few paddle that are lasting really well and one of them is a new Zap paddle that I got this past summer. The Aquaboud Edge carbon are one of the lon lasting paddle I've used they do wear. But I much prefer a thin edge that feather well than a protected edge that create turbulence in the water!

But if you like the feel and the look then it is all good and it will last a lot longer for sure!!


Cheers

 

[Muskrat]

I hear you Canotrouge. Most of the stuff I paddle is shallow and rocky. I've been trying to come up with a better solution, but this seems the best so far. When I spend half my time using the paddle as a pole the edge protection makes me cringe a lot less. And that's on a relatively inexpensive aquabound. The other option for my stuff is a cheap carlilse, and the aquabound with the edge guard still feels way better than those.

 

[Guest]

The Aquaboud Edge carbon are one of the lon lasting paddle I've used they do wear. But I much prefer a thin edge that feather well than a protected edge that create turbulence in the water!

Well, there’s always this alternative, carbon fiber tow laid up with G/flex will wrap a very thin blade edge.

http://www.canoetripping.net/forums/forum/paddlecraft-construction/20631-paddle-work-in-progress

 

[Alan Gage]

If you don't mind it looking ugly I wrapped my carbon blade tips with a couple layers of dynel before my big trip. Seemed to work though it was pretty much all worn off the tip of my most used paddle by the end.

20150904_002 by Alan, on Flickr

As the edge started to wear and tear I'd trim off the lose bits with a sharp knife.

Alan