Close to finishing my solo stripper and starting to look ahead towards trying a two bladed paddle to use with it. Right off, I realize lighter is better but I'm considering a Greenland style paddle because I could make one myself to give a two blade a try and not be in for $200 for the carbon two blade only to decide It's not going to work for me. From the research I've done I'm considering a paddle 4" wide, 8' 6" or 260 Cm long. I'd like to laminate it using WRC, basswood, cherry with some ash for a strip down the middle for strength and around the edges for durability. My solo is 26" wide at the gunnels, 29" max width, has a midship depth of 13" with the seat mounted about in the center of the boats depth with me being 6' tall. Am I on the right track or should I rethink this.
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Solo with a Greenland style paddle
- Thread starter wingnut
- Start date
260 is really long.I paddle boats that are your boats width quite nicely with 230-240 cm paddles. You are taller so that may factor in for more length Greenland paddles are sized differently for width http://www.pygmyboats.com/blog/greenland-paddles/
four inches is very wide.
No reason you cannot make a prototype with pine.. Thats what we have done.
Be aware that GP's paddle very differently from Euro blades. The former requires a canted forward stroke.
Yes I have a couple of GP but I regard them as a liability for tripping as they are one piece and a pain to portage. You can try bungeeing it in the canoe to keep it in place. I prefer single blade for tripping but do carry a double. Two piece fits in the bow. One piece when not used is in the way.
four inches is very wide.
No reason you cannot make a prototype with pine.. Thats what we have done.
Be aware that GP's paddle very differently from Euro blades. The former requires a canted forward stroke.
Yes I have a couple of GP but I regard them as a liability for tripping as they are one piece and a pain to portage. You can try bungeeing it in the canoe to keep it in place. I prefer single blade for tripping but do carry a double. Two piece fits in the bow. One piece when not used is in the way.
I agree with yellowcanoe, a 260cm paddle is really long. I made a greenland paddle and it is a little less than 235cm. I'm 6' tall too, but I suppose the seat height may make a difference with your boat. I've only really used mine with sea kayaks, but have tried it with my canoe. I can't say I liked using a greenland paddle with the canoe, but I don't tend to use a kayak paddle with a canoe anyway. Too much reaching over the gunwales, and it sounds like your center depth is kind of high. Do you have the .pdf from Chuck Holst about building a greenland paddle? Look that up and I think you'll get some pretty solid ideas about sizing a paddle. The blade width has to do with the size of your hands because you have to choke up on the paddle sometimes to make sweeping turns and need to grip the end of the paddle. You may want to just borrow or rent a paddle for your first couple test rides to see if you even like using a kayak paddle with a canoe. On the flip side, building a nice greenland paddle has its own rewards, and it sound like you have a good plan for one.
Mark
Mark
Thanks for the Insight Y.C. and D.B. I have never used a two blade either Euro or Greenland style so I'm soaking in as much info as I can. Most Info I find relates to Kayak use and mostly shorter paddles. Bending branches list their two solo canoe double blades at 260 and 280 CM making me lean towards a longer paddle. CLC lists some glue on ferrules to make a greenland two piece. I could see turning the center part of the paddle down on a lathe before laminating for the ferrules, leaving the center of the loom round with the option of ovalizing the remaining loom for grip. I guess it all depends on how involved you want to get.
In my sea kayak, I have come to love Greenland paddles. I don't even take the euro blades with me anymore. I have never, ever, used one in a canoe and think they are just wrong for canoes for a number of reasons, but it is all personal preference and what works for you.
I thought my first GP was too skinny and made my second one 5" wide. It came to be known as "the plank," and it was a chore to use. Over time, I came to most like a blade about 3.25" wide. The fatter blade was just too hard to pull through the water. Other kayakers using GPs would pull away from me, and I just couldn't pick up my stroke rate with that fat blade. You will need, relative to kayak use, a longer paddle, because your boat is wider than a kayak and you sit up higher than butt boaters. Length means leverage, and a wide blade will be even harder to spin on the end of a longer paddle. So, I think 4" is too much blade.
The loom on my paddles is around 18-20". That's the oval part in the middle, where I hold the paddle. I have two fingers overlapping the shoulders of the blade, where the loom transitions to the blades. As I paddle, my hands are often in the water as I bury the blades. I don't think that stroke can be replicated in a canoe. Should you make the loom longer, considering the width of the boat and the fact that you can't reach your hands to the water? It doesn't seem like having blades that extend during the stroke above the water and perhaps above the gunwales (i.e, paddling air) is helping anything. Too me, GPs and canoes make no sense, and I suggest you try regular euro blades if you must use a double blade. Maybe borrow or try a used set to see if you like it.
When I use a euro double blade in the canoe, a lot of water drips into the boat. Some paddlers seem to stay dryer than me, but if you are using torso rotation the off-side of the paddle ends up over your boat, and you get the dripage. GPs drip way more than euros, so if you use one in the canoe, get used to a wet lap and and a substantial bilge puddle.
GP brag, unrelated really: I am the only entry to ever use a Greenland paddle in the 16 years that Baltimore's Kinetic Sculpture Race has been run. But I used it like a single blade.
I thought my first GP was too skinny and made my second one 5" wide. It came to be known as "the plank," and it was a chore to use. Over time, I came to most like a blade about 3.25" wide. The fatter blade was just too hard to pull through the water. Other kayakers using GPs would pull away from me, and I just couldn't pick up my stroke rate with that fat blade. You will need, relative to kayak use, a longer paddle, because your boat is wider than a kayak and you sit up higher than butt boaters. Length means leverage, and a wide blade will be even harder to spin on the end of a longer paddle. So, I think 4" is too much blade.
The loom on my paddles is around 18-20". That's the oval part in the middle, where I hold the paddle. I have two fingers overlapping the shoulders of the blade, where the loom transitions to the blades. As I paddle, my hands are often in the water as I bury the blades. I don't think that stroke can be replicated in a canoe. Should you make the loom longer, considering the width of the boat and the fact that you can't reach your hands to the water? It doesn't seem like having blades that extend during the stroke above the water and perhaps above the gunwales (i.e, paddling air) is helping anything. Too me, GPs and canoes make no sense, and I suggest you try regular euro blades if you must use a double blade. Maybe borrow or try a used set to see if you like it.
When I use a euro double blade in the canoe, a lot of water drips into the boat. Some paddlers seem to stay dryer than me, but if you are using torso rotation the off-side of the paddle ends up over your boat, and you get the dripage. GPs drip way more than euros, so if you use one in the canoe, get used to a wet lap and and a substantial bilge puddle.
GP brag, unrelated really: I am the only entry to ever use a Greenland paddle in the 16 years that Baltimore's Kinetic Sculpture Race has been run. But I used it like a single blade.
While sea kayaks and solo canoes are as different as cats and dogs, they both move on four legs. I did a quick look at some specs for sea kayaks and was surprised to see that the width, height and weight are similar to a solo canoe. I'm guessing the biggest difference is sitting at or below the waterline in the kayak. That said, paddling in the kayak with your paddle closer to the water would make using the entire length of the blade up to the loom practical, Higher up in the solo, not so much. If you figured the surface area of the narrower blade using it's entire length compared to a slightly wider blade used at say 3/4 of it's length it would probably be close to the same surface area in the water. I've read that one of the gauges for blade width is by measuring the distance from the web of your thumb to the first joint of your index finger. With my thumb and index finger shaped like a C I measure 4". I'm just trying to look at this from a mechanical aspect.
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