Kayak Paddle for Kids

Post questions & answers about; paddle selection, building and maintenance; paddling techniques; boat transportation, storage & maintenance.
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pawistik
Posts: 323
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2004 11:20 pm
Location: Saskatoon, SK

Kayak Paddle for Kids

Post by pawistik »

I finished a new paddle for my kids last week. It's a kayak paddle to go along with their new kayak. About 155 cm long, it was made with a cedar shaft (reduced to 1 1/8" x 7/8") and 1/8" birch ply blades, 6 ounce glass cloth on the face of the blades, and a 14 gauge copper wire edge. The blades are curved and symmetrical (that way they don't have to bother about wether the paddle is upside down or right side up). The wire edge and the fiberglass was added for protection as I don't expect the kids to be totally gentle with the paddle.

I wrote about the building process in two posts on my blog. The first is here and the second is here.

I had a little help on this paddle:
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I used crazy glue to tack the wire in place:
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(crazy glue residue can be seen in the above picture, it was cleaned off before proceeding)

Left over fiberglass from the kayak was used for the blades:
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I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Weight is not bad I think. I think the wire edge should help to make it pretty tough. The girls seem to like it.

Cheers,
Bryan
canoeblderinmt
Posts: 415
Joined: Sat Jul 03, 2004 12:04 pm
Location: Butte, MT

Post by canoeblderinmt »

Pretty cool Bryan!

If I can EVER get back into the shop...well, if I can ever get my shop set up...I'll do something like that for my kids. We have a big canoe, and 5 kids. Each having their own paddle will make a trip that much more fun. And a good project to do with Dad. Thanks for showing us your great idea.

Greg
" Choose to chance the rapids, Dare to dance the tide..."
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