Paddling tips, tricks, news and gear reviews from an Unsponsored point of view

Tag: Spare

Break Down Paddle Guide

People typically think of needing a break down paddle (splits) when someone in the group breaks his or her paddle, but what if somebody just loses a paddle? We have all been on the river and seen someone swim. People are going all different ways chasing the swimmer, the boat, the dry bag that came out, but what about the paddle? The paddle is one of the hardest things to spot floating through a rapid and can be easily lost. Suppose it was you that lost or broke your paddle. “My friend has a break down,” you think to yourself feeling relieved. Then your friend hands you a paddle with a blade twice the size of what you normally use and it’s 10 cm longer with a 60 degree offset. Now what?

What Kind of Break Down Paddle Should You Get?

What kind of paddle do you normally use? Your break down paddle should be a 4 piece version of that same paddle.

For example if you use a Werner Shogun that’s 200 cm long with a 30 degree offset, your break down paddle should be a Powerhouse that’s 200 cm long with a 30 degree offset. (The Shogun is the foam core version of the Powerhouse and the Stikine is a foam core version of the Sherpa).

Break Down Paddle
Break Down Paddle Guide
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Don’t Leave Home Without It

Don’t Leave Home Without It – that is your breakdown (split) paddle.

Don't Leave Home Without It

Chris Wing from H20 Dreams shows us a great way to store your breakdown paddle system within your kayak. It’s pretty neat.

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MYOG – Split Paddles Part III

Part I can be found here.
Part II can be found here.

Part III

Setting the correct feather of your paddle is critical. In the past I have always used an existing paddle and lined the new one up by eye. This can be hit or miss.

In order to set the feather correctly on this paddle I have decided to deploy a little bit of maths.

I want my paddles set at 35 degrees and I know that the diameter of my paddle shaft is 30mm. Using this I can calculate the length of the arc (this will make sense later on). I can rotate the two paddle shafts to match this distance and therefore set the feather angle. Continue reading

MYOG – Split Paddles Part I

If you ever need to call upon the set of spare (split) paddles stored in the back of your kayak the chances are that it must have got a bit fierce for you to lose/damage your normal set. If that is the case your spare set must me up to the job. Having an inferior set of spare paddles may not be the best idea. However shelling out hundreds of £’s on a fancy set of splits is quite painful on your wallet. Now and again you can find split paddles on ebay.

A couple of months ago I started a search for a suitable paddle to modify into a set of splits. The tools for the job were assembled. 1 x saw, 1 x tube clamp/cut guide, 1 x tape measure, 1 x Vernier gauge (everyone should have one these!).

MYOG - Split Paddles Part I

Today I spent a few minutes taking the care of creating my own spare set of paddles. This started by cutting a perfectly good set of Werner Wenatchee in half. The Wenatchee design is a superb symmetrical blade made by Werner in the late 90’s/early 00’s. This set cost £40 a few weeks ago.

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GoPro Accessory Roll II

Over the last few months a couple of these GoPro accessory rolls have been put together. The idea is to have all of your bits and bobs together in one easy to get to and well organised package. The one shown below (MKII) is made from Cordura and is designed to hold a Gorillapod, a screwdriver, a spare Wasabi battery and SD cards stored in an aLoksak waterproof storage bag.

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