Author Topic: Broken Paddle Suggestion.  (Read 1856 times)

Honolii

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Broken Paddle Suggestion.
« on: January 14, 2008, 08:59:09 PM »
After reading a lot about broken paddles and thinking about materials and so on these are my thoughts.
Coming from a mt. biking background lightening bikes (steel tubes, aluminum, carbon) without sacrificing strength led to different manufacturing process for different material.  Steel tubes were butted, forming the tubes thicker at high stress point and thinning out at low stress points. Aluminum tubes were ovalized, and in some cases triangulized, in the high stress areas through hydroforming(aluminum tubes are put in a form and high pressured oil are pressured within the tube to "balloon" the tube to the form shape). Carbon fiber layup, of course, made sense on thickness and design specific to the stress level  at a given area.
The problem I see with paddle manufacturing today is using stock tubes with same thickness throughtout. If you want it beefier, you get a thicker tube, which means heavier. Somehow if manufacturers are able to make their own shaft specifically for paddling, beefing up the high stress areas and keeping the low stress areas thinner we would see less snapped paddles and more happy customers. This could be done both with aluminum and carbon fiber. I understand the cost effective ratio in manufacturing limits companies in doing so, but with the projected growth in the sport I am hoping someone will step up to the plate. Whoever does, I'm sure you'd have a bandwagon of buyers wanting the bestest and latest as atested on this forum. In the long run, I beleive if you have a great product, it will pay for itself and then some.

 


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