Today I chipped my paddle blade for the first time, and I'm wondering what to do to repair and/or prevent further damage at that spot. The paddle is a fiberglass Werner Camano. The damaged area is fairly small: about 7mm along the edge of the blade, the top 0.6 mm or so is trying to separate from the paddle. Looking at the face of the blade, the damage extends about 2 mm toward the center of the blade. This is on the bottom of the left power face, about 25mm from the edge of the reinforced area, on the reinforced area (fortunately!). It looks like another good whack on this spot will pull this 2x7x0.6 bit of glass off the paddle face, perhaps more material than that, making it more likely that the blade will suffer more damage there later. I'm guessing I have two basic options: - fill the crack where the chip has started to separate with some sort of glue (is regular mix-your-own expoy OK?) to reinforce the paddle and keep it intact - carefully cut the separating material off, just so nothing is sticking up from the face, and then use some epoxy to reinforce the paddle (a trim-and-spackle approach) Any other hints or other suggestions? I'm not having much luck finding advice in my books or on the Web, not even on the Mariner Kayaks page. ;-) Afterwards, of course, I need to revisit the article in the latest club newsletter on using "Helicopter tape" to reinforce the edges before I do more damage. Thanks, -Peter Washington, DC, USA *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
In a message dated 9/25/99 7:09:30 PM, peterw_at_usa.net writes: << I'm guessing I have two basic options: - fill the crack where the chip has started to separate with some sort of glue (is regular mix-your-own expoy OK?) to reinforce the paddle and keep it intact - carefully cut the separating material off, just so nothing is sticking up from the face, and then use some epoxy to reinforce the paddle (a trim-and-spackle approach) >> I found Marine Tex did a fantastic job on my paddle and it sands down to invisible if you do it well. Just mend it and then sand all the extra off. I'd leave the raw part until then. More for the Marine Tex to bond to. Joan *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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