Fenn3 Paddles

I'm looking at buying a Fenn3 paddle.

Has anyone here had one that can comment on the build quality / durability? The only person I know snapped his paddling in choppy water. All other reviews I've found on the net are good but if anyone else can share their experiences it'd be much appreciated.

Cheers.

I've seen paddles from several manufacturers break, so I don't think a single incident should freak you out.

The explanation might be anything - a flawed build, through to a dropped paddled that caused a tiny crack through to hitting a rock.

99.9% of the time paddles (and skis for that matter) won't break, but there are always exceptions to the rule. Both paddles and skis are built to be light and that inevitably means that they can and will break given the right circumstances.

Hi i share Rob's experience. I have seen friends paddles and had a number of my own paddles break. Not once could we go back and blame the manufacturer. We all had to be honest and admit that it has been stood on / jumped on / been used to push off rocks in river races and we should have replaced it months ago and not in the middle of the Fish River Marathon

I would be very surprised if it was a FENN 'problem'

I've been using a Fenn 4 for a few years, and the build quality is fantastic - its a great paddle.

I doubt you would see people going out in 40knot downwinders with Fenn paddles, if there was some general quality issue.

So yeah, I'd recommend a Fenn. The 4 is too big for me, but I think the 3 is a good all-rounder size.

I started on a fenn 3 about two years ago. I wouldn't say the build finish was very good. There was plenty of bubbles and areas without carbon. However it held up well although it did chip easily.
Recently I moved to a braca 4 set up by Greg bennett. Flawless finish and seems less prone to chipping. Big difference in feel. The fenn was more solid in the water but also seemed to be harder to exit. I found that I was actually leaning on the paddle on the exit for stability which was not a good thing. The braca zings out on the exit.