Shortening paddles

Hi,

Has anyone had any experience of shortening a pair of Knysna paddles with the nylon adjustable twist lock. Unfortunately mine are 210-220cm and I want them shorter, probably 205-215cm.. To do this I need to release the twist lock from the shaft but I'm concerned that the heat needed to do this could also damage the twist lock itself. Has anyone done this successfully or would I be better off cutting the twist lock off and removing the attached shaft with a hacksaw blade?
Cheers

I did a couple of Epic paddles not long ago, a jug of boiling water was all that was needed to remove the twist lock. I used epoxy to re attach once I cut the shaft with a drop saw, wrap tape around the shaft before cutting to prevent splintering.

Hi Paul, Greg's advice is sound, but often you will find that the paddle manufacturers only use hot melt glue where the paddle is attached to the shaft and not at the twist lock. You can easily shorten the shaft at one end without affecting the balance significantly : just choose the correct end! Remember to mark the feather of the paddle carefully before disassembly, and reattach it in the same place. I used hot melt glue and have not had any problems since.(Jantex paddle.)

I`ve done it the same way as Nige suggests on a number of my Knysnas and it`s been very easy. Instead of a hack-saw though, I gently use a pipe-cutter to get an even cut. I`ve even used some of these off-cuts as spacers on the headset of a road-bike! A hair-dryer works well to loosen the heat glue. I haven`t tried it on my oval shaft Knysna though - that might prove more difficult?

Good thread. Has anybody removed Epic blades? I would love to shorten a fixed length paddle that I have.

Before shortening my Epic paddles at the twist grip and the lever lock on another, I tried to remove the blades and shorten them that way but despite a lot of heat, as much as I was prepared to use, I could not remove the blades on my paddles.

If the blades won't come off, you could take some more drastic measures, if you are not afraid of getting your hands dirty, so to speak. Hack it in 2 near the middle of the shaft, remove as much as you need, then put it back together. You will gain maybe 1/2 Oz or so weight from the reinforcement you would need to add to rejoin the paddle. I've done that sort of thing with my white water paddle (to change the offset on a fixed one piece bent shaft paddle) and it worked very well.

My 2-piece Epic mid-wing I shortened from the center but I only shortened a little. The post is on this form from some time back - if the blades can be removed, this is the way to go due to the oval and variable diameter profile of the shaft near the center when shortened. Near the blades the shaft is oval but constant size, where towards the center it gets thinner until it gets round for a very short length in the very center where the lock is. So if you remove more than 4-5cm in the center you will run out of the round section and your join will begin to wobble when assembled. You can remove much more length form the blade side without running into a different shaft diameter issue.

Well, thanks for all the advice but my Knysna blades don't want to budge despite using a hot air gun for as long as I dare. My plan b is to saw the shaft directly behind the insert part of the adjuster and then remove the excess shaft from the adjuster before re-affixing.

So my question is; how far does the insert tube sit into the shaft (or in other words, how long is the adjuster beyond the zero mark etched on it). I don't want to weaken it by cutting in to it .

Thanks
Paul

Don't cut first; remove the insert first. The insert will likely be very easy to remove with heat. The adhesive is different on it as far as I know. On my paddle the lever lock piece would not come off with heat, but the insert tube came off very easy.

So, remove the insert, shorten the shaft a bit, then reglue the insert back-in.

One more thing, check he shape of the shaft - if it is not round to a few inches past the point where you intend to cut, the round insert will not have a good fit. Not sure how your Knishna is, but if it is oval shaft like the Epic, then you can only cut very little from the center without compromising the join area.

I reglued the insert (and in my case the lock, which I had removed too) with fast cure 3M marine adhesive, which remains a bit flexible but is very strong after it cures.

Please contact Albert Wasserman from www.knysnaracingkayaks.com he will be happy to advice you. Some things are glued with hot melt others are glued with epoxy which will not come off whith heat.
Wim