Culminating Project= Building a paddle help
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URL: http://www.professorpaddle.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11341
Printed Date: 04 Jul 2025 at 9:20pm
Topic: Culminating Project= Building a paddle help
Posted By: ENDO
Subject: Culminating Project= Building a paddle help
Date Posted: 23 Oct 2011 at 6:24pm
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For my cp, I am designing and building a kayak paddle. I am hoping to do it out of carbon fiber. Does anyone have any broken paddles they wouldn't mind being cut up to help in my design process? Also, does anyone know or have any carbon fiber sheeting that I could use/buy relatively cheaply for the final product? Any other info/insight for this project would be greatly appreciated
-Jp |
Replies:
Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 23 Oct 2011 at 10:04pm
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Dude straight up: don't be trying to reinvent the wheel here. Paddle making is a very, very fine art. Shooting in the dark will only yeild mediocre results at best. I would contact Blunt Family Paddles and ask his advice. He makes wooden sticks, and they are the legit sh*t that ain't gonna quit.
Kenny is a nice guy too and he'd probably be able to steer ya in the right direction. PNW local. Other than that, another local who is sometimes on this site is Rutang (not sure if I spelled his user name correctly). Try to ping him directlly and see what he has to say. Otherwise I'd say go to Werner cuz they be local, but they also got way more at stake as far as protecting "trade secrets" are concerned. While we are on the subject let me say this straight up: Pick up ANY major name brand legit whitewater stick, and most lame ass knock off bullsh*tter "rec" sticks. Look at today's prevailing blade design. For the record: There is a specific man who deserves full credit for the basic blade shape most of us use and his name is Keith Backlund. Yes others have come along since and tweaked this and that, but essentially what we have here is Werner and AT and most other paddles worth using piggybacking (yeah a polite way of saying they ripped him off unless they pay him royalties but I doubt it) on his design, and now decades later it is standard. If you are seriously undertaking the endeavor of making paddles, YOU OWE IT TO YOURSELF to do your homework and study some history while you're at it. That said I wish you well in your endeavors and hope they bear fruit. The other Master Paddle maker besides Keith, Obviously, would be the Godfather of Squirtboating (which essentially makes him the Grandfather of modern playboating as it is currently known), Jim Snyder. Google his site and read EVERYTHING he has to say about paddling. He went his own way with his own blade shapes but didn't stop there. We're talking about true craftsmanship here. ------------- 🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋 |
Posted By: Kiwi
Date Posted: 24 Oct 2011 at 9:26am
| the CP at OHS is complete and total bullsh*t. duct tape some blade shaped pieces of plywood onto a PVC pipe. If you talk for the required 5 minutes or whatever and manage to not turn into a stammering idiot you'll pass. Getting the project done as a junior is totally worth it though, makes senior year even more relaxed. |
Posted By: fiddleyak
Date Posted: 24 Oct 2011 at 9:39am
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A project that would be easier but still in the spirit of your project would be to re-fiberglass an older paddle. I've thought about trying this but so far haven't found the time. Seems like it wouldn't take excessively long and learning how to use fiberglass seems like a useful skill. I've got a werner that has less than half its original surface area I could give you. |
Posted By: Travisimo
Date Posted: 24 Oct 2011 at 9:41am
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http://www.clubpenguin.com/ - http://www.clubpenguin.com/  ------------- H2O please |
Posted By: warlickone
Date Posted: 24 Oct 2011 at 9:48am
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Here is a relatively obscure site full of info that may be indirectly useful:
http://www.boardlady.com/index.htm |
Posted By: warlickone
Date Posted: 24 Oct 2011 at 10:01am
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I especially like this one:
http://www.boardlady.com/fiberorientation.htm |
Posted By: ENDO
Date Posted: 25 Oct 2011 at 3:18pm
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SHH kiwi i was thinking bout just scratching the brands off one of my paddles if this doesn't work out.
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Posted By: ENDO
Date Posted: 25 Oct 2011 at 3:20pm
| Jp thanks for the help. I did come in contact with blunt family paddles last year for some basic design help. I also have a carbon fiber worker for boeing to help. Those other names i will have to check. thanks! |
Posted By: Kiwi
Date Posted: 25 Oct 2011 at 7:29pm
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Originally posted by Travisimo
<element style=""> When I tried to google to find out what CP is... http://www.clubpenguin.com/ - http://www.clubpenguin.com/ </element>For the life of me... I cannot figure out why a penguin would need a carbon fiber paddle
<a href="css_styles/default_style.css"><element style=": progid:DXTrans.Microsoft.name(sProperties)"><a href="css_styles/default_style.css"> </element> CP stands for culminating project, travis. it's f**king stupid. I posted on here when I had to do it a few years back cause I wanted to make a custom glass surfboat, unfortunately anything water related isn't allowed because it is potentially dangerous and the school doesn't want to be sued. So basically you're limited to masterbating in a padded room for 30 hours (or at least claiming 30 hours) and presenting that. Who's your advisor Jacob? Go for Schaefer, he's a boss and super chill about all the due dates. plus he realizes that it's all bullsh*t and will let you slide on lots of things as long as you're not a jackass (you're not a jackass). For my CP I ended up "learning to use photoshop". biggest load of crap ever and I passed. you're supposed to spend a minimum of 30 hours working on your project. I threw it together in about 3 hours 2 days beforehand. It did not make me a better person, did not prepare my for college, and made me resent the public school system. Jacob, consider reglassing a paddle, that's a skill you'll probably use more than actually building a paddle when you get old and take up canoeing, an added bonus, it's easier. |
Posted By: ENDO
Date Posted: 27 Oct 2011 at 10:54pm
| Nydam is my advisor. I actually have alot going for building it. Like some Boeing guys are helping me and are letting me use their autoclave. Also got a friend whose helping me make a 3d model and running it through simulations to test tensile strength. I already have the majority of the shaft set and dried. We were able to take a I foot section and have 3 people hang from it. |
Posted By: James
Date Posted: 28 Oct 2011 at 9:37am
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Posted By: jondufay
Date Posted: 28 Oct 2011 at 10:37am
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Kiwi,
Don't take this as a personal attack, but for being a high school graduate, you still whine like one of my freshmen. Why would you go out of your way to discourage somebody from doing a good job and putting effort into something that interests them? The culminating project is like most other things in life, you get out of it what you put into it...sh*t in=sh*t out.! ------------- ahh, f--- it dude, lets go boating... |
Posted By: ENDO
Date Posted: 28 Oct 2011 at 9:58pm
| James, I thought the same thing, but you shape the carbon sheeting into whatever shape you need then add a resin film to coat it. It then bonds the material together. Its a lot cleaner than hand laying and hand applying resin. But it looks like im going to have to hand lay. |
Posted By: Kiwi
Date Posted: 29 Oct 2011 at 10:37am
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Originally posted by jondufay
Kiwi, Don't take this as a personal attack, but for being a high school graduate, you still whine like one of my freshmen. Why would you go out of your way to discourage somebody from doing a good job and putting effort into something that interests them? The culminating project is like most other things in life, you get out of it what you put into it...sh*t in=sh*t out.! My initial thoughts exactly, I wrote my proposal to build a boat, submitted it, and was told immediately that it "was too dangerous", and I had to think of a new cp. When you come up with a project thats actually meaningful and interesting to you and it is immediately shot down for a false perceived danger, it pisses me off. Really made me not care about the project. The crap they make you do in HS, 4 years of "bear tracks" where you have shorter class periods every few fridays to go sit in your advisors room and wait for the time to run out. My "goals for the semester" were always about kayaking or climbing, like "run a class V by June 18th" or "Get that purple V5 in the gym before they take it down in a month" My advisor always signed me off for my "goals", but what a waste of time. Maybe my cynicism will fade after a few years away from OHS, but until then I'm gonna say don't waste all your energy doing a huge project that really doesn't mean anything in the long run, unless you can make it work. LIke, for example, refinishing paddles for a injured veteran kayaking school. If you did something like that it'd be remembered for a lot longer and you'd get a warm fuzzy feeling inside as well. |
Posted By: ru-tang
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2011 at 2:35pm
Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2011 at 7:37pm
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Esso, Ru-Tang! I was hopin you'd weigh in. This is a great topic for these forums, and you got first hand knowledge.
Tell 'em about the seat you built for the Cerro- that should be a pretty reasonable scope for a project. Yeah, Ben- fiberglass skills are STILL relevant for us boaters. And, Kiwi, I feel your pain. If that school was going to limit you for some reason "Too Dangerous" shouldn't be one of them. No wonder so many American kids are "masturbating in padded cel (phones)" But, good point Professor Dufay- ya get out what you put in. Even if its as simple an activity of, say, throwing a camp chair. I think Kiwi's saying they wouldn't let him put in what he was willing to to get out what he wanted to. My "new" boat rocks, but it is still a compromise. Which is why plastic bums me out. It'll always be a compromise for someone like me who knows exactly what he wants in a boat yet no one makes it. Custom plastic boats aren't possible. Makes me miss my fiberglass days. Maybe they will return. ------------- 🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋 |
Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2011 at 7:41pm
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BTW always make sure you have a sterile shaft before masturbating in a padded cell. ------------- 🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋 |