Need help with sourcing some paddles for my kids aged between 8 and 14.
Anyone know where I could go to get some?
They're using mine at the moment which is obviously no good.
Don't want to pay too much and unfortuantely I'm not a handy man so I've got no hope of making some!

Thanks

A lot of those cheap $10 are crap that I've seen.. They're ok for a small child but once they get to about 8yrs old they will need something better.

You can go down to Canoes Plus in Kew (Melbourne) and pick up the bits you need to make a decent paddle.

They have the black anodized alloy tube.



Also good quallity paddle blades and T grips.



They will cut it to the length you just need to tap the T grip into the end and the same with the blade.. No screw or rivets needed.

It could be made in a few minutes and only cost about $50.

Bargan!... I just live up the road and can meet you there if you need a hand.. I've made half a dozen of these and they work well.

The next and best option is to go for one of the new Kialoa adjustable paddles.. They are a pretty good price and you can adjust it as they get older/taller.

Here's a link.. www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=46003&SearchTerms=Kialoa,adjustable

You may even like it enough to use it yourself.

DJ

am making wooden paddles with a woodshop class that I teach. Most of the students want to keep the paddles for themselves but others are going to put them on ebay to see what they can get. If you like I'll post some pics.

You have to be really careful with kids paddles as the blade itself becomes a large percentage of the overall shaft length. The normal 8 inches over their heads does not apply as the paddle blade then hits the board. You have to make the shaft length so that in comfortable padling position the blade sits under the board or they will chop up the rails all the time.

I have alread ruined an old carbon paddle by making this mistake!

I will try to put up some pics to show what I mean.

The blade area needs to be about 2/3 the area of the Kialoa methane so that an 8 to 10 yr old has enough grunt to get the board going in small waves imho.


Best regards

Phill