Thursday 20 October 2011

More Dragon Boat Class paddles

Not sure but we seem to be the only  South African company with the past expertise to make the correct pattern Dragon Boat paddles,we have made hundreds in the past.It all started when the class was begun here in Cape Town, the insurance company Old Mutual decided it was a good venture to support and placed a very large first order for paddles with the then Commercial Lumber cc,which later became CKD Boats cc as we moved into the kit boat market.


This pair are not brand new but restored,they will live to paddle another day,one was sold yesterday,there are others but the best option soon will be to remake as new.The blades of the new ones will be epoxy and glass reinforced,probably with some carbon added to increase the blade strength.


An original Old Mutual Dragon Boat paddle,its a reminder of the hours of hand shaping done to cut them from a single plank of Spanish or Red Cedar,we can now use American White Poplar (cotton wood) but use the CNC machine to cut and profile,ensuring they are all the same.Weight was never an issue,they all came in under the 800 grams allowed.


On the first batch made we just copied the original paddle as brought in from Hong Kong,those had a handle pegged in place with two hardwood 6mm dowels,we soon found that to be a weak spot.These handles are hiding the double rebated and socketed then epoxy glued into place method we now use.

Contact me for new paddles.

R McB

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