How to Repair a Wood Kayak Paddle

In making a kayak paddle repair, it's essential to make repairs that will hold up under stress.

Repairing a wood kayak paddle involves some of the same woodworking skills that it takes to build a custom paddle in the first place. Split blades are fairly straightforward to repair--some glue and clamps basically. A broken shaft is more complicated. Following is a look at each repair starting with the simplest and most common problem to fix--a split blade.

Things You'll Need

• One 10-foot 2 by 2 ash, hickory or other suitable hardwood
• Power sander and/or planer
• Rasp and/or draw knife or planer
• Bungee cords or furniture clamps
• Gorilla Glue or strong epoxy-based wood glue
• Oil wood stain
• Paintbrush
• Paint thinner
• Marine varnish or waterproof clear coat.

Instructions

Broken Blades

1. Separate split pieces completely from the paddle. If you have access to a planer, run the broken edges across the planer a couple of times to ensure the joint is perfectly straight. You can also do this with a table saw. Set both to shave a very narrow bit from the edges of the blade pieces.

2. Line up the blade pieces so they edge are perfectly flat against each other. Lay the blade flat on something to dry.

3. Apply glue to the edges of the blades. Clamp or wrap bungee cords around the pieces you need to repair.

4. Wipe off any excess glue that squeezes out between the joints. Allow the blade to dry overnight. Remove the clamps and check the balance of the blade. If shaving the blade resulted in making the blade unbalanced, shave a bit off the undamaged half of the blade to compensate for what you trimmed off in cleaning up the blades.

5. Sand the blade, touch up the bare places with matching oil stain where the repair process removed the finish and apply varnish to the entire blade in thin coats till the finish is restored. Repeat with any other splits or cracks in the blades.

Broken Shafts

1. Remove the broken shaft from the blades. Cut a notch in the blade where the shaft goes into the blade. Make the notch a tiny fraction less than 1 ½ inches wide about 4 to 6 inches deep into the blade. Make the notch as deep into the blade as the old shaft went into the blade.

2. Cut the 2 by 2 hardwood board the length of the old blade that you removed. Trim the ends to fit in the notches in the blade. If the blade was feathered, you will have to trim one end so the straight edges on one end are canted at the same angle that the original blade was. A 75-degree offset for the blades is common, but may be as much as 90 degrees depending on the original blade.

3. Apply glue to the inside of the notch in one blade and the outside edges of the replacement shaft. Clamp the blades tight onto the shaft and allow it to dry and cure overnight. Do both ends the same way.

4. Rasp or hand plane the shaft ends down to blend smoothly into the blades. Use the draw knife or plane and sandpaper to round the shaft and smooth it into the throat of the blades.

5. Sand the entire shaft and repair area. Wipe down the shaft and repaired areas with a matching oil stain. Allow to dry and then apply thin coats of varnish or polyurethane clear coat to the entire paddle till the desired finish is achieved.

Tips & Warnings

• Work slowly with sandpaper and trim tools. The danger is over-trimming. Better a tight fit than a lose one.

• Always wear gloves when working with clear coatings or fiberglass chemicals.

• Work with chemicals and varnishes only in a well-ventilated area.

References

• Tripod: Making paddles