Best Glue for canoe paddles?

[Nate Carey]

...beautiful paddles Ken!

Long Lake and Blue Mountain Lake are two of my favorites...I don't get over that way often enough...it's been years.

[Allen Brown]

OK, I have jumped into the world of epoxy. I ordered some West, 105 & 206.

My question now is this;

I know by reading up on strip built canoes that when people fiberglass a canoe, they start by laying the glass on raw wood, then adding the resin & hardener. I know you can add additional layers of glass later, so that tells me that I should be able to coat the entire paddle with resin & hardener, and then add a layer of glass later, if I feel it's needed. Is this a proper assumption? Also, since I will be applying this system to mostly vertial surfaces, should I go with exactly their recommended ratio of resin & hardener?

Thanks,

Allen

[Nate Carey]

Epoxy will adhere to epoxy as many times as you want it to. There is surface preparation necessary, so follow the manufacturer's instructions. Do not stray from the recommended ratios of resin/hardener.

Personally, the less fiberglass on a wooden boat the better. I use fiberglass for abrasion resistance only. If large areas of wood must be covered with a synthetic material, Xynole Polyester is far superior to fiberglass (and much more expensive; there are always compromises). And if strength is the goal, carbon fiber is my choice.

Allen, you have taken the first step into composite construction...start small and have fun!

[Allen Brown]

Thanks Nate,

At this point, I will stick to FG for my boat (it will be cedar strip canoe), because I want the benefit that FG has to wet out clear, and let all that beutiful wood grain show. However, now that I have made a completely wood paddle, I am interested in attempting to make another one, using a wood shaft, and a carbon fiber blade. I'm not sure quite how to do this, but I was thinking maybe a foam core with the carbon fiber to wrtap it?

I'll have to do several more searches to figure it out.

[Richard Bowman]

I am making my first canoe paddles, a pair of bent shaft paddles. The shaft is comprised of (9) 1/8" strips of walnut & cyprus. I am planning on using gorilla glue. I might fiberglass these, or maybe just eurathane.

Any problem with using this glue for this?

I personally agree that West eposy would do a great job, but 3M used to make a flexible epoxy (I'm not sure if it is still available), and it was superior when used in a stressful application because it had a natural give to it.