I have an odd problem with my paddle and I was wondering if anyone had
any suggestions. I'm almost ready to pitch it in the garbage. A few
weeks ago, a friend of mine was using my paddle and said she didn't
like it - it irritated her hands. She said when she finally buys a
kayak and paddle, she won't buy a fiberglass one like mine. I thought
nothing of it until it started to irritate my hands yesterday. The
shaft feels prickly when I run my hand along the length, and my palm
sparkled in the sun until I rinsed my hand in the lake.

It is a Werner fiberglass paddle, and it is 3.5 years old. It cost
$240. I splurged, but felt it would last a long time, so I am not
happy. Werner refuses to replace it since it is out of warranty (1
year), but they are sending me some shrink wrap stuff to put on. The
shrink wrap might work, but I'd have to cover the whole shaft - I don't
even want to touch it to carry it. What if I accidentally rub my eyes
with fiberglass fibers on my hands?

After pushing harder with Werner, they still refused to do anything for
me other than send me shrink wrap. They blamed me for leaving my paddle
in the cockpit of my boat (exposed to sun and the elements) during our
short (Vermont) paddling seasons. They say their paddles tend to last
20 years, but they take no responsibility when a paddle lasts 1/5 that
time. So I am wondering, how many of you leave your paddle in your boat
on your car for various lengths of time, vs. bringing it inside every
time?

Werner is being foolish because if I convince even one person to not
buy a Werner paddle, they would have been better off replacing mine.

I bought it from a local shop, and now I have dilema of where to buy a
replacement. I try to buy local and support small business owners, but
on the other hand, if I buy from EMS, REI, or L. L. Bean, I know I will
never have to worry about equipment failing before it should. Any
ideas?

I am thinking that spray paint may work better than shrink wrap. Any
comments?

Cathy

sorry this appeared twice... How do I delete the 2nd?

Cathy

wrote:
sorry this appeared twice... How do I delete the 2nd?

You can't.

On 6 Oct 2005 13:30:16 -0700, wrote:

sorry this appeared twice... How do I delete the 2nd?

Cathy


You can try hitting your help index for your newsreader and look up
cancels, but it's pretty useless, as most ISPs no longer honour them.
Too many forged cancels by trolls. Just try to forget about it.
It's one of the more harmless errors you can make in the 'Net.

Cyli
r.bc: vixen. Minnow goddess. Speaker to squirrels.
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli
email: lid (strip the .invalid to email)

[U.S. Citizen in a Kayak]

It depends on your newsreader. For instance, if you use outlook express, as
many do, you can select your message and then select "Cancel Message" from
the Message menu and it will remove the message from the server you posted
to. When other servers refresh their group listings from your server, they
may or may not allow the cancellation, but in general they will.

US

wrote in message
oups.com...
sorry this appeared twice... How do I delete the 2nd?

Cathy