Richard wrote:
Hi All, I'm new to the group and I could use some advice.

A couple of years ago my girlfriend purchased a carbon kayak paddle,
manufactured by Prijon of germany. After she had been using the paddle
for a year or so It was clear that the paddle was too long for her, so
after consulting with the manufacturer we got them to send us some
epoxy and a spigot, cut a section out of the middle of the shaft, and
stuck the paddle back again with the correct feather.

For about one season this worked well, but after that the paddle
started to get some movement around the joint and would twist when a
powerful stroke was applied. In order to re-glue the joint, I need to
get the paddle apart, but although the joint moves a little when force
is applied, I have been unable to take the paddle apart again so that
the joint can be repaired.

In addition while trying to get some leverage to twist the middle joint
apart, one of the blades loosened somewhat and now has a similar
problem.

So my question is, does anybody know of any good methods for getting
apart, joints in carbon paddles, which are too weak to use, yet too
strong to easily take apart for re-glueing?

What has probably happened is that the epoxy has cracked
circuferentially but unevenly inside the paddle and it has separated
from the interior surface of the shaft, probably due to improper
preparation of the parts before gluing. What you now have is two
interlocking glue surfaces wearing against each other at the edges. The
loosness will get worse with time and there is no easy way to get the
pieces apart. You can continue to work them against each other and
eventually they will come apart but that could take days or weeks to
accomplish, since you may have several inches of epoxy in the joint to
wear away. As you've discovered, attemps to force the process just cause
other problems.

The only other solution I can think of is to:

- Split the shaft lengthwise.
- Remove the blades clean off any remaining epoxy.
- If that effort is successful, order a new shaft of the correct length.
- Glue the blades into the new shaft, being VERY careful to clean and
prep the surfaces correctly.

Barring that, you're probably best off to just bite the bullet and buy a
new paddle of the correct length.