Michael Daly wrote:
Brian Nystrom wrote:

Feathercraft sells a takedown GP, but it's rather heavy. The problem is
that the only commercially available center ferrules are too small and
the wrong shape (round) for a GP loom.

On Qajaq USA, someone recently posted a link to a web site selling
carbon fiber sleeves of different sizes. These are carbon only, no
resins. By stretching or compressing the weave, you can vary the
diameter somewhat compared to the nominal diameter. As well, you can
set its cross section to be oval or any other shape. Add a little epoxy
and you can make a custom ferrule for a GP.

Sure, but what do you use for molds? You need to make both an outer
sleeve for both sides of the paddle and an inner connecting tube that
fits into one side of it to form the "male" portion of the ferrule. That
means an internal mold for the outer sleeve and a matching external mold
for the inner tube. I'm sure it can be done, but I can't think of an
easy or inexpensive way to do it.