Paddle upgrade questions??

[taggermike]

Grades of paddles go from aluminum with plastic blades riveted on, to fiber glass, and then carbon fiber. Low Price paddles are heavier, pricy ones are lighter. There's also a "feel" component between paddle quality that's hard to explain. How much are you planning to paddle your out back? If its just for a few minutes of surf launches and going threw kelp the paddle you have should fine. Ive paddled an outback and it didn't paddle well IMO. I have a paddle yak and a CF paddle. After hours on the water I can tell the difference over a heavier paddle. I hope that helped. Mike

[Iceman]

When people say it sucks they are referring to them snapping, as in the blade snaps off on the older ones. Last year Hobie changed manufacturers and Cannon is making their paddles now.

Fiberglass and carbon fiber, shafts and blades are better than aluminum and nylon.

[Mr. NiceGuy]

Originally Posted by Iceman

When people say it sucks they are referring to them snapping, as in the blade snaps off on the older ones. Last year Hobie changed manufacturers and Cannon is making their paddles now.

Fiberglass and carbon fiber, shafts and blades are better than aluminum and nylon.

Hobie puts a lot of effort into the things they design -- both for style & benefit, and so things break as soon as possible, just outside of warranty. I find myself constantly having to replace unique and proprietary Hobie components that break.

For Hobie, "all parts are replacable" (yay!) --- by intent and design. They are all difficult to substitute with non-Hobie solutions, and they are all expensive. It's part of the master plan, I'm sure.

As a matter of fact, the plastic buckle of the strap that holds my new Livewell to the deck behind my seat just shattered for no particular reason. I've been using my new Livewell for about a month. I already replaced the plastic nut that holds the circulation pump in place because the overly soft threads stripped. It's typical. I bought a new deep size Hobie "tupperware" gear bucket for the center hatch a few weeks ago and it's already splitting vertically in three places. It looks good, it fits, and it's meant to be con$umable, dispo$able and replace$able.