Ingenious Splits Storage

[Poke]

I hate being the one left carrying splits on multidays. They always make getting the rest of your into your boat a royal PIA.

I've just had one of those "why didn't I think of this" moments:

http://vimeo.com/33389063

Awesome idea!

[lozbrown]

That is clever, although the following thoughts come to mind.

How do you make the long cylindrical hole for the shafts?

In most boats that bit of foam is quite difficult to get out, particularly with the seat in, you don't want mess it up or you'll be buying a new central foam to replace it.

[mike bennett]

looks to me (with my engineers head on) like they have mad a new foam support and bored it on a line borer for the padel shafts, great idea though if you have access to cnc kit

[TechnoEngineer]

Insane, totally OTT and overcomplicated if you ask me - and I'm usually up for doing stuff like that.

[Adrian Cooper]

How about you stuff the blades down the side of the airbags next to the foam block and the shaft on the floor below? Surely that will work. If you think you need extra security, a velcro strap could be added, maybe wrapped over the top of the foam.

[Simon Westgarth]

How do you make the long cylindrical hole for the shafts?

Buy using the split shaft, and boring the pillar from the cockpit end. This is however easier to say than get it prefect;y straight, as when boring the hole, you can compression the foam a little, and the paddle shaft tunnel then ends up being a little curved.

[lozbrown]

Buy using the split shaft, and boring the pillar from the cockpit end. This is however easier to say than get it prefect;y straight, as when boring the hole, you can compression the foam a little, and the paddle shaft tunnel then ends up being a little curved.

Don't know about yours but the ends of the shaft on my splits (lendal) are not very sharp, and the shaft wall has thickness so you'd be need to compress the core in the middle. Then you'd need to get the core out without snapping it halfway down (although maybe you go all the way through).

In short this sounds like really hard work and I think I'd probably tear the foam whilst trying to shove my split shaft through in it and loosing patience.


Maybe you sharpen you splits for taking a cheese core of from the occasional punter who upsets you, or maybe you've been trying to make an enormous one of those rollover hot dogs with a french stick and a long german sausage.

The possibilities are endless for a sharpened piece of of paddle shaft... ahhh I digress...

[Croft]

This looks like a great idea, coz split paddle storage is always messy when you are also packing full self-support gear.

In the past I have always kept my splits (Lendal) in a drybag to prevent them getting sand/grit into the (padlock) joints.

Using the proposed system you would have to be careful to thoroughly rince all the pieces before assembly to make sure to get all the accumulated grit out of the joints. Also think that you would need to secure the blades a bit better if you intended to leave them in the boat permanently - in case of a swim without the lateral drybags to hold the blades in place.

But I'm certainly going to give this a go!!

[David Fairweather]

It's an interesting idea. I'm not sure that I could get the foam out of the back of my boat that easily and I'd be worried that the more you take the foam out of the boat, the more likely it is that it will come out of it's own accord.

[DaveBland]

Sold.

[Croft]

It's an interesting idea. I'm not sure that I could get the foam out of the back of my boat that easily and I'd be worried that the more you take the foam out of the boat, the more likely it is that it will come out of it's own accord.

My understanding is that you would only need to take the foam out the once - when you carve it out. Thereafter you should be able to insert and/or remove the emergency paddle without removing the foam from the boat. Or am I being over-optimistic??

[andrew butler 101]

I'm pretty sure once made and put into the boat you wouldn't need to take the whole foam pillar out, just deflate the airbags.

The trickiest bit would be to get the shafts in straight.

Andy

[David Fairweather]

Fair enough, that could work pretty well then. I'll have a look and see if a similar system would work for my two piece splits in the Everest.

[1zak1]

MEGA, Will be doing that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Simon Westgarth]

Don't know about yours but the ends of the shaft on my splits (lendal) are not very sharp, and the shaft wall has thickness so you'd be need to compress the core in the middle. Then you'd need to get the core out without snapping it halfway down (although maybe you go all the way through).

The blog post with this video, was hosted at Werner Paddles, which are prefect for such things, and paddling too.

[ion]

I first saw this done by a couple of Austrian paddlers, it was by and large exactly the same system expect there was a large bungy cord "X" securing the blades in the carved out recesses. All my boats at the least have bungy cord loops secured around this pillar so that my breakdown is always secured snug vertically against an unmodified central pillar. I posted this pic of a simple system on here ages ago:

[Halox]

That would not be too difficult to make. A profile gauge to make the cut out for the paddle. For the shaft holes you could either

1. Cut an cutting edge out of a suitable piece of steel tube and use it as a drill.

2. If you have access to a gas torch heat up the tube and push it in to the foam melting the hole, although this would be harder to handle and get straight as its hot. You would also need to keep it cool enough to stop the foam bursting instantly into flames.

3. Or the easiest, use a flat drill bit for wood. You can get one for less then £10.

4. Another option is get a piece of aluminium with an ID slightly more then the paddles OD. Use it as an insert for one of the above.

I would use options 3 and 4.

A couple of hours work.

[morsey]

The concept of creating more space seems a good idea. What is the impact of the foam strength wise on the boat! Two longitudinal bores through the foam looks like it would not be best for aiding strength behind the cockpit!

[richard2]

I've had reasonable success putting 2 piece splits in the front of my boat - blades pulled up beside the seat and the shaft running along just below the footrest bars. Dosn't seem to get in the way of my legs / feet at all, and the footrest stops them falling out and that leaves the back of the boat clear.
Rich

[thetangoman]

Watching this video got me thinking about how easy splits should be to access. In the video they are in a walled in gorge when one guy loses his paddles. Should splits be stored somewhere you can them out from without having to empty to your boat or even get out of your boat?

I currently store my splits in the stern of my boat, secured by the airbags. I was thinking about trying to get my splits into my rear buoyancy as shown in this thread but I am now not sure...

Andy

[joereadickins]

Has anyone had any success recreating this? Would be good to hear how people got on.

[scottdog007]

I wonder how important that foam if for strength of a boat. Guess not as important as that of the foam in the bow but it would be nice hear from boat manufacturers.

Why not go one step further, and for boat manufacturers to build a design in like this in the first place, or offer it as an assessory to their boats.

Gee if I was a manufacturer and saw this post, I would be thinking wow, what a great idea to design into our big river runners and creakers. It would be a big tick in to box for those people looking for a new boat I would think. Why not make a compartment in that area possibly with a door that flaps open allowing all the different split paddles to fit.

[Canoe_princess]

If they inserted plastic pipes in the foam, and then slotted the paddles in to them.... that might overcome the weakness thing.

[jmmoxon]

As long as the holes aren't drilled too close together they will have negligible effect on strength.

I have also seen splits slotted alongside the seat with the shaft held in by the footrest, which means you only have to loosen the footrest to get them out, but this won't work for all boats/paddlers.

Mike

[jamaitch]

Loving the complexity!

Having just spent the last three days trying to get the central pillar out of a Raptor, I think im going to have to pass!!!

[geyrfugl]

Should splits be stored somewhere you can them out from without having to empty to your boat or even get out of your boat?

Sea kayakers certainly do - there may be no chance to land to get things sorted out and you don't want to be opening spraydecks or hatches. In theory you can lose your paddle in a capsize, reach onto the back deck to grab half a split, and roll up. It looks easy when demonstrated in a flatwater training situation, but how realistic it is as a real solution is difficult to say. However, right way up with half a paddle has got to be better than upside down with no paddle ! On white water with a four-part split ? Looking unlikely...

Andy

[Ieuan Belshaw]

Not my photo but this is a handy idea.

[ion]

Not my photo but this is a handy idea.

Tried this for a short while then decided it was a bad idea after blades started getting broken by hard hits...made me appreciate how much my boat protects me.

[Ieuan Belshaw]

Not my photo but this is a handy idea.

Tried this for a short while then decided it was a bad idea after blades started getting broken by hard hits...made me appreciate how much my boat protects me.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll pass on this idea even though it does seem a genius place to put them.

[Croft]

Have done the same thing on a Shiva (Lendal emergency paddle) but note that I have put the paddle shaft holes right up the middle of the foam so that they are easily accessible without having to remove the foam from the boat.



I used an old broken paddle shaft to make the shaft holes - this worked fine on a flat table using a chock under the drilling shaft to ensure that you keep the right line.

Roll on the Tsarap Chu / Zanskar!