More Thoughts on Paddle Wrap

Never happy with most factory specks, I am forever playing with additions and small modifications to my kayaking gear.  My latest obsession has been paddle grips and wraps.

Last year I wrote about my experiment using bike handlebar wrap on my AT2 paddle.  Since then I have been very happy with how that has performed; it has proven to be more robust than I had first expected and it hasn't gotten slicker or degraded with oils from my hands.  The complaints that I have with it is that it's the more expensive option (though only at about $15) and that I ended up adding too much bulk to the grip.  There are some slimmer handlebar tapes that I found out there, but they are much more of an open weave (a lot like medical tape) and so would absorb and retain water.  At any rate, this wrap is still on my AT2 and going strong and I plan on leaving it on until it needs to be replaced.

Electrical tape looks nice.

In the meantime, I just got myself a shiny new paddle!  I had entirely too much free time over the winter to day dream about paddles and ended up wanting something longer for creeking and river running than the 188 I have been using for years.  So... I jumped with both feet (hands?) into a Werner Sho-Gun, straight shaft, 197.  I have used it only a couple of times, so I'll write a review of my feelings on transitioning from years with a bent shaft to the longer straight shaft after I take it down a few more runs.  Even still, with it all new, I felt like experimenting with some kind of grip wrap. 

Electrical tape wrap

The hard, cold carbon just didn't feel right in my hands.  First I tried using just electrical tape.  While I thought that looked really nice and clean, and it did give me a little bit of added texture,  it just didn't give me as much of a substantive change as I was looking for.  It was still hard and cold and not particularly "grippy."

Tennis racket wrap

Pondering on sports tape, I finally landed on tennis racket tape.  I found this to actually be pretty neat stuff.  It's not as bulky or squishy as the bike handlebar wrap, and it is actually tackier than I had expected to find.  I would say the texture has that "sticky rubber" feel.  It's not sticky on the inside, but when you wrap it tight and overlap the tape it kind of sticks to itself.  The only end I had to tape down was the tale end as I could overlap the start.  I used standard duct tape and wasn't really able to get it to lay flat from the tape to the shaft, but that's not a huge issue.  My only worry is that it isn't cut as long as I had hoped and so it didn't span very much distance on the paddle shaft... about the length of t a tennis racket handle... go figure.

One advantage to this option is that it will be easy to take off if I change my mind and it only cost about $4 after tax for a packet of three.

Happy experimenting!