Kayak paddle for canoe

[pumpkin]

Kayak paddle

 

[nickb]

A paddle making company in this neck of the woods lists a little sizing chart (on the right side of the attached page) which takes into account the width of the kayak, and height of the paddler (a stand in for their torso height). They usually say go a little longer, if you can't get an exact match - it supposedly encourages the more efficient low-angle paddle stroke.

http://www.bendingbranches.com/sizing.php

Of course, this is all based on kayaks, which not only are narrower than canoes, in general, but you're also essentially sitting in the bilge of the boat.

Just looking further at their page, they actually do have an "extra long" kayak paddle section, with another chart showing canoe widths of under and over 35" wide. Looks like there they recommend 260cm to 280cm:

http://www.bendingbranches.com/bb-slice-glass-solo-extra-long-performance-kayak-canoe-paddle.php

Sorry for the long links. Hope this helps. I'm actually interested in this as well, since I'd like to make my wife a small wood and canvas canoe she can carry down to the lake herself, and use a double bladed paddle with. Not as small as a wee lassie maybe, but something in the 12-14' for better tracking. Neither here nor there, I know, but...

 

[Dr Dean]

280cm= 110.2362in. I use a program called Convert for Windows. It is a free download from http://joshmadison.com/software/convert-for-windows/. I am a farm equipment service tech and use this program almost daily. It's real easy to use, you select in this case distance from the top tabs. Then in the left side you select centimeters on the right side you select inches. At the bottom in the input box you put in the input 280 in this case. It gives you the output 110.2362.

 

[john hupfield]

I used double paddles. I nitially 9 footers. Switched to 8 footers. Like spoon oars, AND should be adjustable as are good Kayak paddles.
John