BWCA ONNO Custom carbon double blade Boundary Waters Gear Forum
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09/18/2013 04:52PM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
I was lucky enough to receive my ONNO Custom double blade paddle before taking a recent short trip, got to put a solid 30 miles of water on it and wanted to posts my thoughts. First off it should be noted that Pat at ONNO is a true one man shop, doesn’t have any help, doesn’t farm out any work, he doesn’t have any “stock”, they are all made to the new owners exact specifications on a one off basis, this process, can be a little lengthy, in my case it was a solid 4 months but well worth it.

The thing that attracted me to ONNO (besides the killer reputation) was the flexibility and value. There are plenty of really nice carbon yak paddles out there, but most of the time you are dealing with specific lengths and very limited blade selections, not the case with ONNO, you can get any of his 10+ blades in any layup you want, and many of them can be tweaked to fit your needs at no additional cost, contrast to most big names which may only offer 3-4 blade choices in a high end carbon line and with that, limited choice in shaft lengths. With the ONNO you can get any shaft length your heart desires, and even better, the ONNO two piece paddles have a somewhat unique ferule locker that allows for a 10cm adjustment in length. The ONNO Lever Lock is very nicely machined from aluminum and the mating ferule is hand fit to insure perfect interaction with the locker, as someone who knows machining Ican say no expenses are spared here, this is a top notch piece all the way, they even go as far as inserting a stainless steel insert, so the levers custom high turn ratio screw threads into the steel instead of aluminum, this should ensure years of trouble free use with no really chance of stripping the screw out, bravo!

The markings are machined into the alum as well as filled with white enamel. The feather angle is completely adjustable and it locks up HARD, I have tried to get it to spin and can’t, I think you would have to put it in a vice to do so, Pat hand fits these carbon ferules and while there is just enough space to let in slide nicely as soon as that lever engages it’s on like Donkey Kong, and by the time the lever is closed the clamping force is pretty extreme. I opted to go for his high end Carbon/Carbon layup, considering comparable units of a mass produced variety can run $450 I thought $375 was a heck of a deal when the custom nature is considered, even with the high cost of shipping from HI (about $45). Also most $400+ mass produced carbon paddles have unidirectional Carbon shafts, they look dull grey, every bit as strong and light as the carbon fabric tubes, just much cheaper to make, the ONNO on the other hand has a full on Carbon Twill shaft, so you get the cool carbon fabric look on every inch of the paddle, a nice touch.

So most importantly, how does it work? It works GREAT! I had mine built to be 245cm with the adjustment bringing me out to 255cm, this was perfect for me in my loaded Magic, when I wanted to motor I pulled it in to 245 and went higher angle, when I wanted to putz I slid it out to 255 and had the perfect lazy lily dipper. Portages were great as this paddle is 23oz total, confirmed on my scale. Fatigue over a long days paddle was nonexistent, at around 1.5 lbs its almost half of what my prev 240cm paddle was (it was a heavy wood pig). I went with his big full tour blades as my last one always felt too small, I really like this size, plenty of power yet didn’t bog me done (YMMV). I GPS tracked my entire trip and it was very easy to avg 4mph, in fact I did allot of waiting for my buddy and that’s still were I came out, in fact I may have annoyed my buddy with the ease in which I could paddle, we switched for a little pit and his paddle felt like a club in hand.

All in all I couldn’t be happier and I feel Pats fine crafts are a good thing for us canoeists, I know most makers only offer one or two extra-long paddles for use in wider Solos, and normally they are of a mid-grade level, not the high end carbon. With ONNO you can have whatever you want, 260,270,280, you name it, and you can have it in Glass or Carbon or a combo of the two.




 
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09/18/2013 07:27PM  
You like it OK, then...?
 
andym
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09/18/2013 07:38PM  
Glad it worked out so well. You make a compelling case for his work.
 
09/18/2013 07:40PM  
quote boonie: "You like it OK, then...?"

hahahaha
 
yellowcanoe
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09/18/2013 08:24PM  
A friend of mine just bought one. He is doing the same trip now as I will do next week. I told him the day before the start of his trip to accidentally leave his ONNO paddle behind and I would take good care of it..

Not surprisingly he insisted on money up front.
 
09/18/2013 09:07PM  
quote boonie: "You like it OK, then...?"



It's been a pretty common topic in this section, figured it was worthwhile to put some facts into it instead of simply saying "I like it", those type of reviews have never done much for me.
 
09/18/2013 10:56PM  
Having just completed a paddle search and not knowing about ONNO I selected a just under $400 Werner. At 5'11" the 230 I selected works great in my magic. Our blade sizes are similar, I really like the sculpting of the ONNO paddle. Whatever the paddle I am really getting into light is right for touring. Good selection Ragged.
 
09/19/2013 05:53AM  
quote bhouse46: "Having just completed a paddle search and not knowing about ONNO I selected a just under $400 Werner. At 5'11" the 230 I selected works great in my magic. Our blade sizes are similar, I really like the sculpting of the ONNO paddle. Whatever the paddle I am really getting into light is right for touring. Good selection Ragged."



I almost pulled the trigger on a Werner Ikelos, very nice build quality, but the adjustable locker swayed me, mostly because I was deathly afraid of ordering a length that wouldn't work. The Magic is nice because its pretty narrow at the guns and the sides are a bit lower, a shorter paddle works great, would need a longer paddle if using in a Prism.
 
09/19/2013 06:17AM  
quote Ragged: "
quote boonie: "You like it OK, then...?"




It's been a pretty common topic in this section, figured it was worthwhile to put some facts into it instead of simply saying "I like it", those type of reviews have never done much for me."


It was an excellent review, Ragged. Sorry if it sounded sarcastic rather than humorous ;).
 
09/19/2013 05:59PM  
and now I have something else to think about adding to my arsenal of canoe equipment!!!!
 
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