Materials

We use a number of different materials in the construcion of our paddles. Starting with the lowest priced 'plastic' models they are :-

PPSF - PolyPropylene reinforced with Short glass Fibres is injection moulded to produce our Foundation Touring range and KidzStix paddle blades. It is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications because it is tough, fatigue resistant and flexible, especially when copolymerized with ethylene. This allows polypropylene to be used as an engineering plastic, competing with materials such as ABS.

Glass fibre-reinforced polypropylene has much improved dimensional stability, resistance to warpage, rigidity and strength. The grade that we use has approximately 80% improvement in tensile strength over non glass-reinforced grades.

PPN - An engineering alloy of Polypropylene and Nylon 12, reinforced with long glass fibres, is injection moulded to produce our Stix Recreation/Whitewater range. It's formal name is 'Orgalloy®' and it is a family of patented polyamide based thermoplastic alloys, offering the best properties of polyamides: mechanical strength, dimensional stability, thermal and chemical resistance, as well as other major advantages.

N12 - Not all nylons used by paddle manufacturers s are the same! Our Nylon 12 is a semi-crystalline engineering plastic with very high toughness and rigidity for varied applications. It is further reinforced with glass fibres and has exceptional impact, and abrasion resistance plus superb rsistance to cracking under stress at very low temperatures making it by far the best possible choice of nylon for whitewater in colder climates.

PREPREG - Glass and Carbon is used in our Premier and Elite ranges for whitewater and carbon. For many reasons prepreg materials are superior to more conventional lay up systems. Unlike wet lay up, or resin infusion systems, prepreg materials are more environmentally friendly in their use, faster and cleaner to process and give more consistent results in strength, weight and durability. We use an epoxy resin system specifically designed for use in high stress sporting and aerospace applications which is pre-impregnated in a 'gel' state to the reinforcing fabrics at precisely controlled resin to fibre weight ratios. The materials are then frozen until required for use to maintain the resin system in a dormant state. After defrosting and lay up in to our moulds in a dry state the materials are cured at high temeperature and pressure and after demoulding in around one and a half hours they are totally cured and ready to be cut to shape or simply trimmed and finished, depending on the model, ready for shipping. Unlike conventional resin systems no post curing is required as full strength is reached within the short cure cycle.