# Re-sleeving an aluminum oar shaft



## brettb (Apr 9, 2005)

need to do the same..look forward to hearing about durability.. they look great


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## carvedog (May 11, 2005)

Great idea. I have replaced a couple when they got to the point I was worried about dropping plastic in the river.


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## grumper13 (Jan 14, 2008)

Yes! This is the answer I've been looking for!


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## Whoapiglet (Aug 23, 2010)

Great find! I see it comes in clear. Might try some over a pair of wood oars I have for protection. Also have some splintery cataracts that could benefit.


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## Aerocam (Jul 11, 2011)

Just did this to a pair of Two piece Carlisles. 


Sourced the heat shrink from Ebay. $30 for enough to do two 9 1/2 ft oars plus extra. I used two layers under the Carlisle sleeves but that wasn't quite enough for the sleeve to tighten down on. Three was too much for the whole sleeve to slide over, so I added a two inch section under the tightening bolt only and that worked great. Used an exacto to cut out the button holes and any excess. Definitely less expensive than two new shafts.


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## Tom Martin (Dec 5, 2004)

Cool deal Aerocam. I ended up back-stopping the oar sleeves with band clamps. Cheap at the price.


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## curtis catman (Sep 29, 2015)

Whoapiglet said:


> Great find! I see it comes in clear. Might try some over a pair of wood oars I have for protection. Also have some splintery cataracts that could benefit.


Let us know how that turns out. I have a set of cataracts that were made in the early 90's. They are slightly smaller than modern ones and they are not finished as smoothly. This would also help them. Let us know how it turn out.

And thanks Tom for posting up this idea.


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## ob1coby (Jul 25, 2013)

Thanks for the tip Tom! I'm going to use the clear at the bottom of my cataracts just for scratch protection. I was going to use clear bra but I think this will look cleaner.


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## Tom Martin (Dec 5, 2004)

Someone just sent me a PM asking to report on how the re-sleeving has held up. So far, excellently! I did have to use two hose clamps on either side of the oar sleeves to keep them from slipping. Yours, tom


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## Aerocam (Jul 11, 2011)

I used two layers under the sleeve and a short band under the screw clamp of the sleeve. Holds tight without slippage. 

It's a breakdown oar that I use for my spare and has only seen ten days so far but is holding up fine.


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## windknot2 (Aug 15, 2010)

So I ordered 10 feet of 2 inch Blue Vinylguard Heat Shrink Tubing from U.S. Plastics in Lima, OH (800)809-4217 at a cost of $1.86/ft with UPS shipping to Colorado adding another $18.33. When the tubing arrived it would not fit over the aluminum shaft on my Carlisle oar which measure about 1.75 inches in diameter. I called the company and spoke with their technical assistance department and they looked into the issue. It seems that the manufacturer of the tubing recommends that it be stored at 70 F or less. If not, it will start to shrink. U.S. Plastics does not have refrigerated storage, so the tubing I received had shrunk to less than 1.75 inches. They are replacing my tubing with 2.5 inch diameter blue tubing at no additional cost to me and they feel confident that it will fit over my oar shaft and it is capable of shrinking clear down to 1.25 inches when heated with a heat gun. They were nice folks to deal with in resolving my problem. I will try to post an update once I get the new tubing here and install it.
Windknot2


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## Tom Martin (Dec 5, 2004)

Hi Wind, Great post! Yes, please let us know how the 2.5" works! Nice that U.S. Plastics worked with you. That's Great customer service! Yours, tom


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## buckmanriver (Apr 2, 2008)

Nice creative oar refurbish solution!


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## windknot2 (Aug 15, 2010)

The 2.5 inch shrink tube worked just fine on my Carlisle oar shaft that measured 1.75 inch diameter with the old blue plastic sleeve removed. When I slid the shrink tube onto the oar shaft, I left about 4 inches of extra tube hanging over at each end. I used a Wagner heat gun and started shrinking the tube in the middle of the oar shaft and worked all the way to one end, then started in the middle again and worked to the other end. Leaving 4 inches of extra at each end was barely enough to account for the shrinkage that occurred during the heating process. My old black plastic oar stop would not slide over a double layer of the blue shrink tube in the manner Aerocam used. I wish it would have, but I shrunk a 2 inch band of the blue tube above and below the oar stop sleeve and that appears it will work to keep the stop in place. Right now, it looks like I am back in business on the river. Thanks to all who contributed to the topic.


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