# cutting down a cataract shaft



## Avatard (Apr 29, 2011)

I recently had to cut down a 10' cataract shaft down to 9'. I've documented how easy it was to do by taking pics and descriptions. It took about 10 minutes. Much simpler to do on a cataract shaft than it is to do on a carlisle because the carlisle has an inner sleeve that makes it such that you have to turn down the handles to make them fit back into the shaft.

1) measure 30 times. cut once. I made a mark at 6'2" because the original shaft was 7'2". You want to cut on the handle side because its almost impossible to get the hole diameter and placement on the shaft size. I used a 60 tooth carbide blade it did a nice job but created a lot of dust.

2) I did a quick test cut on the discard handle side to make sure the carbide blade didn't do anything gnarly to the shaft. I was prepared to use a diamond blade from my tilesaw if necessary. fortunately the carbide blade worked fine. Once completing this rough cut, the handle came off and the rest of the blade could be clamped decently for a very clean precise cut.

3) setup for the precise cut.

4) measurement inside the handle from the end of the cut to the counterbalance shaft. I will use this measurement to cut more of the shaft off down to near where the handle/counterbalance goes.

5) cross-section after this cut through the epoxy. You can see the steel slug from the counterbalance in the center of the handle side.

6) using the scrap piece, I set the blade depth such that it would just barely cut through the shaft and not into the handle.

7) I then made a bunch of drop cuts into the material to cut through the fiberglass down to the shaft.

8) I used a chisel to complete the cut and to "peel back" the fiberglass shaft.

9) you can see I was a bit too aggressive with my cut but this will not affect the integrity of the handle and this will get filled in with epoxy when reassembled on the end of the shaft.

10) yeah!! nice fit. Just needs epoxy!!


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## tomrefried (Oct 12, 2003)

I cut the blade end and cut a new hole, It was much faster.


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## Avatard (Apr 29, 2011)

tomrefried said:


> I cut the blade end and cut a new hole, It was much faster.


Yeah, true --- but if you are off on your hole (diam, location) you can muck up the shaft pretty bad. The method i documented is the one suggested/recommended by cataract. 

Also there is a plug in the bottom that briefly seals the shaft this needs to be moved/relocated. Not sure if its affixed or just pressed in


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## Wadeinthewater (Mar 22, 2009)

Avatard said:


> You want to cut on the handle side because its almost impossible to get the hole diameter and placement on the shaft size. I used a 60 tooth carbide blade it did a nice job but created a lot of dust.


I cut down a Sawyer composite oar. Like you I used a 60 tooth carbide blade. But I cut off the blade end instead of the handle. I cut the shaft about a 1/4" long then drilled a pilot hole. I don't remember if I used a hole saw or a spade bit to cut the finished hole to fit the button on the blade. I then used the saw to shave a little bit at a time off the shaft until it was the right length to fit the blade.


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## upshitscreek (Oct 21, 2007)

tomrefried said:


> I cut the blade end and cut a new hole, It was much faster.


since 'tard mentioned carlisle's briefly, fyi to anyone reading the thread....don't ever cut the blade end for shortening a carlisle shaft. the walls are thinner at the blade, thicker for the rest of the oar. the blade will never fit and you've destroyed your oar.


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## billfish (Nov 22, 2009)

tomrefried said:


> I cut the blade end and cut a new hole, It was much faster.


 
Me too. It was easy and actually came out truer and tighter than the factory hole, but as a note- you cannot remove exactly 6 inches, due to the distance from the factory hole to the shaft end. Your oar will have to be at least 6.5" shorter than it was if you cut it from the blade end.

If you cut from the blade end, you have a 6.5" piece of shaft to practice the hole cut on.

Another note, I needed a set of max 7.5' oars for a small boat and I already owned this 10 year old pair of 8' Cataracts. Cataract does not stock oars less than 8' or it may have made more sense to have bought new oar shafts. It doesn't feel so risky cutting a 10 year old pair of oars.


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## Avatard (Apr 29, 2011)

This is the third cataract oar i've cut down and very minimal risk

I also cut down a pair of carlisles for a friend. The handles had to be turned down due to the inner sleeve. As someone mentioned, if the blade end would have been cut down we would be talking serious waste of an oar

This makes me wonder why are there cheap import boats but not cheap import oars? Anyone here willing to trust their boat to a pair of cheap chinese oars?


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## swiftwater15 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Cutting down cataract shaft*

You can cut out many of the steps by just buying new handles. 
Andy Bax sells them (or at least they did when I cut my shafts down.) Just cut the shaft with a miter saw. Rough up the inside where the new handle will get glued, rough up the surface of the "plug" portion of the handle and epoxy it in. That's how I cut down mine.


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## swiftwater15 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Cataract handles*

NRS also sells the handles. Way easier that trying to get the pushbutton hole perfect.


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## Avatard (Apr 29, 2011)

This is a C/B shaft. counterbalanced handles prob arent cheap. The salvage of the original handle added five minutes -- less time than it would take to order from Nrs and less stuff for the landfill


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## swiftwater15 (Feb 23, 2009)

*I stand corrected*

Ok. I stand corrected, and amend my previous comments to apply only to those without counterbalanced handles. I think those are around 75 bucks apiece.


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## Pro Leisure (Sep 19, 2011)

I'm curious why your cutting your oars down?


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## Avatard (Apr 29, 2011)

Upgraded my big rig to 11' oars (which fit great)

Had a 9' spare (with addn 1' extension) and a set of three 10' C/B oars to "dispose" of.

Sold two locally and then got a call from a guy in CO interested in the remaining c/b but only if it was 9' . Discussed the ability to cut the shaft down.

So took me about 10 minutes work to mod the oar and i shipped him a pair of 9' oars (only one C/b)

Note: not shown in the pic i used a 12" disc sander to get the end of the shaft perfectly smooth. If not for the missing cataract label you would never know it was chopped


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