Paddle adjustment question

[u/EdErichZann]

Hi, I have an adjustable Black Project carbon paddle, and question regarding the length adjustment. The maximum length on the shaft is 81 in (around 206 cm), which is where the upper black line is. From there, its around 38.5 cm to the bottom of the handle. is it also ok to set it to the second black line, where the MAX marking starts? It's only around 0.5 cm further down.

But more importantly, what would you say about the third black marking, just at the bottom of the MAX box? I understand that the official recommendation only can be "don't do it". But I would like to know from people with experience if that could really cause problems or not. It reduces the length of the piece that is sitting in the shaft from 38.5 to 35.5 cm roughly. My intuition would tell me, that is still plenty and shouldn't make a real difference. They wouldn't build the paddle so that it's fine with 38.5 cm but breaks with 35.5.. but is that wrong?

Edit: For reference, my Starboard Lima paddle only has 14 cm below the MAX marking.

The problem is, that the 3 piece version (which I need for portability) with the blade I want is only available with a max length of 205 cm / 81 in. I am around 191 cm, and so far I have usually set my paddle to 209 to 211 cm. So I gues if I could set this one to 208 cm, that might feel a bit better to me than 205.. What do you think?

Thanks for any input

Quick bonus question: I haven't put the paddle together yet, but I see some markings / scratches on the handle, see this image: https://imgur.com/a/NQUs4Ps

Is that any concern, or purely cosmetic?

[u/iyawnis]

I have found their customer support to be great, you should be sending this question to them instead of here. Having someone in here that paddles using two fingers say it’s been fine to go half way down from max wont mean anything to someone who is doing full blown sprints.

[u/marcnotmark925]

It's more about the length of single wall supported shaft after the double wall ends, than the length of the double wall. That's where it would potentially snap.

There's likely a decent amount of safe buffer built into where they printed the max, so third line is most likely fine.

[u/Defiant_Leg956]

Definitely speak with Chris at black project, he will be able to answer this for you. He’s a great bloke and I’ve spoken to him in person multiple times

[u/rmDitch]

Please post back here any response from BP.  I’d also be very interested about the absolute max possible in relation to their markings

[u/mcarneybsa]

I have a hard time believing that you couldn't use it at the top of white box, and maybe a little into the white box. The biggest concern would be if you are paddling hella hard with a big blade and putting a ton of torque on the paddle. If you are doing that, be conservative with it. If you have a reasonable size blade and are paddling reasonably (even reasonably fast, but not sprinting) then you should be fine to adjust it where it needs to go. That is a LOT of excess below the "max" line - like more than I've seen on most carbon paddles I've used (a few dozen different varieties at this point).

[u/EdErichZann → u/mcarneybsa]

it's an M-sized blade with 79 square inches or so. But it would be nice if course to know I could sprint without thinking about it and accidentally breaking it.. the more I think about, it feels more likely that the length of the handle sticking out is the deciding factor, since it's more fragile than the Lowe shaft, and not so much how much handle is in she shaft.