Rail Saver Pro for your paddle.. www.railsaverpro.com

I was never a big fan of rail tape on my boards but since putting RSP on my Mana I plan to put it on all my boards.. even if just for those time that I let others paddle my board (and wack the rails with their paddle) and for those times that I need to rest my board down on its rail on concrete (save having to balance the board on the tops of my feet) and to be honest I think it looks pretty good..

It's a quality product... Anyway.. I've just found out about this new RSP for your paddle blade.. I've put my order in and keen to try it out.. If I like it I'll probably end up putting it on all my paddles..

I was was never a big fan of paddle edge products because electrical tape has always worked fine for me.. but I do find myself continually replacing it and is get little nicks and tears very easily.. They say this product does not effect the performance of the paddle at all.. and should last the life of the paddle.. If so I'm sold..





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Let us know how it goes DJ. I've been using eleccy tape on my blades, but the QB just cuts through it. Also using RSP on my rails now too, for the same reason - peace of mind. It is a good product.

Very interesting product. Judging by the quality of their rail saver, this product should be a killer.

Will order some as soon as they have them in easy-to-find in whitewater colors (red or orange) (only white for now)

Our hire & school boards and paddles cop a hammering. We use the 3m rail tape on the boards and we were using three layers of the Nitto Electrical tape on the paddle blades. Just as said above, this does wear through pretty quick and has to be replaced regularly. We have found the most damage to the blades actually occurs towards the top of the blade, between where it meets the shaft and the widest part of the blade. This season I have cut the 60mm wide 3M rail tape in half so only 30mm wide and stretched it around the blade edge just like in the video, but all the way from the shaft on either side. Extremely happy with how it has performed over the summer peak season.

Ive been using this product on my paddle since day 1 on a SUP, some three years ago now. Dont know if it affects paddle performance as i only have one paddle, but i get more than my share of waves :) .What i do know is my board does not have one mark on the rails, so it was a very well spent $20. available on ebay, my opinion only.
Cheers

dratts, it affects paddle performance.
You wont feel it while a beginner, but once you know how to paddle, you definitely feel it.

JB Mel, if your rail savers are textured (like the rail savers pro), it will eat quickly through the Electrical tape on the paddle... you cant have both :-)

A mate of mine uses the same thing. He seems happy with it. He says he can also rest/place the blade on the concrete without any worry either, as opposed to putting the blade on his thong or holding the paddle in the air while he is talking etc.

Regarding feeling it, unless you're doing a time trial for the Olympics surely it wouldn't matter.

The good old electricians tape would be a good alternative too I guess. It might not last as long as others have mentioned.

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colas said..
dratts, it affects paddle performance.
You wont feel it while a beginner, but once you know how to paddle, you definitely feel it.

JB Mel, if your rail savers are textured (like the rail savers pro), it will eat quickly through the Electrical tape on the paddle... you cant have both :-)

The 3m rail tape is smooth and lasts forever! We have some original school boards that are 6 years old and the rail tape is still intact!
So now that I have started using it on paddles too it is smooth on smooth.... Time will tell but I think it is going to be a winner over the electrical tape.

Nice one JB Mel.

Here's a link, photo too. www.surffx.com.au/product/jp-paddle-board-rail-tape/

Looks like its good value for money too. I'm guessing that 3M is that company and not the length of the tape....

It is the length of the tape!!! (2 x 1.5m)

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Viking1970 said..
It is the length of the tape!!! (2 x 1.5m)

3M is the company that produces it. The peel-off paper backing is covered with the 3M logo. We buy in bulk for the school boards & the length we apply depends on the board length. We have found the part of the board that cops the most hits is actually up the front near paddle 'entry' point but in a school/hire environment the more tape the better!!!

Colas
After 3 years on SUP and some 30 years surfing, i dont consider myself a begginer anymore. as i only use my board in the surf, dont race or compete, i believe my wave count lets me know i can paddle correctly.

dratts, just try a similar paddle without guard, you will feel how these protections induce turbulence.

I agree though that it is mostly about the feeling. Actual efficiency loss should be negligible for recreational use.

Have to agree with dratts ,

I purchased a new bamboo shaft paddle from watersports Tas 6 months ago . Had it about 4 months then added a paddle guard from ocean and earth mainly because of safety concerns ( I reckon the paddle blade would cut worse then a fin cut if it caught you in the surf ) , and also I hate mucking around with rail tape . Applying the Ocean and Earth paddle guard was easy , so easy I applied it to my spare paddle as well .

In the surf I can't notice any difference at all . Not saying there isn't more turbulence created , just saying in the wind / chop / waves there is so much other water movement around that the bit created by the paddle guard isn't noticable to me .

Colas... would you say that "purists" will not use either rail tape nor any kind of paddle tape or guard? As a general comment - it does not sit well with me, to pay 500 bucks for a paddle with supposedly advanced blade design and construction - only to put a makeshift bit of tape or plastic around the edge. Okay... so it might have minimal affect on the performance - but these days you are paying big bucks to get small amounts of advantage..such as weight and fluid dynamic efficiency.

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LordKuz said..
Colas... would you say that "purists" will not use either rail tape nor any kind of paddle tape or guard?

Perhaps.
I am not a purist. I used the thick paddleguard on all my paddles during my first 2 years of SUPing, and have them on my wife and daughters paddles.
I now use electrical tape, more for protecting my paddle edges (and my toes) than the board, and I cannot feel turbulences with tape, but can with the rubber U-profiled ones. Especially now that the paddles have better profiles than before.

If you hit stiff carbon on carbon (paddle on rails) repeatedly, something has to give, you want something to absorb the shock.

Plus red or orange electrical tape make the paddle easy to find in the surf. I very rarely let go the paddle on wipeouts, but when it happened, finding the paddle was really not trivial.

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LordKuz said...
Colas... would you say that "purists" will not use either rail tape nor any kind of paddle tape or guard? As a general comment - it does not sit well with me, to pay 500 bucks for a paddle with supposedly advanced blade design and construction - only to put a makeshift bit of tape or plastic around the edge. Okay... so it might have minimal affect on the performance - but these days you are paying big bucks to get small amounts of advantage..such as weight and fluid dynamic efficiency.

Interesting comment and one I agree with. My first paddle - which I still use on occasion (QB adjustable composite) blade has a pvc (or abs) edge. It doesn't need a rail tape - although after dragging it along the bitumen for a hundred metres once after a tie down strap let go - there's a corner that doesn't have the soft edge.

I have just installed this blade protector from rail saver pro onto a TRIDENT ELITE carbon paddle. I was surprised that just one blade protector was no where near enough to cover the bottom and blade sides so luckily they send you two. So I started at the top of the blade where the handle merges, went down one side and then same on the other. The result was some overlap on the bottom, giving double protection I suppose.
Is my blade longer then normal maybe?

Surely using rail tape along the side of a board must also affect the boards performance in the same way .Besides IMO ruining the look of the board and being a pain to put on , and get off .

applying textured rail tape along the board rail has got to be like applying a handbrake to your board .

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Tassiedevel said..
Surely using rail tape along the side of a board must also affect the boards performance in the same way .Besides IMO ruining the look of the board and being a pain to put on , and get off .

applying textured rail tape along the board rail has got to be like applying a handbrake to your board .

IMO RSP doesn't effect the boards performance..

I think it looks pretty good.. and it's very easy to put on and take off [unlike other rail tapes]

.. and there is no handbrake like effect..

I'm sure anyone else thats used RSP would agree..

You don't need it.. but if you do choose to use some kind of rail tape the RSP is by far the best... IMO..

I'm really not good enough to notice a change in performance, and have avoided it for a long time, but have to admit now that I am using it I'm happy. The push for me was buying a QB paddle with a sharp edge. Love the paddle but it does attack the rails. The black and yellow stripy stuff looks good on my Nalu, and the red blends in fine on the Laird. I can go hard and not worry about smacking the rails, and loan my boards to friends and let my kids have a go stress free.

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Tassiedevel said..
applying textured rail tape along the board rail has got to be like applying a handbrake to your board .

On the opposite... in the water, textured is faster than smooth...

I guess if you are a purist you could always sand the rail saver edges before application into a bevel to avoid the hard edge (PonoBill does it)

Myself, when I had boards tha dinged easily I ended putting rail saver only in a 1.5' - 2' section on the front rails where I was hitting the most on frantic take offs. This way I had the compromise of protection but keep the critical parts of the rails (middle & aft) untouched.


And yes, the Rail saver pro products are extremely well designed, high quality products.

Hey, just had my first session with the rail saver pro paddle tap. It's really good, no detectable effect on paddle performance, it stays on really well and certainly makes you feel a bit more relaxed about banging the paddle. Thumbs up, a good product, but remember you will probably need to use the two they send you on the one paddle As one piece won't cover all the edges.

you blokes were right .

going to a comp Saturday morning and the turbulence created by the paddle guard caused the straps on my rhino rack paddle carrier to snap - result lost paddle

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daniel.righetti said..
Hey, just had my first session with the rail saver pro paddle tap. It's really good, no detectable effect on paddle performance, it stays on really well and certainly makes you feel a bit more relaxed about banging the paddle. Thumbs up, a good product, but remember you will probably need to use the two they send you on the one paddle As one piece won't cover all the edges.

I might be wrong but I'm thinking that the reason they are so short is because they are only meant to cover the edge on the lower half of the blade.. Like I've been doing with tape [see pic] and they come with two in a pack for two separate paddles..

DJ. Yep I think you are right. I did look at just putting one on like you and that's probably the intended design. It's cool as two work well too.

Well that's just put me right off this product. I want the whole of the blade covered, including a little bit of the "frog", where the blade meets the shaft. If you have a reasonable stroke, a lot of wear on the rail of a board comes from the shaft rubbing against the rail, rather than the blade hitting it. Over thousands of strokes this can cause abrasion even though there is no paint chipping. But I guess that RSP want to ensure that you still need to buy their rail savers too, rather than just cover your paddle...

I have to agree Area10. I tape my blade right up to where the blade joins the shaft, because when i'm really paddling hard to get on a wave this seems to be the part that makes the most contact IMO.

Maybe it's mostly for 'out of the water' protection? .. It's early days and we've not even seen it here yet..

Maybe they will also bring out a full length blade/neck/lower shaft protection version..

I've actually stopped taping my blades in the neck part of the blade because I've found that it's only the side and bottom that's needed it to stop the paddle wacks marks on the board.. and also to help protect from an ocasional tap across the top of the foot.. jeez that can hurt..

When I slid my paddle shaft along the rail the round shaft should do no damage other than maybe some wear marks on the paint.. To help stop this I often run tape along the shaft in the lower foot or so of shaft.. You may have seen that in some of my vids..

Where do you get it from?

I think the importers for KeNalu paddles are the Australian ajents/distibuters..

Our local SUP shops are selling it.. RPS had it on their shelves yesterday.. [the RSP for the rails] .. but no paddle stuff yet.