Epic Midwing Paddle collar replacement - DIY

Here are some instructions (not factory authorized) to replace the locking collar on the Epic Midwing paddle, burgundy shaft. Trying to attach a PDF document, hope it works!

I didn't read the attachment but I have done it several times with good success when I wanted to shorten Epic paddles.

Apply heat very, very, very judiciously with a Propane or Mapp gas torch until the collar is very warm but not hot enough so you can't touch it with your bare hand for a second or two. It will twist off fairly easily with no damage if you're careful. Clean off all parts and rebond with black 3M 5200 (if I remember correctly). White 5200 works too but doesn't look quite right. Use their fast set which still takes at least overnight to cure, maybe even 24 hours. I used white 5200 because black was available only in a large, expensive tube. When you apply 5200 use it very sparingly because it's hell to clean-up and be sure to put the paddle back together while it is curing which is another reason to use it sparingly unless you want to permanently bond the two halves of your paddle together.
Some other thermoplastic bonding agent may be better so you could get things apart if you needed to at a later date. I doubt if 5200 would respond to heat.

1xsculler,
if you are cutting down several epic paddles, I suggest you take a look at my suggested process - it uses a jig to make the job easy. Your method is what I wanted to avoid because it requires a surgeon's skill level to ensure one doesnt ruin the US$450 precision sleeve with glue, and still get enough glue to secure the paddle integrity for open water conditions.
John

When I shortened my Epic mid-wing, heat was not capable of removing the collar. It did, however, remove the insert tube quite easily. So I shortened the piece with the tube end. The PDF does not discuss how the original collar was removed, as far as I could see - did it just fall of?

3M 5200 also *expands* slightly as it cures. At least, this was the case on my paddle. It oozed out from the join by a mm or two by the time it cured. Not a big deal, a sharp knife removed the extra mm or two that was showing as a rind around my work. 5200 (fast cure) still takes a long time to cure fully, but is strong and my repair still has no issues years later.

T collars on my Epic paddles were bonded on with a black rubbery material that was somewhat melted by very, very carefully applied heat with a torch which allowed the collars to come off without too much trouble.

The collar detached from the shaft. It appeared that the factory adhesive was not uniformly applied - I assumed it was applied sparingly to keep it out if the precision sleeve. (Epic had a generous repair policy but I wanted get paddling sooner , and so fixed it myself). This is the reason I used the method in the PDF.
I sanded off the factory glue and used that "liquid steel" brand epoxy in its place.

Got it. And a quick correction on my post above: I recall now that, after I could not take off the collar, I decided to cut off the shaft just above it. Even when off the paddle, with lots of heat, the collar would not separate from the small piece of shaft that remained inside it. The rubbery glue holding it to the shaft was much stronger than the rubbery glue that held the insert to the other half of the paddle. So I just scraped off the shaft from inside of the collar and reattached the collar to the shortened paddle with 3M. I got the process written down and posted a year or two ago here on these forums somewhere, is anyone cares to search. I think I had to switch the collar and the insert (moved the collar to the half of the paddle where the insert was and the insert - to the half where the collar was). I did this because the shaft quickly goes from round to oval near the middle and wanted a longer round piece of shaft to hold the end of the insert that did not get glued - and kept the collar on that longer side too.