Airlines and paddles

What is best way to fly with paddle in USA? Last time I flew, they would not let me carry it on, had to check it, very lucky it did not get damaged. I have a round cardboard shipping container, but it exceeds 62" limit (55" length x 9" width x 9" depth), thus $75 each way. Yeah the paddle is worth more than $150, but $150 each trip? Surely not. Any protective packing materials I could wrap it in and check it that is < 62"? Longest piece is 44". Thanks

Buy a Plano gun case at Walmart. $30.00. Worked well for me.

These work well:

Ocean paddler deluxe bag:
oceanpaddler.com/online-store/oceanpaddler-travel-paddle-bag/

Mocke paddle bag:
mockepaddling.com/product/mocke-deluxe-paddle-bag/

I have the Mocke one, does the trick, can squeeze a couple paddles in there and a bunch of other stuff too. Does not fit the Mocke PFD (grr), but does fit a Vaikobi PFD I think.

While the soft bags like the Mocke etc are good for day to day paddle protection I had a paddle broken by an airline in such a bag. ( where the paddle joins the blade) Fortunately it was on my way back from a championship and the airline also paid for a replacement so no big disaster, but had it been on my way there it could have really mucked up my trip.

The best solution I have seen is a large polypipe tube with end caps fitted.

Hmmm, noted!

If you paddle is glued to the shaft with heat glue, you could separate the paddle from the shaft and probably fit both in your hand luggage.
However you will need a head gun and glue to re-sample the paddle again.

Sorry Christian, I have a hard time comprehending that there are any quality paddles manufactured using hot glue. This topic has come up several times on different threads. I feel we should dispel the myth that this is possible. Sounds like a good way to destroy your paddle.

I am pretty sure that all light weight wing blade composite paddles are assembled with epoxy that will not dissolve or soften with a heat gun before causing irreparably damage.

If some one knows something I don't, please correct me.

It seems like we have different experience.
We have use hot glue in our club for many years and most of our dealers provide hot glue with the paddle when we purchase it - like Braca and Jantex paddles. I think hot glue is the common choose here in Denmark. We haven't had any issues and I haven't heard before that is should be a problem.

But offcause if Epoxy has been used to assemble the paddle a heat gun is of no use.

I use a hard shell gun case that is perfect. I put paddling decals on it so people realize it is a paddle as I am walking to a from the airport. It does get checked by TSA. only problem is, you have to go to the special handling section of airport to pick it up and not the regular baggage pickup so takes some extra time. So if you have your Jantex Gamma Mid or Rio or your Braca XI that you paid 400 to 500, the gun case is the way to go. Or if you bring your beater paddle to race and don't really care about it, the soft side Mocke may do, knowing you could borrow a paddle from a local racer if it broke. I have done this too.

Thank you Christian, I stand corrected.
Personally, I would not trust my life to a paddle assembled with hot glue
on a gale force downwind open ocean paddle.
By the way, a case could be created from a "Sono Tube" available at big box hardware stores for us cheap DIY guys. Lighter than plastic pipe.

Sorry to disappoint you but many paddles are assembled with hot glue, but all hot glues are not created equal.
I personally don`t use hot glue but the manufacturers sure do.
As for disassembling and re assembling at any point, not sure about that! However if you have an assembly jig to line it up perfectly not a problem. One problem is that the jigs I have are bigger than the paddles, not very convenient for air travel.
What people don`t realise is that 1mm off on a 25mm shaft the angle this equates to is 5 degrees of blade angle. So with 1mm off on both blades you will be 10 degrees off your desired angle, that is not something I would try.

How disappointing.

Thanks for all the feedback. I went with the Plano gun case and it work perfectly. I would not have thought about that. As for detaching blades, braca paddles are easy to detach with hairdryer. I have cut off/shortened shafts where I needed to pull blade off. Would not want to do that regularly, like before and after flights, but once to get perfect length is ok. Once reassembled, blades do not budge while in use, as far as I can tell. Thanks again.

I bought my last Jantex from Jan himself, and he told me that he uses hot-melt glue. When I said that I would take the paddle disassembled he offered me a little tub of the glue, rather than a cylinder to load into a glue-gun. I don't know the spec of the glue.
Since learning that, I just pull the blades off the adjustable shaft and put the four pieces inside my suitcase when flying. I improvise a jig to ensure the right feather when assembling the paddle (putting marks on the blades and shaft might be simpler). I also check the feather when the paddle has been in a hot car.