And not to be too hipocritical, but my paddle gets beat to hell also. To a large extent it can't be helped.

 

1- The rim rubber thing kida works, but I found that it increased blade flutter; it was a little annoying - you may not care.  And you can do the same thing with plastic tubing and an X-acto knife. 

 

2- Tried the duct tape thing too - it only lasts one or two river trips before it has to be re-applied.  Duct tape just doesn't have the durability to handle rocks.

 

3- I like the epoxy/surfboard repair option.  I haven't tried it, but it sounds like it would work.

 

4- One thing that worked well for me was going with a more durable paddle.  Fiberglass doesn't have the durability to handle rocks either.  I bought an AT3 and paddled it for five years before SW Airlines baggage handlers broke it.  I know, you can't hardly turn around without finding some dude who will swear AT paddles are the worst thing on the market.  I had a great experience - that paddle was awesome.  I think AT uses nylon on the edges or something.  The paddle was black and the edge had about a 1/2 inch of yellow weaved material.  After 5 years, I went through about half the yellow stuff in the high wear areas.  Awesome.

 

5- Ultimately, JP's got the best advice - take care of it and you can save replacement money.

 

6- Of course all this is moot if you're loaded like Dave; in that case, just buy new stuff and don't worry about it. 

 

Dan