Greetings fellow paddlers!
I purchased Venture Easky last summer which is a bit short on legroom for me (I have 36" inseam, so few boats fit me outright). Even with the footboards in their furthest position, the fit is very tight leading to quick fatigue. As I’m getting ready for the season, I’m considering removing the footboards and adding a few inches of foam at the front bulkhead to be used as a foot brace. Hence I had a couple of questions for those with experience:
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Easky is a rotomolded boat manufactured by Pyranha (that also builds roto P&H boats). It has a foam bulkhead and I wonder if it would be safe for me to brace into it considering that I’ll be adding about 3 inches of foam?
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I am also going to remove the footboard rails and plugging the holes with M6 bolts. Is that the right size for Venture/P&H roto boats and are there better solutions for this than nuts and bolts?
Appreciate any tips on this,
Roman
Foam bulkheads are usually caulked in place. Be careful about pushing on them with feet. I’d use 3m 5200 will have fair to good adhesion. Caution some smear it all over and can’t clean up. I’d use 4200 on the bolts since it stays soft. 3" foam might be enough to move the foot pegs closer.
Issue #5 of California Kayaker Magazine (available online at http://calkayakermag.com/magazine.html) had an article on adding footbeds on your boat.
If uou are worried about pushing out the bulkhead (which is a concern in rotomolded boats where they are really just glued in, not glassed in like on many composite boats), using a band like what you currently have for the foot beds to go from your foam (and some hard backing) back to the bolts on the side of the boat should give you extra support. The author of the article used a cutting board and aluminum straps for this.
Perhaps you’ve decided you want the foam footbed, but I’m wondering why you don’t just relocate the foot pegs deeper in the cockpit.
I wouldn’t trust the glued-in bulkhead to stay in place. If it fails, it’s likely to fail when you most need it, and if you blow out the bulkhead you’d loose your forward floatation. Peter’s suggested reinforcement sounds like a good idea, but moving the pegs seems more straightforward and retains the ability to adjust the pegs to fit at least some shorter paddlers.
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I have considered what Peter is describing as well ( also seen something like that on white water kayaks.) Sounds more complicated than adding more foam but I hear your concern about not putting too much pressure on the bulkhead.
Speaking of remounting foot rails - they are mounted very close to the bulkhead as is - maybe a half an inch away. Yesterday I have taken out the one of them out to take a look at the foot pad construction up close. The foot pad platforms that slide along the rails are fairly long - I think I’ll be able to cut off about an inch in the back of the platform, so the pads can move further back. They probably won’t feel as solid with the platforms being shorter, but this might still be a better solution to resting feet on the bulkhead.
Maybe time to see how well the bulkhead sticks in there. Go with your original plan for footpads in lieu of footpegs. If the bulkhead moves under pressure, just go ahead and reglue it further forward. Then you can remount the rails where they need to be.