I just received the pack seat for my Keewaydin 15 and now am considering installing foot brace/pegs. I saw two after market brands, Atwood and Harmony that received some good reviews on Amazon, unfortunately it looks as if I would need to drill through the hull to install. I'm not thrilled at the idea of drilling into my nice, new Kevlar hull.
When I demoed the Kee 15 Pack it appeared that the foot braces were glued to the inside of the hull.
Does anyone have experience with the above brands of braces? Would it be possible to attach them with adhesives, or is there a better alternative brace for my intended purpose?
If I go with adhesives, which are the best choices? Is 3M 5200 a good choice or is that stuff too strong?
Anything that I might be missing?
Ask Swift what they use
I'll bet it's Plexus
Consider the installation permanent. You put a lot of pressure on the pegs
You can ask our resident Swift rep here.. CE Wilson..
Do mention which layup you have.. Swift hulls dont flex much though.
foot brace
Check out the Sea Lect site. They offer two mounting systems, one for drill through roto kayaks, and some type of glue system for composite
3M marine
asks for surface area. Small area gluing demands 5000, large area gluing maybe 4000.
You may call or email 3M. There is a rep for 5000/4000 who will speak with you. You should have your specs on hand.
Ask what the adhesion differences would be between slow and quick cure.
4000 is ‘removeable’ more than not holding. 5000 is removeable but you have to work at that. A rough parallel to common forms of blue and red Loctite.
All my uses of 4/5000 are successful but I have a hi temp environment in South Florida. I allow a lengthy drying time…for foot pegs prob 2 weeks on extremely sanitary surfaces.
guessing…
I would try a 6" wide by 10" long adhesive base for a foot peg. One foot peg…whatever that is…
windy…
a design element to consider is flex. Is your hull meant to flex ? Does the hull flex ?
Adding inflexible equipment bases with epoxy adhesives inflicts dead areas…thunk…on the hull.
That matters less if you avoid impacts. If you are prone to impacting bridge abutments then think flex.
Plexus 300
The Swift Slidelock footpegs can be acquired from Swift, might have been done along with seat? Wild Sys is the primary vendor, probably less expensive and cheaper freight for statesiders.
Swift and Placid instal with Plexus, available from Johnstown Dist. It should also be used to install the Swift seat base.
Sand the underside of the base and backside of the footpegs to roughen, then clean with acetone twice.
Mark locations of seat base on hull bottom and footpegs with pencil. Clean several times with acetone, especially the hull's bottom.
Goop up and go, mixing the Plexus until color changes; install one item at a time, holding in place through the ~10 min cure cycle. Clean any over-glue oozing with acetone and rag.
Despite various contrary suggestions, this protocol has successfully installed about 10,000 Keeper and SlideLock footpegs in the last decade.
My experience
I owned a lightweight Hornbeck with footpeg rails fastened with 2 small bolts per side through the thin laminate with no reinforcement. I was skeptical,but they never broke.
Turtle
other options
Personally, I don't particularly care for the rail-mounted, kayak style footpegs, such as the Perception Keepers (sold by Harmony) or the Yakima braces, for canoes. These require the paddler to keep the feet outboard to use the footpegs.
I prefer the telescoping bar type of adjustable footbrace sold by Wenonah and other vendors:
http://www.wenonah.com/Items.aspx?id=29
This type of footbrace allows the feet to be placed further inboard allowing the knees to brace outboard against the inwales or hull. Installing some shaped, foam "knee bumpers" really helps if you want to use this type of posture which really facilitates bracing against the hull to heel from a sitting position.
But that's just me. Plenty of folks like the kayak type adjustable footpeg system.
Although these can certainly be bonded into the hull with epoxy or various adhesives such as methacrylate (e.g, Plexus) since the rails are straight and the hull has a compound curvature, the bonding surface can be pretty small. Also, the possibility exists that you might wish to have the option to remove the footbraces. For example, you might wish to do so if you plan tripping with a load as the braces diminish cargo area somewhat, and you can usually arrange things to position a pack as a footbrace in that situation.
There are multiple options to allow removal of the footbraces. One is to shape rectangles of hardwood to fit the sides of the hull interior and bond or 'glass them to the hull sides, then mount the rails for the footbrace(s) to the wood with stainless steel screws.
If you have some epoxy, or can beg, borrow, or steal some, you can 'glass in some machine screw studs that will fit the holes in the footbrace rails:
http://www.clcboats.com/shop/products/boat-gear/kayak-footbraces-rudders/internal-footbrace-mounting-kit.html
These also allow removal of the braces but will result in the ends of the machined studs sticking into the hull interior with the rails out. If you go this route, get some nylon acorn nuts of the appropriate size to cover the sharp, bare ends of the studs if you anticipate removing the braces.
not in a pack canoe
the bar puts the feet higher than the butt and in the case of the Keewaydin 15 would cause the paddlers outstretched legs to rub along the forward thwart along the shin bone where there isn’t much muscle.
Pack canoe seating is kayak seating. Your feet will naturally go to the side. Pegs allow for easier loading when you are sitting down low.
At the Solo Canoe Rendezvous while CEW was chatting with another customer I got to arrange a tall guy with a dog in the Keewaydin Things would have been harder with a bar.
I probably would try gluing in 3"
minicell foam slabs for foot blocks. No drilling, cheap contact cement, and foam slabs can be custom carved, or added to easily.
I don’t know that foam slabs would be durable enough for paddlers who really “hammer” a lot of the time, but I have found them adequate.
good for a one person boat
not if you want anyone else to paddle it; where is the adjustment?
Hornbeck used to use foam… Its telling that they use adjustable footpegs now.
mine
Mine in my Hornbeck were the yakama type. Using then gave e a backache, so I removed them and plugged the 4 holes with plastic screw bolts with rubber washers.
Turtle