Installing Footbrace in a Glass Canoe

Advice
#1

I have a 13’ Sawyer Solo that’s made out of a Tuff-Weave type composite. It has the tractor-style seat mounted on to the aluminum inwales. I just ordered a Wenonah footbrace shown here:



http://www.rutabaga.com/product.asp?pid=1012350



Any suggestions on how to mount it? How does Wenonah mount theirs?

#2

Footbrace installation
Go to www.solotripping.com for a detailed discussion of footbrace installation.

#3

Sure. I’ve done it.
Large flange pop rivets through the hull. Put a little sealant on the rivet.

#4

Wenonah Blind Riveted
my foot braces into plates imbedded into the stiffening ribs on my Kev UL Vagabond.

#5

Use the provided rivets

– Last Updated: Aug-07-08 2:25 PM EST –

The footbrace comes with two sets of rivets, one set of regular rivets if your going to install it in an ultralight type canoe with the foam ribs, and one set of broad head rivets which are the ones you need for your canoe.

You will have to drill four holes for the rivets then simply pop them in (with a rivet gun). If you don't have a riveter or have access to one they are available cheap from places like Harbor Freight or not as cheap from a hardware store.

You could also mount it with epoxy to avoid drilling which I have done, but really riveting is the way to go. Adding a little sealant is a good idea, but Wenonah doesn't even bother doing that on their factory installations from what I can see.

edit: Oh yea, when you get the foot brace the provided rivets are inside the footbrace tube !
I didn'trealize this and went out and bought broad head rivets which were pretty hard to find, and when I took the tube apart a bag of rivets dropped out. Doh ! :)

#6

Footbrace

– Last Updated: Aug-08-08 8:41 AM EST –

The Wenonah Foot brace comes with 4 small head and 4 large head rivets and I have installed both types on my Wenonah canoes. My royalex boat used the large head rivets with the head on the outside of the hull and the crimped backside of the rivet in the foot brace bracket track. My composite ultralite boat had 4 aluminum tabs glassed into the tuffweave covered foam core ribs from the factory. If you look on the inside of the hull you can see the 4 little 1x2 squares were the foot brace should mount. You need to drill a hole into the tuffweave covered aluminum tab but NOT THROUGH THE HULL! I made a block of wood as a drill stop so only the tip of the drill would stick out to prevent drilling too deep. Then you pop rivet from the inside using the small head rivets. Nothing shows on the outside of the hull. You may want to check with Sawyer to see if using pop rivets through your hull is ok before drilling. Good luck.