Advice needed.
Beginner.
When sitting in my kayak, if I put my legs straight out, my feet are flat on the foam of the front bulkhead. To apply any pressure when paddeling, just the balls of my feet are in contact.
Should I put in another inch or two of foam to give full foot contact when paddeling ?. That would keep my knees bent and in constant contact with the supports I installed in the cockpit.
Any advice gratefully accepted and used.
Isn’t there a way of adjusting the
bulkhead back closer to you? If not, then adding foam is a solution. Use stiff foam. Some find that the springiness of the foam causes them to push unnecessarily hard with the balls of their feet, compared to a hard, naked bulkhead. See that you don’t do this.
sounds just right as is…
You didn’t mention the kind of boat you have, but it sounds to me like you have a nearly perfect fit already. You need to be able to lift and lower your knees when edging, rolling and forward paddling. You also should be able to grip the boat with your lower body by putting pressure on the balls of your feet, but you don’t want to be continuously wedged in place with your knees up.
…Mike
Agreed
It sounds like you have it set up perfectly.
Perfect
Sounds exactly how I have both my Romany and Aquanaut set.
As noted, you need to be able to extend your legs as well as being able to lock them into the thight braces.
thigh brace contact
If you are feeling that thigh brace contact isn’t quite there, foam out the thigh braces with or without hooks so that a little pressure on your foot brings your thigh in contact with the brace. You’ll have a flatter more relaxed leg position, which is what most of us gravitate to over time.
Thigh Brace contact and straight legs
This isn’t in contradiction it’s a question/personal observation born out of responses to the origional post.
I find that if I don’t have either the america or the tern set up so that my legs ARE bent a bit, I experience bad back pain.
If I have the seatback staright up and the foot pegs or(in the case of the tern) the full footbrace set so my knees are bent I’m fine…allows me to push with the feet with each stroke and torso twist.
Obviously, pushing with the ball of the foot so my back pushes against the seatback works for me
with the back and I assumed it was a correct setup?
What I do is . . .
Set up with my legs bent while the balls of feet are in contact with the footpegs - if I straighten out my leg by flexing my foot (pushing my heel forward) I can fully straighten without removing my feet from the pegs. I still have a bend with the balls engaged and full contact with the thigh braces. Similar to adjusting bicycle pedal to seat height.