Used three-inch thick minicell from Kayakoutfitting.com (really speedy service). The footbrace fits solidly against the existing footpegs with no movement. Rather than fill the space between the bulkhead wall and the brace with builders foam, I cut a block of minicell to support the center of the brace. Haven’t decided yet whether to glue the two pieces together. Will probably first try double-sided tape.
The mistake I made was not to take into account that I had to move the footpegs back to accomodate the thickness of the foam, so wound up doing lots of trimming after I had cut the shape (which is why it’s a bit lopsided).
I have a short (12" long) under deck bag which fits nicely in front of the brace, but had to carve out the top of the brace to stash my bilge pump.
Did a one-hour test paddle - felt so much better than using the foot pegs and is great to be able to move my feet around. Even better than a surfski setup. Haven’t yet tried a wet exit to see how it holds up with water in the boat. If need be, I can add some wedges.
What I haven’t done is that 15-degree surface angle discussed in earlier threads. Need at least three or four hours of nonstop paddling to figure that out.
Thanks for all the advice. It’s an amateur job, but hidden.
@Rookie said:
Used three-inch thick minicell from Kayakoutfitting.com (really speedy service). The footbrace fits solidly against the existing footpegs with no movement. Rather than fill the space between the bulkhead wall and the brace with builders foam, I cut a block of minicell to support the center of the brace. Haven’t decided yet whether to glue the two pieces together. Will probably first try double-sided tape.
The mistake I made was not to take into account that I had to move the footpegs back to accomodate the thickness of the foam, so wound up doing lots of trimming after I had cut the shape (which is why it’s a bit lopsided).
I have a short (12" long) under deck bag which fits nicely in front of the brace, but had to carve out the top of the brace to stash my bilge pump.
Did a one-hour test paddle - felt so much better than using the foot pegs and is great to be able to move my feet around. Even better than a surfski setup. Haven’t yet tried a wet exit to see how it holds up with water in the boat. If need be, I can add some wedges.
What I haven’t done is that 15-degree surface angle discussed in earlier threads. Need at least three or four hours of nonstop paddling to figure that out.
Thanks for all the advice. It’s an amateur job, but hidden.
Ha! Thought of the “grey thing” when I shoved the minicell block in the bow to support the brace. Don’t paddle a Pamlico, but somebody’s gotta keep tradition alive… @Andy_Szymczak - thanks for overlooking the warts.
Had my own project to do after my seat back broke while away in Maine.
The back was connected by two fibreglass supports to the seat. A line was strung through the top of the seat back to keep the seat from hinging back too far. The fibreglass supports broke! Scratched my head a bit and decided to cut out two pieces of sheet metal, drill holes, round off all corners and sharp edges, used pieces of felt as a gasket so that no metal touches the fibreglass. Seat back is now stiffer, and does not need top support.
Rookie, regarding foot-board angles, most commercial foot-boards for go-fast kayaks and skis are angled forward 60 degrees, but it’s personal preference. I find 60 degrees to be very comfortable. Keep in mind that shallower angles around 45 degrees make it very likely that your feet will slide upward during the leg drive (very irritating), and angles more than 60 degrees might not be very ergonomic.
Thanks for the tip, Greg. So far I’ve left the footbrace as is - rained out Saturday and was able to paddle only a couple of hours on Sunday. I have the brace set at a comfortable touring length, but still easily connect with the boat.
What I did notice is that there’s no longer any room to stretch out my legs. While I can straighten both legs, doing so shoves me against the back of my seat. Maybe getting that angle cut will gain me a bit of wiggle room?
Hey, Rookie, when I foamed out the BH in my previous kayak (which had no footpegs or rails), I made two large pieces that were more like oversized footbraces–not a single piece. That way, I had some space in the center to put my feet and stretch legs when desired. Those pieces were still much, much bigger than footpegs.
It looks like a clean job. Just two comments.
First, if you fill in the space around that insert too tightly it could slow down getting water out of the boat if you have to be the rescuee, or if you try to drain it by lifting the bow in a self-rescue. Since you didn’t fill in all the way to the bulkhead it is potentially a place for water to get behind things. So if the additional improvement you are talking about in your post involves closing up the drainage around the insert, I would suggest not doing it until you have had some rescue practice time with it. I wasn’t sure if that was what you were thinking.
Also, I know it is common these days to put the pump inside the cockpit, but I have never gone that route especially since in my boats it would have to be stashed forward like yours. Since no way it’ll fit behind the back of the seat in any of the boats that fit me. The reason is that in a group, I don’t want to have to pull my skirt to get to the thing in case I am helping someone else who capsized… which is a more likely scenario than my going over unexpectedly at this point in my more conservative paddling. But I still go out and paddle with newbies. I have the paddle float behind my seat because that is most likely to be needed when I am out of the boat anyway. But my pump stays on my back deck.
Just a thought on the pump - I am a little old school on that one but it is also a reasonable approach. And it would leave you with less going on in front of your feet under the deck.
Thanks, Celia. Only additional work planned is angling the minicell, but before I do that I want to get in at least three or four hours of nonstop paddling for a leg comfort check. Hopefully tomorrow if the rain holds off till late afternoon. I’ll be in my drysuit so I’ll capsize near my takeout to get the cockpit full of water and see what happens, especially when I flip the kayak to drain it. I wouldn’t add any additional foam unless the brace pops out.
Like you, I stash my paddlefloat behind my seat. While I had carved a minicell backrest, I didn’t want to lose the real estate behind the seat so reinstalled the backband, but changed the elastic straps (which I hated) to webbed straps.
Because I haven’t learned to roll, I don’t want anything on my stern that will get in my way while getting back into my boat, or that could float away once I remove it. Keeping track of my paddle is a big enough challenge. So I carry the pump inside where it fits snugly on top of the underdeck bag. I didn’t use the attachments that came with the bag, instead jury rigging a method that holds the bag snug to the underdeck with just enough room for a bilge pump on top, nothing more.
I paddle with a group once a year, but it’s not really a group per se, rather a mass start of about 160 kayaks for a two-day paddling event. The herd spreads out.
