Removing the footpegs

Thanks to all the great advice that I received on the board, I recently purchased an RM Avocet. I was wondering if anyone has tried to replace the footpegs with foam on RM Valley boats. It sounds like this is not a great idea for some poly boats but given the welded construction of the bulkheads by Valley I was hoping this might be an option. Anyone have any experience with this?

No problem
I replaced the footpegs with foam on my Valley Skerray RMX and was very happy with the result: easy to do and so much more comfortable for longer paddles. The Valley bulkheads are strong, both on their fibreglass and on their rotomolded boats.

Leave the screws in
Easiest yet to just leave the screws in after pulling the rails - they won’t be in the way and have washers or whatever on them to stay dry anyway.



Look under the archives here for a thread on how to trace the template for the blocks, which turns out to be the most time consuming part. I don’t have time now, but if you try various combinations around foam and bulkhead and block I think there was one a few or so months ago.



Your feet will love you, also your back and legs. Much more comfy and better control.

Nuts and washers
The rails are threaded, so if you pull the rails you will need to use nuts. Cap nuts work well as they are rounded. Neoprene faucet washers can insure good seal.

Car interior panel plugs
to fill the screw/bolt holes. You know, the plastic ones you find in True Value hardware stores for about 40 cents. They are made of black plastic and have “ribs” so they won’t slide out. Get them slightly larger than the holes and put a glop of aquaseal on them prior to jamming them in the holes.



For my foam foot braces I used short pieces of card board taped together around the outside of the deck and hull to get a rough outline then just used dragon skin to “sand” them to be slightly larger than they needed to be to fit tight. Remember to saw a small drainage hole at the bottom so water doesn’t get trapped behind them.



Scott

replacing the footpegs
In as much as I did so on a wood craft this may not work for you but shearwater designs has on line plans for a full width footrest (I made mine adjustable with a center slide)that may work for you.

Regards

Rich Mc.