Hmm. That’s a very good point about the narrowing factor and that’s a good idea about cutting the slots. Unfortunately this is only becoming more complicated. I am not super capable with fabricating things.
I’d be happy to bring this to a shop or someplace that could figure this out for me, but I don’t think there are any near where I live here in San Antonio, and even a kayak shop would likely be unsure about how to address this issue.
I ordered some cobalt drill bits, drilling compound, and a flexible 90 degree drill adapter that may allow me to apply a bit more pressure if I can have someone else hold the drill for me.
I really want to be able to get to where I can paddle this boat–even if it were without the rudder.
thank you for all the ideas and help! I appreciate it and certainly welcome more!
What you’ve got is a piece of angle iron holding a pair of flimsy homemade foot pedals. Why not just drill out the bolts holding the angle iron and install a quality, commercially available foot pedal system that would be of adjustable length?
It’s a far simpler job to drill and/or fill a couple of holes if necessary than to try and make what you’ve got work. I can only assume that the original owner added the rudder to a boat that did not have one and was too cheap to pay for a real pedal system to go with it.
But the nice thing about kevlar is it can always be repaired? Go ask for help in repair in the facebook group Tx Canoe and Kayak Racing Gear. They will know someone fairly close who can help, hopefully.
Just an idea, attach the footbraces to another piece of aluminum angle iron and bolt that assembly to the original epoxied in place angle iron. Iron not being the right term here.
Would it be possible to mount a commercially adjustable foot pedal assembly just below the epoxied-in aluminum angle after all the other junk was removed? It’s hard to tell if the aluminum angle would interfere with the pedals on the Smart Track design.
It would be a pain to do, but a small angle grinder or Dremel tool with a carbide cutter wheel might be able to cut off the leg of the aluminum angle piece.
Seda seemed to think it helps as they offered a Feathercraft rudder option and there are many posts of people installing rudders after purchase if they did not get the rudder when they bought it.
Does the boat “need” a rudder. No. In my opinion no, but not boat really does with a skilled paddler. However, right now I can’t paddle it regardless because I could not event install foot pegs if I wanted to and I can’t reach the existing pegs/pedals.
My reason for buying this boat was to get a truly fast kayak and one with which I could put all of my energy into forward motion and constantly having to edge and use corrective strokes. In the past I chose my paddling days to be on ones where there were small craft adviseries due to high winds and am able to paddle effectively in high winds at any angle to the wind without the use of a skeg or a rudder.
However, my purpose for this boat is different. I want a truly fast kayak in my quiver that I can paddle without having to constantly edge and make correction strokes and where I can put all of my effort into forward momentum.
Great ideas from Marshall and Rstevens 15. I actually came up with the same idea of mounting beneath the existing angle iron. I held the SmartTrack pedals with rails just under the existing rail. I think this would work, but with a couple of challenges.
The angle iron makes it necessary to mount the rails to where the mounting holes are slightly lower than the height of the existing holes and will require me to fill the existing holes with epoxy first and then drill new holes.
Challenge #1:
This one is probably not that big of a deal, but I figure that to fill the holes effectively I will need to put some tape or something on the inside of the boat to allow me to fully fill / pack the filler into the hole such that it does not just push through to the other side. I will need it to be solid so that I can drill new holes very close to the old holes.
To do this I believe I will need to apply some duck tape to the inside of the kayak where the holes are drilled; however, I cannot reach the holes that are closest to the bulkhead.
Challenge #2:
The new holes will need to be slightly lower than the existing holes, but it’s really hard to precisely determine just how much lower. It’s very difficult to hold the new foot pedal bars in place and measure how much lower the holes need to be so that I can drill them accurately from the outside.
My idea is that perhaps I can use a dial caliper to measure the distance between teh top of the iron angle to the center of the screw hole. Then measure the distance from the top of the foot rail to the center of its screw hole. If I determine the difference between the two measurements then this should be the amount by which I must lower the height of the new holes from the old ones.
Any other ideas you may have so that I don’t end up having to drill and then fill multiple holes would be greatly appreciated!
To fill in the holes there are a lot of methods. You could turn the kayak on its side with the holes facing down, wet the area surrounding the holes on the inside with epoxy and glass in a small fiberglass patch. Neatness would not be an issue here. Then turn the kayak so the holes on the outside are on the top, fill the holes with epoxy, glass in another fiberglass patch and finish with gelcoat. Or you could just fill the holes with something like thickened G-Flex.
To drill the holes for the new pedal bars, again turn the boat on its side with the pedal assembly on the bottom, duct tape in place and using the holes in the assembly as a guide, drill a pilot hole in the pedal system hole that is easiest to reach. Drill out the hole from the outside to the correct diameter and bolt the assembly to further secure it. Then repeat the process on the hole that is hardest to reach and repeat the process. Repete for the other side.
When working inside the boat it is often easiest if you put the boat on a couple of saw horses and work with it while it’s on its side or even hull side up. You can secure it with long cam buckle straps.
A wrench on a pole will work for the bolt near the bulkhead. This requires two people. It’s easiest if the boat is on it’s side with the nut going on top of the bolt.