Besides knee blocks, there are lots of kneeling pads out there. Piragis sells a very good “T” pad, and the Bag Lady sells another great pad. You can also use yoga mats, interlocking play floor mats, etc. They won’t slide around on the bottom of the canoe, and your knees won’t slide around either. But you will be able to move your legs around when you want to adjust your position in the boat. Trust me, having a good pad can make all the difference in the world when it comes to kneeling comfort. While I understand not everyone can kneel comfortably, there are many people who think they can’t kneel because they never tried it with a good pad.
Good advice from Tim…here’s a bit more…rig your seat so that about 60% or a bit more of your weight is on your rear, not your knees. Usually a hair less cant and a hair lower than stock position from the manufacturer. You can always slide more weight onto your knees from that position if necessary.
A good, non-slip (for both mat and knees) is essential to relatively comfortable kneeling for me. I rarely kneel for more than 30 minutes at a time. I’ve been using mostly old Bell strips in front of the seats.
I prefer either glued in pads (flat in my one solo that has them) or a horizontal strip, rather than the T-Pad. For me, the T-Pad takes up too much space under the seat and hinders getting the feet in and out from under the seat, which is important to me, since I switch from kneeling to sitting frequently. It’s also relatively heavy and bulky for storage and transport in the car, compared to smaller pads.
I’ve never had a boat with glued in contoured pads.
Someday I’ll make it out east to try the Kee 14 and 15. Hopefully, I won’t be too old and creaky to paddle by the time I’m out that way.
I’d definitely go with a T-Pad - something like this:
https://www.boundarywaterscatalog.com/northstar-canoes/canoe-kneeling-t-pad-2910
I glued flat pads into my Royalex Yellowstone Solo (and rigged it with straps), but I couldn’t bring myself to glue pads into my composite Wildfire:
I use an old T-Pad from Bell in the Wildfire. It keeps my knees from sliding around and is very comfortable.
My whitewater boats have contoured pads (with straps). Here they are in my tandem tripping boat:
They definitely keep your knees out in the chines, but think you would do fine with the T-Pad.
T pad looks like a decent set up. Possibly hold it in place with 4-5 of those industrial velcro to avoid a lot of glue.
You won’t need Velco - your weight will keep it in place when you are paddling. It does become one more thing to keep track of when you are off the water though.
@Ken C. : Sorry to be delayed responding - been running around a bit.
Glad to see you like the Kee15 - it felt like a good boat when I demo’d it earlier. I’m still looking around a bit, but it’s still on my active list.
I use interlocking foam shop mats in the Malecite - they come in a package of four at Home Depot/Lowes. I like the flexibility to use one if it’s just me, or all four if I’ve got Iain the boat dog along. They also make great “standing on” pads when I’m changing gear by the car, etc. They do have a tendency to slide a bit in the boat, I’m going to experiment with make some slip cuts like you see in the soles of boat shoes to see if that helps.
I do recognize your photo from the NSPN days. Been a while since I paddled with them. I’ll probably do a bit with them over the winter when the fresh water is too solid for canoeing.
Is your search continuing or have you settled on the Kee?
Keith
After paddling the 4 boats that are within my reasonable range, and having a chance to review and revise my needs, i did actually settle on the Kee15. I think it is a boat that will serve my needs well, felt good, handled well and a good boat to learn/improve my paddling strokes and technique. I was also lucky enough to get a used boat in fantastic condition in Carbon Innegra Textreme and i can like it at 27#. My wife expressed an interest in returning to the water in the canoe and liked the 15 as well, so that also influenced my decision.
Good idea on the mats. I have a couple and also have some anti slip i could glue on the mat in a few spots to stop slippage. Good place to start until i see how much i will be able to kneel.
I don’t get to the shore as much as i used to which is part of my getting the canoe, But salt is always nice!!
@Ken C Sounds like y’all have got a plan - good to hear. Also sounds like you got a great value on the boat, which makes it even nicer.
What’s the anti-slip you have?
Keith
A great way to keep a kneeling pad from slipping is to stick a few strips of traction tape to the floor of your boat (3M makes these for use on concrete stair steps, etc.). I put three lengthwise strips on each side, with the strips being long enough to run the full length of the pad. Most pads I’ve used slip and slide like crazy if the inside of the hull is wet, without the use of something to give them a grip against the hull. However, I have one pad I got from Mad River that’s a big rectangular thing with a very rough and almost a sticky coating. I think it would grip the hull pretty well without traction strips.