I have a Wenonah Wilderness made of royalex. Thinking of installing a foot brace, and I was wondering how sturdy they are. Do they flex when you really apply a lot of pressure ? Do they slip out of place ? Are they comfortable considering their diameter 1"-1 1/4" ? (Please correct me if measurement is wrong) Pros and con ?
Have one in my Hemlock SRT
I’ve never put so much pressure on it while paddling that it flexed noticeably. It’s never slipped unless the knob is loose, which can happen over repeated car toppings. You can make it more comfortable for bare feet by putting some foam pipe insulation over it.
Thousands of marathon racers use it.
Also, it’s hollow, and I keep extra screws, nuts and washers inside it in a small plastic ziplock bag.
I recently installed my own do-it…
yourself foot brace on my Wenonah royalex Wilderness.
Just rivet, (large heads) a piece of aluminum channel to each side of the canoe at the height you want your foot brace. Make each the length you want for adjusting the distance from you to the brace. Prior to installing it, drill holes for the size bolts that you will be using at about an inch apart.
Then Use a piece of 1" aluminum tubing with another piece the next size diameter smaller that will slide inside it. Drill holes at both ends, (one in the 1" tube and the other in the smaller diameter tube)
Use wing nuts on the bolts that will connect the tubes to the channels for easier adjustment.
I have made foot braces like this on a half dozen canoes.
jack L
Wenonah footbrace
– Last Updated: Aug-19-14 6:18 PM EST –
Seriously, there are just no real issues with this quality piece. I have installed them on three different boats, with many hundreds of miles on them. Measure twice, drill once! Use a bubble level to get it just right and don't just pop-rivet or thru-bolt it: use a good quality waterproofing glue/caulk behind the end plates. It is a pretty easy do-it-yourself installation. I can't imagine what you'd be doing to bend it...
How do you get to those screws & nuts
in the bag inside the tube after the brace is installed?
The bars in my Wenonah sliding foot braces can’t be removed to access anything inside them without drilling the rivets out of one end of the track.
Why do you need the waterproof glue
or caulking behind the end plates in the Wenonah sliding foot brace installed in a royalex canoe? The rivets or bolts are above the waterline and if they were below the waterline, there still would only be infinitesimal leakage (less than paddle drips)and zero damage to the boat.
I addition to my home built foot brace
I installed Wenonahs on my Jensen 17 and like it very much.
It is rock solid and there is no flex at all.
I just did a 22 miler at race pace the other day and used the hell out of it.
Jack L
The brace is two pieces of tubing …
… that slide into each other, so the brace can lengthen or shorten with the distance between the hull tracks. The brace slides right out of the ends of the tracks.
Take the brace out of the tracks, pull it apart, put the bag of parts in the male half, put together, replace in track.
http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Q9jbF8ceOl0/U_PglZ1PsqI/AAAAAAAACL0/gMw06VdQ9GI/s512/DSCN0105.JPG
Mine don’t slide out the end of the
tracks. They hit the rivet.
Moral: don’t rivet when you can screw