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Re: Strip: Knee Brace Suggestions?
By:Thomas Duncan
Date: 12/20/2004, 8:32 am
In Response To: Re: Strip: Knee Brace Suggestions? *LINK* (Thomas Duncan)

I'm going to say one more thing regarding outfitting the cockpit, and this is personal opinion, but I have found a stack of minicell foam (or maybe something cheaper) against the front bulkhead to make a much more comfortable and solid foot brace than any of the foot peg type braces I've ever tried. You might want to give it a shot especially if you suffer from "dead legs" syndrome, a condition that vexed my first 4 years of paddling until I built my first wood yak. I solved this (finally!) by carving a minicell bucket seat (again, very similar to Kurt's)with a long thigh area but the clincher seemed to be the removal of the footpegs and addition of the bulkhead foot brace. Which was simply a stack of foam cut to fit in super tight.

I'll also say that I made my front bulkhead from two stacked pieces of 4mm okoume laminated together and well filleted and glass taped in. I'd done this before I got around to experimenting with the blocks of foam, in part because I was scared I might punch through it and become trapped in the boat in a pearling endo in surf, and because I anticipated adding a foot pump at some point. I'd also moved the front bulkhead back several inches towards the cockpit to reduce cockpit volume, so it was just a couple inches from my feet anyway.

Your mileage may vary, but I am now an advocate of bulkhead foot bracing over foot pegs. One drawback is that fitting different paddlers can become problematic.

Messages In This Thread

Strip: Knee Brace Suggestions?
Cash M Hair -- 12/18/2004, 12:57 pm
Re: Strip: Knee Brace Suggestions? *LINK*
Thomas Duncan -- 12/20/2004, 8:18 am
Re: Strip: Knee Brace Suggestions? *LINK* *Pic*
Cash M Hair -- 12/20/2004, 10:19 am
Re: Strip: Knee Brace Suggestions?
Thomas Duncan -- 12/20/2004, 8:32 am
Re: Strip: Knee Brace Suggestions?
Marcel -- 12/19/2004, 2:44 pm
Re: Strip: Knee Brace Suggestions? *LINK* *Pic*
Kurt Maurer -- 12/18/2004, 7:52 pm
Re: Strip: Knee Brace Suggestions?
Cash M Hair -- 12/18/2004, 10:34 pm