Truly adjustable ouftitting for plastic boats

[Yukon]

All the talk of new boats, the growth of oc1 and such has me thinking. The new boat designs are all great.
However canoe outfitting has not yet followed. Bulkhead outfitting is great for an individual that has time to cut, shave, glue, tweak and retweak.
But they are NO GOOD for demo boats, school boats or for anyone else to use unless they fit just like you do.

Plastic boats use bulkheads as that is whats easy to put in. A plate system adds weight. What about molding in some adustable anchors into the plastic for thigh straps or a semi rigid strap such as snowboard strap like.
Seeing what they mould into kayaks, sit on tops and such, it should not be a big problem.

People need to fit in these boats so they can perform. It can be very intimidating for someone to start carving up their brand new saddle.
Kayak manufactures understand the need for a good fit and have made some huge advancements. A new paddler can get into a kayak and some ratcheting and they are nice and secure, not sliding around or too tight.
We need this in canoes. If someone does not fit into a Ledge or Spanish Fly or Taureau or the next new boat they will not be able to make the boat perform. They may not give the boat a second chance. But if they jump in, are able to make it fit, be comfortable and have a fun time it is much easier to hook them.

so our collective challenge and brainstorm a truly adjustable outfitting system for plastic boats. This would include not only adustment for thigh straps or retainer or hooks but also seat height. We all know how critical proper outfitting is for a good Open boat experience so lets find a way to make that easy for newcomers or converts.

[2opnboat1]

This is what my time is going into right now I think this is an area that is lacking by right no I mean right now this very instant

[Cheeks]

I've been thinking about this too as I outfit my boat. I'll post some pictures next week when I finish, as a lot of my outfitting is meant to be as adjustable as possible.

[Lappie]

Trevor, we should sit down befor summer, and start something... Maybe we can use your Taureau as a starter!!

[Wendy]

I have pondered a plastic spine for a bulkhead that had a ratchet system to allow the thigh hooks to adjust on an angle so they go up and down at an angle. Would help demos, winter boating adjustments

[Yukon]

Thats interesting Wendy.
Some form of track molded into the bottom of the bottom that you could slide your bottom achors along and I guess you could have something similar on the sides also. The little t tracks you see for the back of trucks or airplanes look interesting except they are aluminum.

You would think a rigid plastic spine down the middle of the boat would also be great to increase the stiffness of the boat. For those with molding experience how much would that add to the molding process.

I know of a fellow that makes roto molded snowmachine skimmers, boxes for atvs and such. pretty interesting and grass roots
His oven is homemade from household oven parts, just bigger. He makes his own molds, mind you they are not too complicated.

Having anchors molded in, and maybe a base pedestal molded in to could have several advantages. weight and rigidity

K designers make sure you send me a prototype for testing and Wendy one to

[Kelvin]

This works..

Big Dog bond a carbon/kevlar stringer into their C1s with an adjustable grab handle..





Kelvin.

[Shep]

That's Hot!

Shep

[kanur]

What if............. you took an Esquif saddle and cut the bulkhead wings off even with the saddle or any Mohawk or other saddle that fits under two thwarts.

Then mount a track (maybe two) like yakima foot brace track to the saddle at 90 degrees to the angle your thighs are. Make basicly (a big/giant curved footpeg) that would fit an average thigh.

Moving it up or down would get it close for most people then foam it out to fit you.

[RodeoClown]

I have a great adjustable system for my demo boat(s). I give whoever is demoing the boat a knife, a roll of duct tape, and some random scraps of foam, and tell them to do whatever they need to. It's worked really well so far.

[rockyboater]

Kevlin, How do you get the resin to bond to the plastic well. I've thought of doing this before but have been nervous that it won't hold under abuse? If that works you could run strips up the sides as well and place anchors where ever you want them? That would allow you to get a lot more adjustability.

[Wendy]

To keep it simple the footbrace could be bolted to the thwart and the track installed on the bulkhead which would just move forward and backward. A pivot hinge mounted on the thwart/footpeg could give some extra adaptation of bulkhead

[Smurfwarrior]

Kanur- I think you're on to something. If you notice that the yakima footpeg system is hard/impossible to adjust when you have pressure on them, if there was a way to make it so that you could crank them down to tighten them, with notches much closer together than the footpegs, I think you'd have the ideal setup. Imagine a quick release at the top of the saddle in the form of a button to hit to release both thigh pieces.... thinking....

[Cheeks]

A big issue I see is with the saddle. While you might get away with extra minicell and duct tape on a demo boat, for loaners and test runs, especially on someone's personal boat.

The saddle is probably the most important piece of outfitting, but it might be the most difficult to be realistically adjustable. I wonder if anyone else has a good way to change saddle height/width.

[Smurfwarrior]

I'm waiting for someone to develop a saddle that uses a bike seat with the seat post being adjustable using a quick release like on a bike. Wouldn't take much to develop something like that, with a bit wider seat to make it comfy and the post would really free up some space around the seat for ease of getting in and out..