C-Forum

Hello,

I have just bough a Finkenmeister for winter boating here in the UK when sitting in an OC1 full of water aint fun due to the weather.

Anyway, i plan on adding straps to the finky and wondered if anyone could supply me with a photo of how they have done it.

Can you mail the photo to colincol78@aol.com

Thanks in advance for the help..!

Colin

I don't have picture, but I'll try to explain how I did it in mine:

Install an aluminum center stringer (I used a piece of 4x40 mm aluminum bar to connect the bow and stern foam pillars and to provide a crotch anchor point for the thigh straps. I attached the aluminum stringer to the foam lillars by bending them up, glueing a small aluminum plate to the foam pillar and then bolt the stringer to them.
Attach d-rings to the stringer.

I removed the factory hip pads (they did not work for me anyways and are very heavy and replaced them with small hip pads that are attached to the seat. This allows me to use the screwa that held the original hip pads as upper attachment points for my thigh straps.


This system allows me to easily access the boat for multiday trips (removing the 2 screws that hold the front bulkhead and the saddle in place allows me to remove them boat and gives me free acces to both the bow and stern of the boat. I can load and unload the boat in less than 5 minutes and everything is tightly secured.

martin a.k.a. the great gonzo!

I have a few peoples photos of outfitted finks, I can send mine as well, I don't have my external Harddrive right now, but when i do, I'll Email them to you.
cheers
-isaac

i'll post soon as well.

ronnie

Hi Col:

I'm sending you some pictures of the strap set-up that I recently put together. I followed Martin's lead, except that I could not find the appropriate thickness of aluminum strapping and being impatient used some 1" by 3" mahogany I had in the shop. The wood weighs more than the aluminum, but I don't think the extra two pounds will kill me. Besides it looks nice.

The construction goes as follows:

I cut a 36" length of the wood. This piece was an exact fit between the front and rear foam pillars supports. I then vertically epoxied and screwed a 4" piece of the wood at each end of the long board to form a U shape. For this extended bracket to fit between the foam pillars you need to trim (notch) enough material from the pillars so that the wood bracket now fits between the pillars when the bracket is layed flat on the floor of the boat. In addition, I glued a thin protective layer of minicell foam on the bottom of the bracket to follow the curve of the boat. Since I used 1" by 3" wood as the strongback, I also had to remove foam from the underside of the front and rear bulkheads. I bolted a U-bolt with two brass rings to the strongback to provide attachment for the thigh straps. With this done, I replaced the front and rear bulkheads. Replacing the bulkheads locks the strongback in place. It will not move; not side to side or front to rear.

The side strap attachment set-up consisted of a loop of 1" tubular webbing sewn with a brass ring in the loop. The loop was approximately 5" inches in diameter (see photos). I removed the screws from the hip grabbers and slipped the loop around the bottom of each hipgrapper so that the loop was located above the screw holes. I replaced the screws, which locks the loops in place along with the attachment ring. This also leaves the hipgrabbers in place.

I purchaced a couple of aftermarket VW bug seat belts online ($33 US, plus shipping) and ran each belt between a hipgabber ring and a ring on the strongback. To make it easier to release the thigh belts I drilled a hole in each release lever and attached a small length of nylon rope with a wood dowel between. Pulling up on the dowel releases both straps simultaneously.

By the way, the VW seatbelts are really nice. They are comfortable, easily adjusted, do not slip and release easily.

As a side note, Martin is absolutely right that you need straps in the fink. I first tried additional custom fitted foam in the knee holes of the bulkhead, but it did not keep my rear on the seat when trying to roll. However, the straps hold you down very well and boat control is much improved. Now, if someone would tell me how to roll the bloody thing I'd be a happy person. I can roll an open boat on my onside, but the fink is something different. Oh well, that is what summers are for.

Good luck.

Marc