C-Forum

For those of you that use toe blocks in a C1, how should they be set up? Are they literally 'blocks' at 90 degrees to the hull so just the tips of your toes contact them, or do you cut them at an angle so your feet sort of wedge in underneath? Also, do they work better glued to the hull or to the center pillar?

I'm thinking angled pieces of foam glued to the pillar would work best, but this is new territory for me...

BTW, this if for an Atom with factory saddle, and I kneel with the tops of my feet flat on the hull, toes pointing toward the stern.

I am not sure how it is "suppose" to be done, but I have had a lot of success glueing the toe blocks down to the hull with a 2 component polyurethane adhesive. The only two 2 component polyurethane adhesives readily available are the 3M Scotch Weld Urethane adhesive (Part # 3532 B/A) or the adhesive in Old Town's Polyethylene Repair Kit. You have to quickly blue flame the area where you are placing the blocks or they might not stick forever. With both the adhesives, there are directions on blue flaming the plastic. I have used this technique and the blocks have never come loose, even after 7 years of use.
I also place the blocks at a slight angle (not perpendicular) to the toes. This way I am able to move my toes along the block and get some adjustibility in resistance when I push off them. This also helps, when I need to stretch out to avoid cramps.
If you have any questions, feel free to pm me.

Jack

I've been wondering about toe blocks myself. I just converted an Orbit Fish, I'll try to post some pics. This is my first C1 experience and I haven't decided what to do around the feet. In my OC I'm on the pegs all day, right now in the c1 my feet are flat, and they definitly fall asleep quickly. I thought about small blocks so I can push my toes against them. It feels like with such a low seat (around 5 inches?) getting the balls of the feet on pegs just doesn't work. With my knees in the bulkhead, thighstraps and the seat back I'm pretty solid - not much front to back sliding is possible, so it might be more of a comfort issue than a performance issue. Keep posting on what you find works best!

Biggest thing for comfort with me is having ankle blocks - foam under my lower shins that keeps my feet from going totally flat. The toe blocks for me are to compensate for the fact that I slide backwards and fall partway out of my straps if I flip with my body wound up in a weird direction - like a failed stern squirt that turns into a power flip. Maybe a little more foam on either the back rest or hip grabbers might help keep me in as well. But I, too, come from an OC background and am used to using my feet to keep me from falling out of my outfitting when I flip.

I should have added that I use both hip blocks and ankle supports, and actually feel that they are more important than the toe blocks. Like Ohioboater, I need the ankle supports for comfort. I wouldn't own a C1 without them. I put them in the same way I put in the toe blocks, by using 2 component urethane adhesive and blue flaming.
Depending on the C1, I attach the hip blocks/grabbers (made out of foam blocks) in a variety of ways - sometimes using the urethane adhesive, sometimes bending hard plastic into an L and then bolting that into side of the boat and then attaching the foam.

In some of my boats, I don't need or use toe blocks because I have found that I stay in the boat just fine without them. In other boats, I find that I need to install them, like Ohioboater suggested, to push off of when I am upside down to keep from falling out.

Jack