C-Forum

Howdy I am having a bit of struggle getting used to Bulkhead outfiftting over thigh straps. Dont feel wide enough and feel a bit restricted also. Learned with straps and half saddle. Having hard time converting. Especially my roll. Now have a Taurea and maybe just more cutting is in order but sure seem to be cutting a lot
I am 210lbs -6 feet. any advice? Cuz have to stick with the bulhead in the Tauureau unless I bolt something in there...

Why don't you just cut it wider and then fill in the inside of your thighs?

well the outside are getting skinny and not sure how skinny to go maybe I have a long ways to go.

Sounds like you answered your own question there.

Jim

There was just a thread on this recently. I was having the same problem as you - rolling was impossible my prelude with bulkhead. With the encouragement of the people on this board I added thigh straps - now I am almost in the boat too tight and rolling is easy (well at least in a pool it is - we'll see about the river:))

Right now I just have a mockup of straps in my boat - just to see how I liked it - I think I'll keep them. I am going to try and get my real straps installed soon - when I do I'll post a pic.

I bought the skybelts airplane seatbelt buckles. These are good quick release buckles. The only think I don't like about them is that the release lever has to moved a full 90 degrees before it will release. This isn't a huge issue, but I've noticed when flying different airlines, that some actual airline belts have a much quicker trigger (like 30 degrees or so) - which I think would be better for our canoeing safety.(hint-hint skybelts.com if your reading this)

I plan on running the belt through PVC pipe in the saddle and attach the top portion to the bolt on the gunnel that is holding my hip pads.

I carved the foam in my Taureau away so I can feel my knees touching the side of the hull. Makes a dramatic difference. And yep, glue some more in to the inner knee area. I look at the factory cut-outs as a starting point

As others have recommended, you should spread your knees as wide as you can, regardless of where the original cut-outs are located. Just add foam to the inside to keep the holes from getting too big.

After the above, you should then consider whether you need toe blocks. Often it is difficult for paddlers to stay solidly in their bulkhead when they are upside down if they don't have toe blocks to press against. In decked canoes, I often use the end of the stern pillar as my toe block, but others create them using minicell foam, composite (primarily for composite boats), or by bolting in an adustable Yakima (or another brand ) footbrace.

Finally, if you've done all of the above and still feel that aren't secured enough, then I would explore adding thigh straps as well. However, it is best to take the above steps first.

John

will try cutting some more, I have had the idea of gettin old blood pressure cuff. covering em in neoprene and gluing them in, then could have an adjustable bulk head. problem with taureua cant glue any anchors to the hull. It has Yakima toe pegs which I hate- used to NorthWater Toe cups and a wider stance with my toes to
I had a Beluga Alpalosa saddle in my Viper and was so frustrating with the roll with that saddle I tore it out and went back to straps
However not many options with the Taureau that way
have a bit of time we still have ice

http://kayakoutfitting.com/tips/wwcanoe/index.html

are your legs pretty big? trim on the outside... shim on the inside. (sometimes you can glue in what you cut off on the opposing side... get an electric bread knife... measure twice... cut once)

I just put a bulkhead in my Ocoee and feel really secure with it.

It worked out as fairly easy to do. The minicell is held down on top with a vinyl gutter thwart and blocked in on the bottom with glued strips.

I'm just using a pedestal so the big question was how close I wanted to put the bulkhead to the pedestal. I ended up with something mid-thigh with my knees fully sticking thru the bulkhead.

I do wonder if with use the bulkhead might work lose, but it seems solid for now.

In all, I kind of wonder why anyone uses only straps except for if they have safety concerns.

IMHO I feel the tandem straps + low bulkhead gives you the best control and comfort in the boat. The more pressure points you have the less pressure on each. Also the straps have a flexibility on movements that a high bulkhead don't have.

Again, a quite personal topic I feel...

I've been trimming my bulkhead in the EZG for over a year and finally have it near to what I want. I just kept cutting little bits out a time, trying it and cutting more. Eventually, I took another look at the set up and tried to mimmick East Coast's setup. Much much much better. Sometimes if I get thrown around too hard in a grabby hole Ill slide out a bit and have to readjust my knees while upside down but I dont mind being able to get out if I have to. I took my time and I think it paid off.

two bits.

My knees now nearly touch the edges. As wide as I can go.

Any pictures guys? I'm paddling bulkhead in my viper11, but I'm too loose.

I'm willing to pad on the inner side of the knees, as some of you suggested. Probably also on the outer side.
Still, when upside down I fall out quite easy. Working harder with the footpegs is one option, but really tight foot pegs is then again a new risk in case of a pinned boat .

It would be nice to see some pictures!

Rebuilding it all to a strap system is another option. But I never paddled straps before, and it will be hades of a work to do that!

Jakke,

I just posted how I installed straps with the bulkhead over here.
There are also a few other link and pics of other folks setups:
http://www.cboats.net/cforum/viewtopic.php?t=7959649

Not sure if you could do this with a tareau - or if you would really want to - but I suppose it's possible.

kslund

Yukon,
I bought a Tareau and had a moderately difficult time with river rolling it. Following tips on this board, I trimmed the bulkhead so that I would have a wider stance with my knees spread further apart. I also glued foam to the inside (as suggested here) to make a smaller knee hole. The idea being that a wider stance with the knees improved boat stability. I also took out the Yakima adjustible toe braces and glued in permanent toe blocks and glued in ankle supports. It is possible to glue foam to the Tareau plastic with 3M 3532 (2 component) Urethane Adhesive (blue flaming the hull, etc.). I also glued in hip pads.
What was the result? I am sad to report that my river roll is not improved. I am hitting only 50 % of them with an awful lot of effort. What is really sad though, is that I turned what was a really comfortable boat straight from the factory into a leg torture machine. My legs are falling painfully asleep in a half hour time. My advice, go slow with the trimming. It may add more stability, but it certainly hasn't improved my roll. It also has made the boat a whole lot less comfortable. At least in the manner that I did the adjustments. I now plan on reversing some of the adjustments and maybe adding thigh straps in the hope that they give me the pull I need to nail more rolls. Just my 2 cents worth.

Jack