C-Forum

Does anyone paddle with bulkhead outfitting, and able to put their toes under their footpegs, and still stay snug?

I know from first hand experience, that you can put your feet under footpegs, and be super secure in a double thigh strap system....but It doesn't seem like it would work that well with bulkhead.

Yup. I have a bulkhead in all my boats and I tuck my feet under the footpegs. All of my boats have the footpegs raised 2" inches to allow my feet under them comfortably. Everyone elses footpegs are between 0"-1" from the bottom wich sucks when I jump into another boat to try out.

It's a pain to remove a saddle and raise the footpegs but well worth it. Being confortable in you're outfitting is a must.

What he said. In my SF I've actually stopped using the straps and am rolling just fine. Rather than rerun the pegs, I took them out and trimmed the bottom.

do you guys ever pinch your feet??

My feet have never been pinched. And i've hit tons of rocks, pitons either dropping vertical, or not so vertical.

1) way more comfortable on ur ankles in my opinion

2) you don't come out of the boat unless you want to... no way any water feature will pull ur feet out from under the footpegs...

Alex... r u still super tight in the outfitting?

ian123 wrote:do you guys ever pinch your feet??

Nope. My feet aren't super tight under the pegs. I'm more likely to bang the knees or the shins though. I suppose ankle blocks would help but I can live without them.

Tommy. I'm at an equilibrium I suppose. Tight enough to roll, but not too tight that it bothers me. I want to be able to kick out easily if I have to.

After numerous posts (thanks to everyone for their academic and technologically sound commentary, without the infusion of humour), I have finally got a set-up for my SF that accommodates my old and beaten up knees, as well as creeking and playboating.

I use a bulkhead and have my feet laying flat on the hull, with my toes under modified foot blocks. I've bolted an "L" shaped piece of aluminum to the foot blocks and glued a right angled triangle of foam.
This holds me in well enough for creaking, and rolling when I need to, but still allows me to get out if I need to.

For playboating I use thigh-straps with 2 airplane seatbelt buckles attached to a single pull cord.
The straps lock me in well and I can either pull the cord to get loose or wiggle free.
I've got 4 ways of releasing the straps: (i) pull the cord, (ii) grab the buckles and loosed the straps, (iii) the straps are attached to the hull with a quick release buckle, and (iv) I always carry a knife!!

Hope this helps.
There are some great threads on this subject.
Geoff

If anyone has added thigh straps to their Ledge and or Blackfly, I'd like to see pics or hear about what you did.

Ref footpegs-
In the Ledge, I cut the ends and the lower sections off the footpegs so that my feet can get under the pegs when I want and I have more room to the outside of the pegs if I need to get out quick. Haven't pinched my toes in this boat yet but I did in my zoom before I trimmed the bottom of the pegs to make more room. I'm not as tight as I am when I'm on the pegs though.

The CU Fly has footpegs designed to slide your feet under which is awesome, I've adapted my prelude pegs for the same...

I still use straps though, as the Pyranha/Robson bulkheads just aren't deep enough for me to feel secure.

i wear a pair of neoprene booties that have a really soft sole. they were the first pair i got and they suck when walking on gravel. however, they are great for putting my feet flat. i have bulkhead in my spanish fly and i can easily wedge my feet under the pegs. also, because of my soft soles i sort of flex my toes to hold onto the pegs if i feel myself slipping out (which doesn't really happen).

as far as pinching goes, i don't have much waterfall experience but i have done about a 17 footer and i was wearing runners with my feet flat and felt nothing. my back hurt but i dont' think that was b/c of my feet!

-john

I do not like my toes under my pegs. The Issue is when you run over a rock in the foot area the hull will flex and pinch your toe. It happened to me a few times. I changed the setup of my Prelude so that my toes cannot slide under there any more.

TGG!

the great gonzo wrote:I do not like my toes under my pegs. The Issue is when you run over a rock in the foot area the hull will flex and pinch your toe. It happened to me a few times. I changed the setup of my Prelude so that my toes cannot slide under there any more.

TGG!

ditto... except in my C1 with a lapbelt to keep me from pushing off the saddle

I think you lock in far mo'betta when pushing against the pegs

I'm another boater who pushes back on foot pegs, rather than under.... but realize there's more than one way to do a lot of things.

However wanted to add that according to the wear pattern on my Pyranha Spanish Fly, there are two definite wear areas that are the Yakama foot pegs. The times I've tried feet under and flat like mentioned, I've felt them get pinched occasionally. I mention the Pyranha Fly because it's setup factory standard, and has enough room to lay feet underneath. Yet there are two definite straight marks (90degree to the saddle) where the foot pegs have been obviously pressed against bottom (or bottom up to) and has created their exact outline in the wear area. And Yes - the boat is way worn out (having been welded three times so far).

Has anyone else noticed such a thing?

i always pushed on my pegs too.
..wish i could do it in a c1.