Dagger Aftershock Re-Outfit

[McPherson]

Just finishing up my latest outfitting project. I bought the girlfriend a Dagger Aftershock. She expressed an interest in trying an open boat a while back and has been eyeing my Spanish Fly. Easier to get another boat than make an adjustable bulkhead. The Aftershock seems to be a perfect boat for her 5'4" frame. Not as deep as the Fly, so easier for her to roll. And she's been paddling a ProZone for years, which has a surprisingly similar hull shape. She didn't want foot pegs, so the plan was a shallow bulkhead and thigh straps.

Started with about 5 cubic feet of foam. Those blocks are 1' x 3'. Three 4", and four 2" pieces. And yes I used nearly every piece of it plus a piece of 1" I had leftover from last project. I might add more to the sidewalls later when she's more comfortable with the boat.

My outfitting philosophy is like this...
1 gallon of water = about 8 lbs
5 cubic feet of foam = about 10 lbs
5 cubic feet of water = about 310 lbs
Foam = not water
Not water = an enjoyable pump/dump free paddling experience.



All my favorite tools. The wire wheel is great for removing large amounts of foam, FAST. Great for roughing in thigh hooks, then finish with hacksaw blade scraped sideways to smooth flat. Speaking of thigh hooks... Will someone PLEASE invent a spray in outfitting. Imagine getting a boat with about 80% of a bulkhead, cover your legs in plastic, sit in the boat, spray in foam, let harden, get out, trim smooth, Done.



New handles that you can actually grab!



New thwarts. You might be thinking that they are crooked, but they're as even as it gets. The originals were all out of whack. Also drilled new holes a reasonable distance from the edge of the plastic.



3" of sidewall foam, 1" knee foam, and foot wedges. I make the foot wedges with a 2"x12"x5" foam cut on an angle.







Saddle in progress. OK, I know that this looks like a ridiculous amount of saddle, but the thwarts on the Aftershock are WAY too far out for a bulkhead. If I could have, I would have moved both thwarts towards center by about 4". Oh well, work with what you've got. Saddle is 8" wide, 36" long, 14" tall.













I'm going to try and get away with one 3" transfer tube. That's about all that I have in my Spanish Fly and it works for me. Thigh straps are anchored to it. Yeah, sch 40 is overkill, but that's what was lying around.




Foam Finished. Last step is to install outer anchor points for thigh straps. I should get that done tomorrow.







Here's a question... I'd really like to get this rear airbag to come forward and fill more of the foot space, but I'm out of ideas on how I can make that happen without moving the thwart and trimming off some saddle, which is not really an option. The thwart tabs are where they are. Anyone have any ideas?

[ian123]

really nice job but I hope she tried the aftershock first

[McPherson]

Straps are in. I used the existing rear holes from the dagger pedestal mount. Dagger's strap anchor points are too high and too far forward in my opinion. I tried it once, it worked, but I didn't like it. Too much outward pull, not enough hold me down. So here's my method...

First, make a hole in the sidewall foam to gain access to where the straps will be anchored. I went with 2" round hole. Just big enough to work in and easy to put the foam plug back into when you're done.



Next, drill a hole that the strap itself will go through. Have the boater get in so that you can find the correct angle. I also test it with a piece of wire before I drill with the pipe just to be sure.



Straps. The pipe keeps them from cutting through the foam. If the angle is good then there shouldn't be any stress on it anyway. I use this same setup in my Spanish Fly. I left the 2" webbing long and adjustable for now. When she gets a length dialed in that she likes i'll sew the d-ring on for a cleaner install. Sewing straps is stupid easy and You Can Do It on a home sewing machine. Just use a fresh 110 needle and some heavy duty poly or nylon thread. I use a zig-zag stitch, but a straight stitch will work as well. Just go over it 2-3 times in a square pattern with an X in it, like this... [X].



I use an old soldering iron to melt holes in the webbing for the bolt holes.







My quick release handles are made from 1 piece of 550 cord inside vinyl tubing. The tubing is just to give it some shape and I add a piece of foam in the center to keep it from laying flat against the bulkhead. This is to ensure that you can always get your hand underneath it. 2 holes are drilled into each buckle and the cord is looped through them.

[McPherson]

really nice job but I hope she tried the aftershock first

Thanks. Yeah, we both tried it, both liked it. Her go to kayak is a ProZone, which is a very similar hull shape. Should be an easy transition.

[sbroam]

very nice!

[Pierre LaPaddelle]

Great post. IMHO, the Aftershock is a good hull to paddle (maybe better than the 'Fly) and certainly easy to roll. Nice to see someone approach the wetness issue with positive strategies.

Rick

[johnd]

Nice job, thanks for the post. I am curious where you got ahold of the grab loops, or how you made them. I have a CU-Fly with no grab loops, need to make some new ones.

[McPherson]

Thanks everyone. I agree, its a great hull. Definitely a wet ride, but it wasn't made to be dry. The gunwales even slope downward past the thwarts. Definitely comparable to the Fly. Slightly less rocker, flatter in the middle, might be a slightly faster ride if its not overloaded. And yeah, really easy to roll. If I wasn't so attached to my Fly, I'd be jealous.

Nice job, thanks for the post. I am curious where you got ahold of the grab loops, or how you made them. I have a CU-Fly with no grab loops, need to make some new ones.

Really easy to make. get some 1" tubular webbing from your local rock climbing outfitter and some vinyl tubing from the hardware store. I think you need 3/8", which is about 1/2" outer diameter. I recommend the braided tubing that you can see the fibers in. It will not kink as bad as the plain stuff. Cut everything to the right length, put the tubing inside the webbing, fold the ends over, melt holes with a soldering iron or something hot. Attach to boat with stainless hardware (preferably with nylock nuts).

[the great gonzo]

Nice work!
Just curious, why did you decide not to just modify the original Dagger saddle? The same saddle is used in the Cascade and Atom C1's, where it works well without footpegs.

TGG!

[McPherson]

Short answer... Water displacement.

I think that the Dagger saddle is great, for a C1. Congratulations to it's designer. Its comfortable, secure, adjustable, lightweight, and lots of other good adjectives. But, I just don't think it belongs in an open boat as wet as the Aftershock. It will probably find a new home in a C-1 conversion later on.

I'll also add this... I noticed that the Aftershock had a slight concave shape between the chines giving it the "fangs" look. With the new saddle in it, and a heat gun, its back to being slightly convex. I recently spent a long day fixing the "speed bump" under the front thwart of my Fly that had developed from the water passage having no reinforcement. I wanted to start from zero and do everything right the first time with the Aftershock to avoid days like that later down the road.

[McPherson]

So the new outfitting had a test run on the Ocoee this weekend.

The conclusion is... Needs More Foam!

She was trying to copy my style of "lean over-keep paddling", but the foam just isn't quite there yet. I knew it wouldn't be but I wanted to start with less and build up as needed. I'll add more to the sidewalls this week and we'll try it again. And of course post pics.

[McPherson]

I got the foam cut yesterday that I'm going to add to the sidewalls. Probably 95% of my cuts are done with just a hacksaw blade (hold it so it cuts on the pull stroke) but this one was too wide for it. Time for the big saw. Here's a trick... When you make a larger cut, run a razor blade down the outside of the foam on all sides of it to give the saw blade a place to ride in. The blade will follow the path of least resistance, which will be the 1/4" or so deep razor blade cut.







Next, I flattened the surface of the foam currently in the boat before adding on to it. One of the most important things that this accomplished was to make the area around and behind the feet parallel to the saddle. Previously it was tapering in with the contour of the boat, but things are about to get tight and that space will be needed for a safe exit.



Here's a look at what is going in. A layer of 1" and the 2" cut as a wedge. The wedge is going to make the sidewalls close to vertical on the inside of the boat instead of leaning out like the hull. This additional foam will displace about 4.25 gal of water or about 35 lbs (which is more than 25% of the paddler's body weight). She was very happy to hear about this.



Bad news... I realized that the straps are going to be too short with the additional foam, and the pipes they run inside of. I'm out of 1/2" pipe, and almost out of Weldwood. I do have plenty of webbing though. Time for a run to the pipe and glue store.

[Paddle Power]

Impressive!

[ohioboater]

Put a little more foam in it, drill a couple of scupper holes in the bottom of the hull, and you'll have yourself a fine kneel-on-top.

[Pea Pod]

Great post! Lots of detail & clear photos.

Question: how is the transfer tube secured? Because it doubles as the anchor for your thigh straps, I'm wondering how you have secured it to the foam?