C-Forum

Anyone ever use a set of flooring type, gel knee pads in a Option or any other type boat?

In the "good old days" I used to use those black rubber roofer's knee cups - they gripped pretty well to the aluminum of the old grumman. By the time I moved to a blue hole (OCA) I had figured out that it was easier to just glue a neoprene pad down...

I've used them for working and whilst they are great you often get a keeling that your knees are floating on the gel and can slip from side to side with the pad staying in the same place on the floor. They are also very bulky, more so tham plain foam knee pads.

I have used foam knee pads when borrowing boats without foam floor/kneecups and I tend to find that after a while the straps get annoying and can ever cause cramp if they are a bit tight around the top of the calf (to stop them slipping). Useful for occasionally paddling a trad boat solo or something, but you want better connectivity in your Option so you want knee cups or a foam floor fixed to the boat.

Not all foam is created equal - minicell is OK and comes in 2 densities. I prefer neoprene foam. Also pretty awesome is the foam out of an old PFD - I have some chest panels from an old ExtraSport that are really cushy, in fact at 1.5" they might be too cushy / wobbly in a whitewater boat. Right now they are part of my paddle trainer and sometimes in a long distance flat water set up.

Up here you can get minicell in 2, 3 & 4 lb densities. It does compress quicker and not hold up as well as neoprene...but there's different types of neoprene too. I like the feel and wear that neoprene has, but it seems slipprier too me when wet? Also is slightly heavier. We have some honeycomb stuff here at work that is quite interesting that I've wanted to test out...hmmm

Thanks for the input. Like most everyone else I have gone from slip on volleyball knee pads in the 80's (Believe I still have scars from the boils on my knees) to minicell. Decided to spend the $30 bucks on Gel pads and for now mounted them with 2 sided industrial velcro as high as I could on the side walls inside the bulkhead. 3 days on the Ocoee last week had my knees pretty sore. Let you know how they workout.