: The one significant downside I see to this is that I don't want anything to
: add to the height of the rear deck on my boat, as it can really interfere
: with rolling and some bracing manuevers. I'm working hard on these now in
: a boat with a relatively high rear deck and it certainly doesn't make it
: any easier. The S&G boat I'm starting next month will have a much lower
: rear deck than my "plastic fantastic". When the time comes to
: build a stripper, I'll probably go with a design with an even lower aft
: deck, such as a Night Heron or Outer Island.

If your coaming u/s is raised, I guess you have an inch or so. If you mount farther back maybe less impact but way harder to release etc. If blowup, might be ok. It also depends on how far back the cockpit opening is. One of my yaks is really high (I think close to 11in), but b/c the opening is back a bit, I don't notice as much.

The idea is interesting, another one is it could even be used for the near blade.

Yet another idea is to incorporate the near blade cinch w/ a stirrup approach. Step on the stirrup, cinch the blade. Sim setup as before, but w/ the near blade also.

-mick