: I plan on mounting the braces to wood blocks then gluing the
: blocks to the inside of the hull. Has anyone tried this method? How about
: strength/durability? Ricci

I've done something very similar for my wife's Osprey. I took a bit of the scrap 4mm okume as long as the foot brace rail an cut it into two strips and mounted T-nuts into it.

See:

http://www.kayakforum.com/cgi-bin/Building/index.cgi?read=28649

I have a few further comments after mounting them in the cockpit... Be very careful about drilling the holes. I drilled and tested the holes before fiberglassing and mounting (of course), but I didn't take into account that the wood had much more flex at that point... A 1/16" error in drilling didn't make much difference until everything was glassed and epoxied in place and I was dripping sweat all over the inside of the cockpit while trying to get the brace bolted in place. It went in eventually, but I'll be much more careful when doing the braces for my Coho. I've also come to the conclusion that three layers of glass was big overkill, but that has not been tested yet since the Osprey is awaiting final finishing.

That's my $0.02...

Later,

Tim.