In our club whitewater boats the foot braces get adjusted often. The Yaks are easier to adjust and have confidence that they will stay in place. It is hard to tell when the peg on the Keepers has settled into the hole on the rail and if it is going to stay. While I have futzed with Yaks jammed with sand, it hasn't been often enough to avoid them. Note that Yakima makes rails that are drilled to match the Keepers bolt spacing - I suspect that many folks have made the switch.

At the Western Michigan sea kayak symposium, I paddled a few sea kayaks made in Finland from Kayaksport. The had Kayaksport foot braces in them that flexed left and right to match the paddler's foot angle (different than the fore-and-aft pivot for rudder control cables). These were extremely comfortable and solid. If I were to build a sea kayak with foot braces instead of a bulkhead foot brace, I would chose these. See the link below for glimse. Also see the Seakayaker kayak reviews listed on their web site for more comments.

: Is it worth upgrading to Yakima footbraces?
: Are Keepers that bad?
: Is Yakima pretty much the industry standard?

: I am very close to joining the deck to hull and plan to use the non-through
: hull method of attaching footbraces, probably the Newfound Woodworks
: footbrace studs.

: I prefer durability, reliability and buying once to saving a few bucks.
: Any thoughts, advice, comments or jokes before I join top and bottom
: (hopefully) forever would be greatly appreciated.

: Thanks, M.