A while back I complained about foot pegs. I’m convinced there’s a link between foot pegs and North Korean saboteurs. Friends wouldn’t let friends use foot pegs.

I came up with a design for a full foot brace with an incorporated foot pump (Guzzler).

I fussed with this for months, progress by inches. I finally got it into the water a month or so ago, and after one paddle, came home chopped away at it and improved it 200 percent.

It is admittedly even uglier than my edge planes.
Again there's more images on my Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/willn2/

It works, I'm satisfied for now.
Punch list:
1. Rails on the bottom of the hull is a work around. The rails are 3/4" wide Rockler channels for router tables, etc. They work, are plenty strong, (Dookie schmutz West System Epoxy, heavy filler, roughed up the hull and the bottom of the rail), but when I outfit my Mystery ‘X’ I'm planning on using Yakima rails--in the standard position--up on the side.
2. Pump. Guzzler works great, but it's slow. 1.5 liters per minute. When you push--easy, the return stroke is by the internal spring and slow. Push stroke is outflow, return sucks in water. A foot strap on the pump would allow speeding this up. The Guzzler is very tough, but probably too much. A smaller lighter pump would be better.
Connections. I fiddled with PVC. The Crush proof pump hose from West Marine is terrific. Solves all the problems I was trying to solve with PVC. Next time I'll use hose on the intake as well.
The pump could be mounted flat to the hull with a lever to pump it. This lower’s it’s profile and center of gravity. The other Guzzler model has intake and outtake on opposite sides --this would work well.
I force screwed threaded inserts into the bolt holes on the pump housing--worked well, more than strong enough. (Pump is delrin, temporary connection roughen & PVC cement, more permanent, roughen, use epoxy)
3. Foot brace--1/8" plywood a layer or two of carbon fiber. very stiff, solid. No slippage even when wet.
Next time I'd like to make one panel for each foot. Basic rule. Trace your foot, slide your foot up 3/4 to 1 inch and trace your toes again. Where your little toe bends(in lower position) is where it needs to hinge parallel with the angle of your toes.

Hinges-- lot of frustration. I coated a rod with releasing solution, wrap carbon fiber around it, and it would never release--ever. I found some drinking straws that a 1/4 bolt would slide through. I wrapped this--worked fine. Next time more grease (I looked for tips, instructions, etc... on how to cast, form, mold with epoxy and glass. Never found anything. I bought the Gungeon Brothers book--of no use to me. I learned more from Vaclav.).
4. Frame 1/2” Baltic Birch ply--way overbuilt, heavy, bulky. Less will be more.
5. Rudder control. By the time I cut and carved everything, I wound up with rudder pedals that were too small. Not enough movement to get full movement from my Feathercraft rudder. [I made a leverage multiply--it worked, but was too jammed inside the cockpit to work.] I quickly figured out that it doesn't take much force to move the rudder. Rudders are over leveraged--clear indication that kayak rudders are not a solved problem (I like my Feathercraft rudder a lot--highly recommend it)
I drilled holes inboard of the the factory holes--worked fine. First set of holes not enough room for the attachment hardware; a couple hours of use the cable started sawing through the aluminum. So I just drilled new holes. Works fine. (A Sealine style S-curve path for the cable-so it’s always the right length, was lost in tweaking, but would be easy to incorporate.)
Tightening knobs on the the sliders and rails. Work fine, 6 inch separation, do not interfere with feet, but my feet do loosen them. I'll replace them with bolts.

Feet no longer get numb. I'm better connected to my kayak. Pump removes 1.5 liters per minute. I can live with this.
Well worth the effort. I hope someone takes this, improves on it, publishes the plans or sells them. I'd pay $200 plus the cost of the pump for something like this I could just install.

Will