: 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

Most resins, epoxy included, shrink when they set, so wrapping it around something like a stainless rod will mean it'll never release, gets tighter as it ages. It's why we use spreader sticks to keep the hull/deck from shrinking out of shape when it's glassed.

Bill H.