: Brian,

: I built a Sea Tour 17 EXP and had trouble with the 1" plywood
: frame at the fwd end of the cockpit. I am overweight and had
: trouble getting in the small space. Gave that one away. The next
: boat I doubled up the frame at that position and cut the 1"
: width to 1/2". I wouldn't want anything that increased the
: size of the #3 frame.
: On both boats I have used Nick Shades foot brace shown in his
: original Stripbuilt kayak book. Very adjustable, more
: comfortable than pegs. I eliminated the notched adjustment board
: and just installed a line of 1/4" dia button head fasteners
: (set in oversized holes in epoxy) into the keel line. I also use
: a SS rod (1/8") instead of the rope.

: Different boats may work differently, but I really dislike foot
: pegs on my stitch and glue Pygmy Osprey Std.

: Marc

I considered the Nick Schade design (I think that is the one, the braces look sort of like the snowplow blades that throw the snow off to both side and they run on a track attached to the keel) but since I don't have the book and haven't been able to find it online I decided to start over from scratch. Do you know if the design is available online? I doubt the Chattanooga library has anything on building sea kayaks.

You used a SS rod and button head fasteners, do you mean like snaps? I like the rod idea and with some kind of screw lock that would minimize the bulk in the bulkhead (sorry, couldn't resist the pun) on my design. I could use that for the adjustment (save trying to get through number 2 and not hit the skin) and then mount the braces on some kind of slide...where's my design paper...

I have only used pegs once, on my brother's Arctic Tern (Pygmy, I think) and didn't like them. I couldn't adjust them properly, especially once we were afloat, and I just attributed it to that.

I'll keep looking for Nick's design (or book in a local library).

Brian