Outfitting evolution to walk out of store ready boats
OhNoItsKamryn - you look like you have a big foot for the XXX and may be too tall or big in general. During the early 90s it was common to see kayakers driving trucks onto the bow of a kayak to squash it and make it more slicy. Others used ovens and heat guns to make feet cups bigger/comfortable. Especially on designs like the XXX. I am not recommending you make your feet cups bigger as I have seen first hand people collapse their plastic. Rather, I am stating this because this was a common challenge for the XXX error.
That generation of boats was a more do-it-yourself generation. Lazy folks would duck tape their outfitting in. Others took great pride in customizing their outfitting. Today the designs are made to be water ready out of the store which still gives you the option to customize your kayak.
Boats were designed to be as slicy as possible for more cartwheels. Which was the ticket to winning rodeos. And with that low profile bow came jammed body parts. Heck I watched Dan Gavere at the 99 worlds in NZ kickass in the squirt division in a XXX. There are folks whom still know how to add space to bows. But don't do it without an experienced expert. The workable zone of kayak plastic is a small window and a little too much and your plastic can fall or create a hole.
Get some foam and go to town. Best way to find old foam is to salvage on old beater kayak for it's support walls.
For those that don't know how to glue foam to plastic here's a quick how to description.
1. Take a sharpie and trace off the area you will be gluing on each surface (foam and kayak).
2. Sand each surface. Clean the surface. Rubbing alcohol if you have it.
3. Apply a thin layer of contact cement. Let set til tacky to your finger 7 minutes-ish, about a beer. If you want it better do this step twice.
4. Press the foam onto the plastic.
If you shaped foam blocks from a center wall and used the steps above you could create more space and customize a nice knee cup setup. Maybe use some of the center wall nearest the bow and foot foam to create more foot space and be efficient with your usable foam.
Still I think you are facing what many kayakers in the 90s experienced. Big feet in little bow hurts.
The hip pads are snug but not too tight. Do you think i need to put foam under my thighs to help hold them up when I am relaxed? Im thinking its not the position i am in but the fact that my thighs can slide down and I need to hold them up that is the problem? Its the only thing I can think to change without making myself totally loose in the boat, which I hate.
Here are a few old school playboat outfitting tricks I recall:
A. Foam blocks glued to seat under thighs to keep your legs elevated and your but back.
B. Anyone remember the old pleasure pods? Or the wedge shaped block glued below your crotch to keep the butt from sliding forward.
C. Seat belts with quick release. I haven not seen anyone other C1'ers use a seat belt in a long time. I think Corran Addison had even designed a seat ratchet system for some of the Riot playboats.
D. Want to reduce weight? All the pros new to take out the plastic center piece that goes under a kayak seat. Replace that with a broken paddle shaft. Or drill holes 2" holes in that same plastic piece and your seat to shave off a pound or two of plastic.
To best answer your question about loose hips it sounds like you need bigger hip pads or to add shims. Man it's been years since I've had a custom carved him pad glued in to a perfect fit. Great topic guys.