J W wrote in
:

Brian Nystrom wrote in
:

You can get padeyes, cord, bungee and stainless screws/washers/nuts at
most marine suppliers. Yakima footrests are available as an
aftermarket item. All attachments will need to be done via drilling
holes in the boat and installing the parts with screws or stainless
pop rivets, since you cannot easily glue anything structural to
polyethylene.

Another important concern is floatation. You should install float bags
front and rear. Without them, there is no way you'll be able to self
rescue in the event of a capsize.

It's got foam blocks in each end; they're Styrofoam, though, and over
the winter/fall I intend to pull them out and replace them with
closed-cell stuff. If I do add tie-downs and braces, it'll have to
happen then, too. I'm having too much fun to go _working_ on it right
now!

Replacing the foam blocks with closed cell foam will be useless unless you
fill up an area much larger than is taken up now. All those foam block do
is keep the boat from sinking entirely should it fill up with water.

Here's something for you to try.

On a warm day, take your boat out about 20' from shore and tip over. Slowly
tip it back upright so that the cockpit starts to fill with water. Now try
to get it back to shore and empty it out. If you *do* manage to climb back
into the cockpit you won't be able to paddle it because it will be so
unstable that it will just slip back over with each stroke and the bow or
stern will likely slip completely under. You can try getting out and
swimming it to shore instead. It should only take you about 10-15 minutes.
Once you're on shore try emptying out the water.

When I tried this little exercise with someone that claimed that she didn't
need float bags because the hull had a foam core and wouldn't sink, it took
three people to drag the boat onto a shallow beach and turn the boat over.

Now imagine the same scenario but you're 200' from shore and the water is 50
degrees.

Get some float bags for your boat and practice tipping it over and getting
back into in deep water.