In message
"Chris Naylor" wrote:

Ewan Scott wrote:
On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 16:09:50 -0000, "Chris Naylor"
wrote:

Hi - please excuse the crosspost - I wasn't sure which group to
post to - sorry!

Right. having just bought my first baot after being paddling for a
few years now (the joys of being involved with scouting and having
access to boats!). After paddling a number of different boats I
decided to buy an Inazone 242 as I found it a great boat for both
coaching and playing in (can't afford to have 2 seperate boats!).
Anyway. The footrest on the boat doesn't seem very stable, in fact
it wobbles around like jelly! I've tried using the larger of the 2
plates supplied, but if I use that one I can't get enough legroom to
paddle comfortably. If I put the footrest back enough to stop it
rattling it is too far away to be any use! I've noticed that a few
of the other inazone's that i have paddles have all had foam type
footrests fitted in them (shock bloc I think they call them?). Does
anybody know if it is possible to retro fit the foam type footrests
into the newer style inazone's, if so where can I get them from? If
not does anyone have any sugestions as to how to make the footrests
seem more stable?

Cheers for any info


Chris,

You can buy foam block and cut it to shape to customise your boat. You
can use it, with Duck Tape, to pad out your seat to give hip grips as
well.

Where did you buy the boat? We just bought two new boats from
Brookbank, a Wavesport, which came with a fitting kit, and a Method
Air which came with pre cut foam pads to slot into place.

You can also buy ratchet footrests that bolt into the side of the
boat.

I'm surprised you bought a 242. I'd have thought that you would have
been teased into getting into a smaller boat - we were :-) It was
scary on white water at first, but you get used to it.

Ewan Scott

Agh! It seems where you go I follow! Lol!

Cheers for the info on foam blocks - will have to source some from somewhere
now.

Got my boat from RoHO - managed to play them off on Brookbanks prices and
got a realy good deal for boat, deck and paddle - which was good! Even
managed to geta better paddle than I wanted because they didn't have the one
I wanted so got a more expensive one for around the same price. Hoped to get
an even better deal but Aaron was off ill when I went to pay - ah well!

Went with the 242 because I have messed up feet and whenever I've paddled
the smaller boats I was sorely tempted to buy I ended up not being able to
feel my feet for days - I also had a lot of trouble with cramp with the
smaller boats. So I went for a boat that I knew I liked, got a decent price
on and can paddle it for a day without being crippled for the rest of the
week!

Anyways, cheers for the info on the foam blocks and ratchets - something to
consider when I get paid again!

When you do start looking for foam I'm sure you'll appreciate that not all
foams are equivalent. The two I would look for would be polythene, used in
some packaging for unusually sensitive or valuable equipment, or
polyurethane. PE is white, bendy and fairly difficult to compress. PU is
black, bendy, and easier to compress. It also generally has smaller
bubbles, so once cut, is less abrasive to the skin.

The ones to avoid are the open-cell sponges, used in upholstery etc, which
absorb water, and polystyrene, which is rigid, frequently used in packaging
for electronic equipment, and breaks up over time. It used to be used for
buoyancy in fibreglass boats, because is was rigid and supported the deck,
but it also absorbs some water, dissolves in resin, (which makes it tricky to
build in), and eventually crumbles back to the granules it is made from.

You'll probably have to buy PU, you might be able to find discarded PE.

--
Alan Adams

http://www.nckc.org.uk/