Rolling last night was... dissappointing. We thought that with all of the modifications that we had made to Scott's kayak that we couldn't possibly get him any tighter in there while still being able to wet exit. In fact we were a little worried about the wet exit part. The good news is... he slips right out! Unfortunately, that's also the bad news.
We found two spots, one behind his lower back and the other was in the two front corners that we could put a bit more padding. The only problem with getting him crammed in there like a sardine is that he'd also like to be comfortable on say a 14 mile paddle on the San Francisco Bay. Another thought we had was, what if we could make the foam less slippery? Scott suggested velcroing his butt to the seat but I thought glueing some kind of non slip material to the foam might be best.
I just love facebook and kayaking friends! When we returned home I posted on our facebook page asking anyone for ideas of a material that we could use to glue to the foam. I gave the qualifications: it has to be textured as to prevent slipping but also be comfortable to sit on and rub against and it has to withstand being soaked. Within minutes, one of our kayaking friends whom we just met on the down river trip last month sent us a message saying that she had a pair of rubber pants that she hasn't worn in years. They are a sticky rubber for the purpose of keeping your butt in the boat. If the pants fit him he can wear them and the leg material can be cut up and glued to the sections of foam that we want to be less slippy. She is teaching a kayaking class about 5 minutes from our house on Saturday so we can go by and pick them up then! Thanks Lisa! You are awesome!
A kayak club friend suggested looking into outfitting made of neoprene. To redo all of the outfitting will be costly but that is an option we will keep open. Thanks Dave!
Another of our friends who created California Kayaker Magazine had a post up about his magazine and I just happened to read a comment on his post from someone wanting to submit an article about kayakers with disabilities, so I added this person as a friend and sent him an email asking if he had any suggestions. He was kind enough to reply right away offering some helpful suggestions. The best one being hip pads. The whole cockpit is padded! I thought at first, did he even look at the pictures? But now I get the need for a more shapely peice to hold the hip in place! Duh! So, Thank you, Tom!
As for me, it was weird to get used to a higher seat. It felt like I had to relearn my balance. If I rolled quickly I felt it was an asset like it pushed me up almost by itself, but if I hesitated underwater before rolling I felt it was harder. I was glad that I asked Scott to bring the screwdriver to roll practice, I readjusted my thigh braces at least five times. I think they are ok now. It is just weird to fit so differently and hard to get used to. Since removing those metal braces for the seat I don't have much hip pad. We put some in there but found it isn't nearly enough so we will have to add more to that too. Right now I am feeling like I am learning balance and rolling all over again. So far no bruises yet, but my muscles are screaming! All of them.
We are anxious to get back in the garage, modify, modify, modify, and then get back to the pool! But it will have to wait until we return from kayaking on the Mendocino Coast. Darn! LOL
Until then if anyone has any ideas throw them our way, please! Right now it is just a guessing game and we are willing to try ALMOST anything. :D
No comments:
Post a Comment