REVIEW: SEA-LECT Designs footbraces

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I paddle kayaks without rudders that use skegs for directional stability.
Most of the kayaks I own came with footbraces that are mounted on rails attached to the hull.
The footbrace pegs have sliding adjustment fore and aft to allow different paddlers' leg lengths fit correctly.
I find most footbraces' surface rather small offering me limited support for my feet, often creating a pressure spot. In trying to maintain a good paddle stroke I tend to have a positive pressure against the pegs, that after an hour or so results in discomfort.
Wiggling my feet around and repositioning them frequently indicates that the footbraces are under engineered for my requirements. In some of my kayaks I have modified the pegs where I have added a bar spanning from side to side creating a much larger platform with infinite foot positions.
The bar works very well for me but when it comes to adjust it for a different paddler it is pretty tricky.
The bar needs to have some adjustment in the mounting holes since the hull of the kayak is tapered.
Pulling back the bar for a closer fit usually requires a bit wiggling, hard pulling and occasionally cursing to get the corroded mechanism (aluminium against stainless steel fastens)  to slide.
In my latest kayak I have not installed my modification since several people borrow that boat and adjustment of the brace would be a pain.

When SEA-LECT Designs offered me to test their footbraces I was very excited.
The design on their website looked good and I awaited the arrival of a set of replacement footbraces.



As described on their website the SEA-LECT Designs footbraces are a direct swap for most brands.
I removed my Yakima rails bolts and installed the new fasteners in the same existing holes, no modifications needed.
I was even very impressed with the detail of the fasteners; the bolt comes with a cupped washer that is backed by rubber to ensure a positive seal so no leaks will occur.



SEA-LECT Designs offers also footbraces that will mount on hull-bonded studs, not just through bolts.
There are a couple of fundamental differences with SEA-LECT Designs footbraces.
The adjusting mechanism is all corrosion free and is accessible from the cockpit, while seated in the kayak.



If I need adjustment (bring the pegs closer) I just grab the tab on the rotating rod, flick it 90 degrees upwards and relocate the peg, all on-the-fly, while on the water. I can do that with Yakima footpegs too, wiggling my foot behind the peg and hopefully finding the release tab, but only works when new. After a few months corrosion sets in and the adjusting mechanism becomes very sticky.
The surface area of the SEA-LECT Designs pegs is larger and gently curved to spread the load of the feet-pushing action.
Despite wearing paddling shoes I still find Yakima's sharp pegs edges dig into my feet a bit; SEA-LECT pegs are much nicer on my feet.


SEA-LECT Design on the left, Yakima on the right.
There is one thing I don't like about the SEA-LECT Designs pegs: the angle relative to my feet.
Maybe it's a personal taste but I found the pegs oriented too much forward: I kind of like them more square.
In the process to test them thoroughly and offer the manufacturer comparison feedback I added a little plate that I bolted onto the pegs surface, angling it backwards.
After an initial paddle of 10 miles I found the modified angle more to my liking.

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SHOP: DIY sea kayak foot brace

A paddling acquaintance of mine announced that he wanted to sell his beloved carbon/Kevlar sea kayak.
His reasoning was that the factory foot pedals collapsed on him once and the replacement ones did not look any better. He was not confident with the outfit of his otherwise great kayak.
While jokingly I promptly offered him a ridiculous sum to buy his kayak I added that if the foot pedals were his only problem it would be unwise to sell a kayak that he loved.
After making a few suggestions, with a simple solution on how to remove the existing plastic pedals and fabricate an aluminum bar as replacement, he no longer wished to part with his kayak.
On the next paddle he proudly showed me the modification. Admittedly he did a decent job.
His feet were resting on a bar that was spanning across the width of the hull offering more than one foot position.
His replacement foot bar prompted me to finally address my own foot pedal set- up in my prototype SeaBird Designs Northsea.
The kayak I have is a preproduction one where the outfit was not fully finalized and the foot pegs rails were not positioned correctly. A factory retrofit was done to ship the kayak in time but the job was below my standard.
As they say: "You don't buy a house because of its furniture"; I decided that the flexible factory foot pegs had to go.

Factory set up in pre-production Northsea. These foot pegs were for a rudder (that I removed and replaced with a skeg)
I wanted a secure wide bar to push my feet against.
I removed the rails and the foot pegs and fabricated a new rail from anodized aluminum "L" section.
I used the existing threaded studs to mount the rails.

replacement aluminum rails: "L" section anodized profile
The cross brace where my feet will rest against had to be rather wide and curved a bit.
I could have used the aluminum profile that I have used in my other kayaks but the adjustment in the SeaBird was different: the pegs and rail have been removed.
I set out to fabricate a cross bar made from foam and composite fiberglass and carbon.
I cut a wide section of foam core and heating it up with a heat gun I shaped it into a shallow channel.
I cut a slot in the end to create a tab for anchoring it on the aluminum "L" rail.

heat shaped foam core
The foam core was layered by double bias glass cloth and West System epoxy (105/206).

double bias covered by 4oz glass
Once cured I trimmed the excess cloth off from the edges.
Subsequent sessions did cover the front side with carbon cloth.
Carbon added a lot of strength and made the brace stiff.
Unfortunately carbon is not very abrasion resistant and an area that would see constant rubbing of shoes and sand had to be protected with a final layer of 2oz glass cloth.

2oz glass cloth covering carbon cloth
The foot brace once cured had the anchor tabs drilled and a last coat of epoxy was done for durability and looks.
Installing the cross brace meant careful alignment on the aluminum rails and a row of holes for adjustment (different leg lengths).
I used a 1/4" stainless steel bolt and a wing nut (rubber washer) for securing the foot brace.

Replacement foot brace installed (not shown with wing nuts but nylocks)

SHOP: foot pegs modification

Now, really, what's there to talk about foot pegs?
Modify foot pegs? com'on...
Actually yes.
I am not interested in foot pegs that control rudders; it's the static foot pegs for skeg boats that I want to write about.
For proper efficient paddling one needs solid foot pegs.
While most novices will think that kayaking involves a lot of arm strength they eventually discover that I kayak is propelled by the torso rotation and legs.
Your feet must make decent contact with the pegs.
Too far away and a lot of your potential power is not directed to boat propulsion.
Pegs that are too flimsy and flexible also aren't much good.
Most high end kayaks have Werner (also called Yakima) foot pegs.
Those pegs are probably the best that are commercially available.
I can hear the purists say that a proper kayak should have a bulkhead as point of contact for your feet; that option is usually feasible for custom built boats.
For the rest of us that want to use adjustable foot pegs there are two solutions on improving the standard pegs.
If you are a rather tall person and your pegs will sit close to the bulkhead I think that a bar spanning across the width of the kayak to the other peg is a good option.

The above solution allows me to have more positions for my feet that are often jammed under the deck (size 12 US) wearing paddling shoes.
I can still adjust the reach of the bar by sliding the pegs.
An aluminum curved and profiled bar is cut to length and attached with stainless steel bolts onto the plastic pegs. Since most kayaks are tapered and the hull shape is converging, the hole on the aluminum bar will have to be slotted to allow reach adjustment.
If your pegs are however positioned somewhere half way on the rail you probably want to utilize the room left in front of your feet and the bulkhead.
Having a bar there will probably prevent positioning of items (dry bags, water etc) if space is at premium on a long trip.
A lot of expeditioners have to use all available space on a kayak to carry the necessary food, water and gear.
Therefore the Werner pegs have to be individually modified.
The surface area on a Werner peg is rather small with sharp edges.
A lot of people lament sore feet when paddling in booties with rather soft soles.
Greg Schwarz, a kayaker that can see improvement in all stock items, has modified his Avocet LV pegs.
Using foam core (expanded polystyrene) fiberglass and epoxy he has shaped a perfectly fitting modified Werner peg.

color matched (to deck) epoxy with slip resistant finish