I’ve been boating for going on three years now, and since the beginning I have had problems with all the boats I’ve owned because I only weigh 140-145lbs. Really, until the middle of the 1999 season, there were no boats designed around smaller paddlers. I always had trouble sinking the stern of a boat for squirts. For two years, I paddled with (2) two liter bottles full of water in the very back of the stern, one on each side of the center pillar to add weight and help me sink the stern for squirts, which helped in one area but hurt in others. When the newer line of boats came out, I had a wealth of boats to choose from, but there was a new problem. Now that boats have less volume, most of what has been removed has been in the bow and stern areas with a focus on the cockpit area. This means less foot room. Just because I’m lighter in weight doesn’t mean I have small feet. The XXX was a great fit as a boat, but a poor fit when it came to comfort.
I deliberated on what to buy for months and finally just broke down and bought a XXX (I got a hell of a deal on it too…bonus.). I had it in a pool session and found that the foot discomfort was more than unnerving. Now, my problem is that I cant paddle it down the river if I’m not comfortable, but I don’t want to make any permanent modifications to it until I’m 100% sure I’m going to keep it, which requires paddling it down the river. I had to find a way to do a “test” inflation of the bow.
Here’s what I did. I took a float bag designed for the stern, placed it in the center of the bow and inflated it. This lifted the bow deck about ¾” total. I then cut three pieces of minicell foam to create a 3-piece bulkhead footrest. The minicell was cut to the specs of the bow when inflated. I then crammed the left bulkhead in as far as I could, followed by the right bulkhead. Remember, I did it this way because I had to get around the float bag that was still inflated. I then got in the boat and used my feet and legs to push the bulkhead forward until it was a comfortable length. When I started, I figured I would need between ¼” and ½” of inflation to be comfortable. When I had finished positioning the right and left bulkhead, I deflated the float bag and removed it. The bow deck began to collapse back to its original form, but the “oversized” bulkhead kept it from collapsing all the way back. I had started with an inch extra but the bow deck compressed the minicell, leaving me with about 3/8” of total inflation. I then stuffed the area between the right and left bulkhead with minicell to create one single bulkhead.
When I began, I had one major concern. I thought that this process would inflate the hull as much as it would inflate the bow deck. This proved NOT to be the case. Here is why. When I had started, the float bag was positioned in the center of the bow. When I tested it, it did inflate both bow and hull. But the center was the weakest portion of the bow due to flatness as curvature creates strength. There would be more strength under the foot bumps and over the chine area. This is an added benefit of the center of the bulkhead going in after deflation. It would allow the center of the bow deck to come back to its concave form and all the lift would be in the foot bump area.
Whaola! I inflated the bow and I did it without permanent repercussions. I’m going to paddle it a few times and if indeed this is the boat for me (which I have little doubt that it is…the XXX is flat out evil!), I will make it permanent with a heat gun in the spring. The really nice thing is that having done the “temporary” bulkhead the way I did, I already have a mold made. I will just heat it up and let the bulkhead to the expanding for me. That will make life easy later. I think I hit a win-win situation.
Karl V. Whipp
