... came out pretty good (see 'Riverboat Rigging')...
... old school cross lacing, closed cell foam knee pads and foot rests, nylon quick release thigh straps - we color coordinated the tie-downs and lacing - almost looks a bit too city-boy - but looks good none the less (our opinion)... now in dire need of some scuffs and scratches for personality - maybe even a dent or two...
... not a mistake - we like to position the rolled edge of those knee pads to the outside for lateral stability - with age they have a tendency to get a bit slimey and slippery when wet (especially with bare knees)...
... 2" D-rings fore and aft (nautical talk) - we bonded the whole system using West System G/flex 655-8 thickened (two part) epoxy adhesive... concerned with a comment or two from individuals "who know" ("... you'll never get those vinyl patches to adhere to that HDPE plastic...!!...") we really researched the adhesive and followed directions to a 'T' - that included sanding all bond surfaces, flashing the plastic surface, and clamping (w/ sandbags) the bonded components for 24 hours - we also stuck to ambient air temperatures > 50ºF... now finished, the whole assembly appears bombproof and passed our stringent post fabrication system testing (hoisting the boat by the D-rings with additional manual tugging force on the D-rings and grommet patches)...
... 1" flat nylon webbing w/ slide buckles for air bag tie down...
... we hitched the upper thigh straps to the seat rail and the bottom to adjustable grommet patches - we included optional adjustable grommet patches for the upper thigh straps (just because we had 'em) but will probably never use 'em... we're still up in the air regarding that drop angled seat - it's a bit foot constrictive when entering/exiting from a kneeling position - seems a bit hairy if having to bail from a capsize - especially if in a swift current... have a feeling we're either going to trim back the angle a bit or replace with a traditional parallel-style seat - we'll see once we test it in the water...
... the 5ft length 'Light Weight 210D Thermoplastic Poly Urethane (TPU) High Tenacity Nylon Airbags' (couldn't have said it better ourselves) were separately purchased along with the boat... they are damn nice, tough looking (damn near tenacious) airbags with a brilliant inflation/deflation system - fabricated by 'BPM Whitewater' (some English guys from England - good work)... we go back a long ways with air bags, beginning with old 'Voyageur' vinyl airbags with twist lock valves which would usually impose hyperventilation before ya' finally got 'em inflated by blowing up like a giant balloon - these bags you can inflate with a modern small hand pump with correct fitting...
... not a high performance "whitewater charger" but a great flatwater to moderate whitewater cruiser - was fun puttin' it together...
... another of life's challenges lived...
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