> Does anyone have a recomendation and or source for foot pumps suitable for
> mounting in a kayak? How about any thoughts on mounting a foot pump in a
> skin on frame boat without bulk heads? Still leaving access to the front
> of the boat.

Did a fair amount of research on this a month or so ago. Like some other responders, I wanted to retrofit an old Henderson Chimp deck pump to serve as a foot pump, but found that finding a suitable stainless steel spring to fit inside the pump body was very difficult; stock on the Chimp foot pump is a conical expansion spring, about four inches high, three and a half inches diameter at the base and one and a half inches diameter at the top; don't know how it's measured in terms of stored energy force or the gauge of the wire, and that's the problem). (That's the only significant difference between the Henderson Chimp footpump and their more common [at least with Brit boat paddlers] deck pump that used to be standard issue in most Valley Canoe Product [VCP] boats like Nordkapps and Pintails.) A three inch (nominal) disk or a rectangular three inch by seven inch (nominal) "board" of lightweight plywood is bracketed onto the diaphragm stud to provide the purging effort, but the spring, expanding the diaphragm, pulls water into the pump body when foot pressure is released. (The diaphragm assembly in these pumps tend to wobble a lot when dry, but are pretty solid when filled with water during the pumping process, and work a lot better than it sounds like they would.)

Henderson makes a foot pump version of its Chimp pump, and Stan Chladek sells it through Great River Outfitters --- in my most recent catalog, it was about $175 (from memory). Good marine supply places will handle Henderson pumps, and can sell the same pump for about $145 list, but will discount it to about $120. The Henderson Chimp foot pump comes with brackets designed to fit onto a fail-safe cylindrical foot brace that can be mounted in a lot of VCP boats, and might work well in your non-bulkheaded boat, but you will need a very strong transverse mounting bar in the boat, and, in my limited exposure to skin on frame boats, I'd be concerned with the frame's ability to absorb the kind of pressure you're going to have to put on a foot pump. As an alternative with bulkheaded boats, the mounting points on the pump itself --- less the brackets provided --- can be attached directly to the bulkhead. (Note: even with flotation bags fore and aft, a non-bulkheaded boat is going to take on a lot of water in a wet re-entry and roll or in an assisted or unassisted rescue; none of the smaller pumps mentioned by other respondents is likely to provide you with a means of emptying the boat quickly or efficiently. Example: the Whale [made by the same company that makes Henderson, by the way] "Baby Foot Pump" is a terrific little pump, but, installed in my Pintail [a low volume VCP boat with a lot of foam flotation added], it still takes over 20 minutes to pump the cockpit out after a wet re-entry --- and I consider that unacceptable. I suspect the Lendal would give similar performance. And that's in a very low volume boat!)

A very good option is a Bosworth Guzzler series 400 foot pump; see it at . It is very similar to the Henderson Chimp foot pump, but looks like it might have a higher pump rate. It also takes up a little more room than a Chimp, and has a slightly larger footprint for bulkhead mounting. But, at about $45 list, it's probably a better value; Guzzlers are available at most better marine supply shops, although the foot pump would likely have to be specially ordered. (Had I known about this pump before I bought my second Henderson Chimp foot pump last month [on super-sale for $85] I would have bought a Guzzler to try out.)

As to operation, these things work pretty well, and will last virtually forever. (The other anatomically-activated solutions sound interesting, but I'd want to see a demo; actually, thinking about it, I'd rather see the demo, but wouldn't mind reading a report on BGPM [Butt Gallons per Minute] performance. I'll stay with the Chimp for the time being.) A good hand pump will, in fact, pump out a flooded boat faster, but it requires nearly ideal conditions to pump out unassisted, conditions which may well not be present in a scenario where you get dumped in the first place; therefore, a good high volume foot pump like the Chimp or Guzzler is an excellent system to have, allowing you to pump out the boat with the skirt re-installed, and both hands on the paddle to brace and gain some maneuverability and possilby forward speed.

Another option is one of the many inexpensive battery operated pumps on the market (Rule and others); the downside is the wiring and batteries that you're going to have to install, ensure dryness, and recharge or replace. They do work very well, but, to me, they're not worth the risk of the potentially multiple failure points I'd have to work around.

Sorry this went on a little --- I spent a lot of time looking at options for my CLC North Bay, under construction, and chose the Chimp for bulkhead mounting (which, by the way, would not have worked well with the bulkhead mounted in its designed position. I'm 6' 2", and still had to move the bulkhead aft by six inches to have the foot pump in the correct longtitudinal position; the pump is surrounded by a removable foam plug which serves as a very comfortable footrest, and adds flotation (or water exclusion) during a wet re-entry and roll, as does the solid foam back rest.

Jack Martin