> Dean,

> Those fittings are really beautiful. Can you post a picture showing how
> you arranged them on your Artic Tern (with bungies/straps installed)for
> the deck area directly forward and aft of the cockpit?

> Did you install them on the deck shear panels or inboard of the shear
> panels?

> Once again, the fittings and kayak look great

> Paul Williams

I can't take credit for the pictures -- they're right off of Eric Schade's website, shearwater-boats.com. I think these particular pictures are of an Outer Island that Eric built.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of my Tern. I installed the fittings in the same spread as Pygmy called out for their plastic pad-eyes. I think they work perfectly in those locations. I put all 8 of them centered on the deck shear panel, not on the main deck panels that you see in some of the pictures on Pygmy's site. If you use a Greenland (narrow) paddle, you might consider making the rear ones closer together in the fore/aft direction so that they hold your paddle more securely during a paddle-float re-entry. That peak in the aft deck makes keeping that paddle secure difficult enough...

You might be a bit concerned about mounting the fittings in the shear panel because this is where your knuckles will be if you take a close stroke. Don't be -- they're far enough foreward. I haven't had any problems dragging my knuckles on the bungees, but I do drag them on the coaming lip every now and then. But then I use a narrow paddle in a low position, so if you use a euro paddle this may not be a problem. I think the Tern's cockpit is too big, so now I'm building an Outer Island that I'll have to shoe-horn myself into...

Happy building!

Dean