: In my boat, not often. But I am building two. One of which I expect to loan
: to newbies. Also expect to paddle it some myself. So probably fairly often
: in that boat.

In one of my boats with a small cockpit I put a 7 inch screw hatch into the forward bulkhead so that I could get to the footrests through the fore hatch in case of jaming or the need to repair. They are an easy reach through it when set long.

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