Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board

Hard Soled Booties and another idea

Posted By: Brian Nystrom
Date: Tuesday, 28 May 2002, at 1:02 p.m.

In Response To: Hard Soled Booties (Ken)

: My Sherwood dive booties don't cut it any more. Due to pressure on my foot
: pegs, the sole of the bootie crushes and deforms and I end up with numb
: feet, mostly from the foot peg contact point to my toes. This also seems
: to be agrivating my knee problems. I think I need a bootie with a harder
: ... and probably ... a stiffer sole. I need some leads guys ... shower me
: with recommendations!

Five-ten booties are pretty stiff. I've also got some inexpensive LL Bean water shoes that are surprisingly stiff.

An alternative that has worked for me is to modify or replace the foot pegs. In one boat, I screwed wood wedges cut from the wide side of a chunk of 2x3 to the stock pegs. The increase surface area and the more natural foot angle made a huge difference in comfort. On a couple of other boats, I've taken out the foot pegs and padded the forward bulkhead with minicell foam. Again, using wedges for foot pads made a big difference. Even with soft-soled booties, a peg with a large flat surface will be much more comfortable.

Messages In This Thread

Hard Soled Booties
Ken -- Sunday, 26 May 2002, at 12:35 a.m.

Re: Hard Soled Booties
Wayne Smith -- Sunday, 26 May 2002, at 8:05 a.m.

Re: Hard Soled Booties
Mike Scarborough -- Sunday, 26 May 2002, at 9:03 a.m.

Re: Hard Soled Booties
Greg Root -- Sunday, 26 May 2002, at 9:26 a.m.

Re: Hard Soled Booties
Liz -- Monday, 27 May 2002, at 9:26 a.m.

Hard Soled Booties and another idea
Brian Nystrom -- Tuesday, 28 May 2002, at 1:02 p.m.

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