The Piranha Prelude comes with foam bulkhead outfitting. This does not fit my wife well and I am having difficulty adjusting it to fit. I would like to fit thigh straps and kneeling blocks instead. The boat is made of polyethylene and I am told that getting the anchors for straps to stick is difficult. Can anybody offer any help?

Many thanks

Rob Pealing

I used to paddle the Spanishfly, I put foam on the hull for the knees, tilted the thigh blocks so that sat at an angle, so the top rested on the whole of my thigh. I then added more foam on top of these to give me more contact, and also added thin foam underneath.

Also I got some plastic tubing and put several sections through the saddle to aid water to flow through. Then I used the front tube section just infront of the thigh blocks as an anchor for the thigh straps, two chest harnesses atatched together through the tube. The back part of the straps atached to the thwart just behind the saddle check this out this will help loads.

Hope this helps

Thank you,
Has anybody else got any suggestions or ideas?

I have also found out about a glue called Mr Sticky's Polybonder www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=457&

I have been in touch with the manufacturer and after I had explained in some detail what I wanted to do they came back and said that they think it will glue anchors like the ones Mike Yee uses. www.mikeyeeoutfitting.com

I would prefer to use a strap system, that is what we have in our 16 canoe, however it is Royalex and epoxy resin works.

I have not made up my mind what to try yet, if I try the glue I will post how well it works.

I tried glueing d rings in, but they kept popping, so I used the strap throught the pipe and this worked really well. Personally I like the extra foam as it felt more secure but still easy to get out when needed.

Urge,

Thank you for your help so far. Please may I have some more?

When you put plastic piping though the saddle what diameter did you use? I have tried pushing 3/4 inch domestic plastic piping though, it went about 1/2 way then I could get it no further even with a twisting motion and all my weight (145 lbs), eventually I removed it and pulled out the core, I was then able to push it further but as I went though the last 2inches I pushed out a cone of foam leaving a funnel shaped hole. What is the technique please?

I decided to try Mr. Sticky's Polybonder for the anchors and did the first one this afternoon, it take 24 hours to cure so too early to tell how it will work.

Mr Sticky's Polybonder works. www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=457&

Briefly here is what I have done with my wife's Prelude.

Mark the position of the anchors and saddle as Mike Yee suggests on his web site. ( www.mikeyeeoutfitting.com ).
Remove the thwarts and saddle and air bags etc.

Follow the instructions for the polybonder very carefully. The flaming process is particularly important. Watch the video on Tap Plastics web site ( www.tapplastics.com/info/video.php ) Do not skimp on the polybonder. My first two bonds failed and I suspect that it was because I skimped on both the flaming and polybonder. Subsequent bonds can be pulled hard enough to distort the boat and have withstood paddling trials. Using 2" D ring anchors it takes about half of a set of 15cc tubes to get a good bond, so for 6 bonds get 2 X 15cc packs. I mixed it on the marked area of the hull where the D ring was going, after flaming.

While the saddle was out I decided to put some 3/4" domestic water piping through the saddle to aid water flow after a roll. I marked 4 or 5 positions 2" above the bottom of the saddle on one side, using set square transferred the markings to the other side, inserted a wooden kebab skewer from one side to the other and when that was lined up on the marks drilled a 1/2" hole through using a round surform file ( www.stanleytools.com/default.asp?CATEGOR...%23174%3B+Round+File) ,working half way from each side using the skewer to guide the surform file. It was then very easy to push though 3/4" pipe and cut it to length.

The two bonds that failed were the ones beside the saddle and I subsequently used a piece of nylon climbing tape though one of the pieces of water pipe to anchor the thigh straps. This has worked very successfully.

Since all our w/w kayaks are polyethylene this may also prove useful for outfitting them as well.

Here is a picture of the Prelude

One year since I finished this out fitting and it seems to be withstanding the test of time.

Sweet glad its working, I've just started my blowfish c1 so far everything seems ok so far will see how it goes on moving water tomorrow

Hope it worked and you had fun. Many thanks for your past help. The Prelude is now being made in Quebec, Canada, so I expect I will see a few more in this country soon, though it has a reputation as being a difficult boat to paddle and having paddled an Outrage a few weeks ago I would agree that it is not so easy as that.
Best wishes