I installed a kneeling thwart and knee pads in my tandem canoe so that I could paddle it solo. I wanted removable pads so they would not be in the way when paddling tandem.
I purchase 6.75" L x 6" W peel and stick contoured knee pads and 4" L x 2" W peel and stick velcro to secure them in place.
While dry fitting to mark the mounting locations I discovered 2 paddling positions I liked, knees out wide for maximum brace and knees directly below me for relaxed paddling. I decided to mount the contoured pads wide then added a piece of flat foam between them. I cut the flat foam from a puzzle mat that I had.
Materials:
Sandpaper
Rubbing alcohol
Velcro Industrial Strength Strips
Gear Aid Aquaseal Flexible Adhesive
Contoured knee pads
Puzzle Flat Foam Mat
Box knife
Procedure:
1. Choose the size and shape of foam pad you like or custom cut your own pad
2. Dry fit and mark desired pad mounting location on canoe floor
3. Lightly sand then clean the canoe floor mounting location with alcohol
4. Cut and remove the peel and stick protective paper from the knee pad only where the velcro strip will be attached, if using non-self-adhesive foam pad clean foam pad with alcohol
5. Remove the peel and stick protective paper from velcro strip and use Aquaseal or similar flexible adhesive to attach velcro to the foam pad, the number and location of velcro strips used is at your discretion
6. Secure the velcro strip attached to the pad in place and under pressure for 24 hours to allow adhesive to cure
7. Attach the hook and pile velcro strips to each other then remove the peel and stick protective paper from the bottom facing velcro strips
8. Position the pad above and inline with the marked mounting location in the canoe and press the pad down firmly onto the canoe floor. The self-adhesive strips should now be firmly attached to the canoe floor with no need to wait for adhesive to cure.
Note:
1. I found that the self-adhesive velcro strips held secure to the floor of the canoe but required additional adhesive to attach securely to the foam.
2. I use care when separating the hook and pile velcro strips when removing the pads because the velco holds firm and the foam tears easily.
3. The velcro strips attached to the canoe floor can be removed If desired by carefully applying heat . Once removed the adhesive film is easy to clean with Goo Gone or similar adhesive removal product.
It is more difficult to explain then to do. You simply attach velcro strips to the kneeling pad of your choice. The whole system is easy to remove with no damage to the canoe if you don't like them or just want to try something different.
John