“One option would be to sew a cover for the pad and attach the velcro to that”
I expect that will prove true. An experiment is underway.
I have scraps of minicel, ensolite pad, exercise flooring and a DIY vinyl covered seat pad available, and have attached self-adhesive pieces of Dual-lock to each. Best adhesive practices, surfaces clean, Dual-lock self-adhesive stuck and clamped firmly for the night; from past testing I know the super-adhesive on Dual-lock takes a day to fully set.
Tomorrow I’ll press the Dual-Locked test pieces onto another strip of Dual-lock, one still firmly adhered to a garbage can lid from past experiments a couple years ago, and see what happens when I pull them apart.
My suspicion is that they will not separate cleanly; either the adhesive will pull free of the foam, or the super-stick weatherproof Dual-lock adhesive will rip some of the foam off with it. Except on the vinyl covered pad, where I think the Dual-lock with stay stuck.
One possible solution, without using Dual-lock or Velcro, might be to use puzzle-edged exercise flooring, and contact cement the removable edge puzzle strips some distance below the inwales, then lock a couple pieces of exercise flooring puzzle-edged together in that span. The thin, glued in puzzle-edge strips would remain in place, but larger puzzle edge slabs be easily removed.
PC310020 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
(Puzzle edges there cut off to give me a large square of exercise foam)
A removable puzzle-edge attached pad would be better in out-of-canoe camp use as well, without Velcro or Dual-lock picking up hair, dirt and debris when used on the ground/in the tent.
FWIW in the Stripperguy thread experiment I goo’ed up Velcro and Dual Lock and
“
The Velcro did not sponge off very well. At all; I finally resorted to blasting it with a hose trying to dislodge the little bits of sponge stuck to the hook side. With only minor success”. Simply sponged off the Dual-Lock came easily clean and crud free.
PB030029 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
The other issue I have with hook and loop or Dual lock is this:
PB060035 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
I curse every jacket designer who thought Velcro cuff straps and Velcro pocket flaps were a good combination.
Crap, my sleeve is stuck to my pocket again.
That puzzle edge exercise flooring is big-box store/Harbor Freight/Amazon etc available.
https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics...49Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
To be experimentally thorough I attached Dual-lock to both the flat and embossed side of the exercise flooring test piece. The embossed side is more durable than the unembossed side, and much more durable than minicel or ensolite foam, better for boot gouging resistance when used as a heel pad, probably the same over time for dog claws.