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[Poobah]

Baidarka sent me some pictures of a towable kneeboard. I've wondered myself about converting one of these things for prone riding. Get one that doesn't have deeply molded knee dents. Remove the metal fittings from the deck. Sure these boards are heavy, but tough enough for rocky locations. Does anybody know how deep you have to go to remove those metal fittings?

[Nels]

Poobah,

I don't know how deep those fitting are, but from what I recall about construction of this type of board I think you could find repair info from one of the rotomolded kayak manufacturers like Ocean Kayak. Seemed to me these skiboards might have had some kind of foam inside, which probably ought to be checked out before attempting repairs but would probably alrady have been laid open in metal fitting removal.

They might even just be rivets.

I've wondered about them myself, but frankly they make my knees hurt just holding them...

[baidarka]

The knee dents on this particular board do not appear deep enough to be of concern. Also, the metal fittings are flush with the deck pad. For now I am going to cover the deck with a thin 'camping' pad. This should even things out a bit and cover up the hazards. If the performance is satisfactory, I'll probably add a handle up front to help wrestle the extra weight. Just saw another one at the store today...much thinner than this, with parallel rails. Unfortunately, the price was twenty times more than this garage sale find.

[baidarka]

Well, I finally got a chance to ride this board. Actually I was riding a borrowed board of the same mold, complete with two retractable skegs. Even though the conditions were meager, I was disappointed in the performance. It was extremely sluggish and quite unwilling to hold a high line. Too much rocker? Rails too boxy? I'll leave that critique for a more discerning eye. Back to the ply!