Falling out of Zets?

[harry_paddle]

I don't have a zet, but I've heard in the last 2 weeks, 4 very competent boaters 'falling out of their zets'.

they could all be lying, but individually they've all said they didn't pull their decks.... anyone else?

[Mark Allen]

The Thigh/knee grips need adgusting to fit...

[DAB]

Falling out of their boat would sugest they are in fact not very competent boaters.

[chrisps]

One of my mates who is a perfectly competent boater complained of this twice in the French Alps a few weeks ago. Obviously its hard to say for sure what happens in a capsize, but he swears that he didn't pull his deck or try to exit the boat.

[chrisps]

One of my mates who is a perfectly competent boater complained of this twice in the French Alps a few weeks ago. Obviously its hard to say for sure what happens in a capsize, but he swears that he didn't pull his deck or try to exit the boat.

Hang on, just realised it was you that posted this thread Harry... I am of course talking about Nick.

[clarky999]

Quite a few people in my uni club paddle Zets now, myself included, haven't found this a problem at all...

Will remember to use this as an excuse when I swim from it though!

[Ieuan Belshaw]

Never had a knee pop out whilst upside down but I've had one pop out meters before a bit of 'gnar' once. I know someone who is going to build some personalized thigh braces for his new Zet...

[DaveBland]

Sounds like a fab excuse to drink beer and eat pies to fatten those thighs.

[biketastik]

Paddle a Zet, not had this issue? Good excuse though ;)

[Matt E]

Don't paddle a Zet but will consider buying one just for the excuse! Can see sales increasing as this becomes a standard excuse around the country ^_^

[Nick_]

Oi - sod off you 2! On a serious note - It's not an issue with the Zet as such but a lack of any core strength in my back after breaking it and not doing the exercises doc told me too. I'm going over on the back deck and just 'sliding' out of the back of it when it's shallow.

Although, it's not something I had problems with with my Nomad - the thigh braces could definitely do with some more grip. Anybody have any tweaks they have made to the braces?

*Note, I never have and never will refer to myself as a competent boater ;-)

[Hugh Graham]

I have heard of this happening, I think it depends on your shape to a certain extent... It happened to me a while ago when I landed upside down with some speed, but that could have happened in any boat really. I think the best way round this is to crank up the backrest - add knots or the additional tightening system if needed. It may also be worth adding in heel blocks, this helps with your feet position and pushes your knees up into the thigh braces, knee blocks can also help!

[N/A]

I am in complete agreance with Hugh hear had a few little problems to tart with when I got the boat with no enough grip in the thy braces. So titend the back rest and added heal blocks problem solved the heal blocks deftly making the biggest impacted.

They don't need to be the thick mine are only about 4 cm and just alter my legs that little bit that they need.

Hope this helps

Nick

[DAB]

I dont think the thigh grips will be the sole problem. I know plenty of people who remove thigh grips from their boats and still manage to roll without falling out. I have also rolled a 17ft open canoe, as I am sure many others will have, with no extra outfitting added before and it definately didn't have thigh grips.

[Hugh Graham]

Hey guys,

I've been having a think about this and decided to have a fiddle with the thigh braces. I think this is a good option if you are having trouble with the thigh braces. All you have to do is unscrew the rear screw that holds the brace in and add a bracket that connects the original position with the wider position. I'm finding that this holds my thighs in much better. This combined with the heel blocks is super comfy too! Check out these photos to see what I mean:

[Jwprobinson]

Interested to see more detail on these heel blocks.

I had this problem in the Alps too (god help me if Harry included me in the list of 4 "competant" boaters) - god pinned and when I rolled up after freeing myself I was in the water with only my ankles in my upright boat.....personally I think the pin rock popped me deck because I spent hours upside down when demoing the boat and had no issues there.

I did however find that the backband is no where near tight enough at full strenth, so have got the backband tightening addon coming in the post...

[Nick_]

Thanks Hugh, interesting pics, I've started playing with mine in a similar way. I'm trying to work out if I can fab up a bracket to get a syncro thigh brace up in there, will post some pics if it's successful. Plying with the heelblocks too, it's feeling more secure but not had chance to paddle since I started playing with it.

Re the backband, yes that definitely helps the issue in the short term - but I think possibly not a great fix long term to go and make it even tighter. I found this issue only really on fast shallow water in the alps, where I think possibly going even tighter with the backband might cause more 'pop' to push you up and out of the boat?

I do think that the backband reliance is bad in general, it shouldn't be required to wedge yourself in, just as a support. Core strength is what is needed, I'm personally noticing a massive difference in my paddling ability due to the lack of core strength I used to have. I do find the back rest better sitting slightly higher though, I've got the rear straps altered slightly to help it sit up in my lumbar region as opposed to wrapping around my arse.

[peteri]

Sorry to step in when I've never paddled a Zet, but....


I had similar with a Jackson Villain, and it was the backband.

Basically if I found myself pushed back so I was laying with my back on the backdeck (so at the extreme end of a sweep roll, or what happened once when I found myself upside down with my paddle acting as a sea anchor)

The backband would roll, slightly and slightly slip under me - this acted as a pivot point, which lifted my bum out of the seat, and therefore caused my thighs to come out.

Sorry, can't give a solution, but raising my backband up helped me

Pete

[MediumD]

I was playing around T-rescuing off a jetty in the Alps on a hangover morning and could feel myself slipping out sideways and the top of my thighs started to hit my deck. I got out, used extra foam to beef up the hip pads, and moved the thigh rests so they were as far back (towards the seat) as they would go and that kept me properly secure for the rest of the trip.

I tightened the backband as far as it would go and raised it up so that I felt more secure when leaning forward, but that had little impact on actually keeping my in the boat when it was on edge/up-side-down.