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From: SurfBuff <kayaker_at_caribsurf.com>
subject: RE: [Paddlewise] Feet Asleep -- butt falling asleep!
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 08:49:04 -0300
Hi people.... my problem is not feet falling asleep.... but my butt!  It gets numb after an hour or so.  What to do?  Thanks.  DAVE

----------
From: 	Steve Cramer[SMTP:cramer_at_coe.uga.edu]
Sent: 	Monday, August 17, 1998 8:38 AM
To: 	Edward F Luty
Cc: 	PaddleWise_at_lists.intelenet.net
Subject: 	Re: [Paddlewise] Feet Asleep



Ed, one of the main reasons for feet falling asleep has to do with the kayak
seat. A seat that is too high in the front puts pressure on your sciatic nerve
and it's nighty-night feet. Try tucking a 1/4 - 1/2 inch pad under your butt
and see if it helps. Also, try some other boats and see if the different seats
make a difference to you.

Steve

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From: Dave Kruger <dkruger_at_pacifier.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Feet Asleep -- butt falling asleep!
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1998 18:22:53 -0700
SurfBuff wrote:
> 
> Hi people.... my problem is not feet falling asleep.... but my butt!  It gets numb 
> after an hour or so.  What to do?  Thanks.
> 
> Ed, one of the main reasons for feet falling asleep has to do with the kayak
> seat. A seat that is too high in the front puts pressure on your sciatic nerve
> and it's nighty-night feet. Try tucking a 1/4 - 1/2 inch pad under your butt
> and see if it helps. Also, try some other boats and see if the different seats
> make a difference to you.
> 
> Steve

Hmmm ... Steve's suggestion is the exact opposite of mine.  I had the
tingly feet, also, and sometimes the tingly butt, and tried curing the
problem(s) with soft pads under the butt.  Did not work.  

Here is a dialog which details the tingly feet problem:

Ryan wrote (on Wave~Length, but it seems pertinent in this discussion):
> 
> I finished building a pygmy coho about a month ago and have done a lot of paddling
> since then.  I like the boat a lot and enjoy paddling it but after about 2 miles of
> paddling my feet fall asleep.  Does this happen to anyone else?  Is there any way to
> keep them awake besides moving them around?  Thanks for the help.

Been out of town for a month -- excuse the delayed reply.  Had the same
problem in my Pygmy Osprey and in my Eddyline Wind Dancer.  Solution: 
more support for your upper thighs.  Yeah, I know, I did not accept that
as the solution either -- but I made a minicell foam pad to fit my
butt/thighs -- shaped with a Sureform tool and (gently) with 80 grit on
a high speed disc sander.

Now experience NO tingling or other problems.  You will need a
three-inch-thick piece an inch or two wider than your hips and maybe 14
- 16 inches long.  Carve it down to a feather edge under the rear of
your butt and leave it 3 inches thick at the forward edge.  Adjust to
fit, after that.

I used Weldwood contact cement to attach velcro (hooks) to the bottom of
the minicell and velcro (the fuzzy side) to the hull, so I can remove it
for cleaning/adjusting.

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
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