Foot brace for kayaks

A molded foot brace for a kayak is disclosed having only three major parts which include a molded flange bar (20) having flanges (24, 26) received within a T-shaped channel (44) of an adjustable foot rest bracket (40). A flexible lever (58) is integral with the foot rest bracket and may be flexed to release a cam (50) from within an index opening (22) for adjustably positioning a foot rest (42). A remote cable (72) may be used to operate and release the foot rest from a remote position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The invention relates to a molded adjustable footbrace for a lightweight, 
flexible skin kayak and the like which may be easily adjusted from the 
cockpit of the kayak. Kayaks have become increasingly popular for use in 
whitewater recreational sports. Under whitewater conditions,the kayak 
undergoes considerable dynamic forces as it drops from high falls, impacts 
rocks, makes sharp turns, and other rigors involved in whitewater travel. 
The boater must maintain himself in a stable position with hip, thighs, 
and feet braced within the kayak. The kayak may be constructed of a thin 
flexible, yet strong, plastic skin such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 
4,227,272. In order for the boater to adequately brace himself in a stable 
position within the kayak so that he may retain control, the bracing must 
be provided so that the boater may adjust his position. 
Heretofore, numerous foot braces have been proposed for kayaks. In many 
instances, the foot brace provided requires that the boater be able to 
reach to the point of the foot rest for adjustment. For example, rails may 
be attache to interior sides of the kayak hull and foot rests may be 
removably attached to the rails by various means such as pins. This 
typically is the point furthest towards the bow of the boat away from the 
area where the boater is seated. The necessity to reach inwardly is both 
awkward and often virtually impossible unless the boater is reaching into 
the kayak from an unseated position. U.S. Pat. No. 2,001,247 discloses a 
footbrace for a kayak which utilizes a single rail affixed to the kayak 
with a movable foot rest that may be adjusted in its position along the 
rail. A plurality of pins must be set to adjust the foot rest in its 
position. This requires considerable effort and manipulation. While simple 
in construction, the foot rest may be awkward and troublesome to use. U.S. 
Pat. No. 3,982,293 discloses a footrest for kayaks including a channel 
member attached to the kayak and a foot pad unit which slides in the 
channel member. Simplified and more convenient adjustment of the foot pad 
along the channel is sought by utilizing the depressing trigger and 
indexing pin actuated by the trigger. The pin locks in grooves in the 
channel. There is a likelihood that the pins may pivot out of the indexing 
slots and the foot pad lose its position. Attempts have been made to 
provide a footbrace for a kayak which can be adjusted from the cockpit 
such as shown in Great Britain Pat. No. GB 2,134,454. However,this foot 
rest requires considerable structure and attachment to the hull and 
occupies a good bit of the hull interior making such impractical. U.S. 
Pat. No. 4,229,850 discloses a foot brace having a number of stationary 
foot positions so that the brace need not be adjusted but that the foot 
may be adjusted in the brace. However, the need for providing a plurality 
of foot rests with only a limited variety of positions and the possibility 
of the boater placing his feet at unequal foot rest positions renders such 
a device not entirely satisfactory. 
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a lightweight foot 
brace for a kayak which is simple in construction. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a lightweight foot brace for 
a kayak which is easy to operate from a seated position and remains 
reliably locked in an adjusted position. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a molded foot brace for a 
kayak which is simple in construction and strong in its parts providing a 
simple and reliable adjustable foot brace for a boater. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The above objectives are accomplished according to the invention by 
providing a foot brace for a kayak which includes an elongated flange bar 
carried by the hull interior extending in forward and aft directions; and 
an adjustable foot rest bracket slidably carried by the flange bar having 
a foot rest projecting laterally from the flange bar and outwardly towards 
a center of the hull interior so that a boater seated in the cockpit may 
brace a foot on the foot rest. The position of the adjustable foot rest 
bracket is adjusted along the length of the flange bar by a plurality of 
index openings formed in the flange bar and a cam carried by the foot rest 
bracket for engaging within the openings. The cam is formed on one end of 
a molded one piece operator lever having a flexible stem integrally 
attached to the adjustable bracket bar in a manner that a flexible joint 
is created between the operator lever and the adjustable foot rest 
bracket. An operator portion is formed on the operator lever for moving 
the cam means in and out of the index openings as the operator lever 
flexes about the flexible joint. 
The foot rest bracket is molded as one piece from a suitable plastic 
material. The flexible skin of the operator lever terminates in an 
enlarged head portion having a pair of lateral side extensions. The foot 
rest bracket has a socket in which the enlarged head of the stem is 
received and snapped into place. The lateral side extensions abut an 
interior wall of said socket to lock the stem and adjustable foot rest 
bracket integrally together. A remote actuation means may be connected to 
the operator lever for operating the lever from a remote location.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now in more detail to the drawings, a kayak 10 is illustrated in 
FIG. 1 which includes a hull 12 and a deck 14. A cockpit 16 is formed on 
the deck which may be occupied by boater 18. In this position, the hips of 
the boater are braced in a seat (not shown) and the thighs against thigh 
braces (not shown) attached to the inside of the hull. A foot brace A is 
mounted to the interior sides 12a of hull 12 by suitable conventional 
fasteners. 
As can best be seen in FIG. 2, each footbrace A includes an elongated 
flange bar 20 having a plurality of index openings 22 formed in a medial 
portion. A pair of flanges in the form of a first flange 24 and a second 
flange 26 extend outwardly on each side of index openings 22 as can best 
be seen in FIG. 3. A shank 28 integrally connects flanges 24 and 26 to a 
base flange having outwardly extending flanges 30 and 32. An adjustable 
foot rest bracket 40 is slidably received on flanges 24 and 26 of flange 
bar 20. The bracket includes a foot rest 42. A generally T-shaped channel 
44 is formed in the bracket for receiving the correspondingly T-shaped 
flanges 24, 26 of flange bar 20. Inward projections 46 and 48 slidingly 
engage shank 28 of flange bar 20. Adjustable foot rest bracket 40 stably 
slides along flange bar 20. As can best be seen in FIGS. 2 and 4, means 
for locking foot rest bracket 40 in a desired position includes a cam 
means 50 which engages within an index opening 22. Shoulders 55 on 
opposing sides of cam 50 engage corresponding surfaces of flanges 24 and 
26 to limit penetration of the cam into index opening 22. Each index 
opening 22 is defined by a generally flat abutment surface 22a and a 
rounded tapering surface 22b. Cam means 50 includes a camming surface 52 
which compliments and works with abutment surface 22a for locking 
adjustment bracket 40 in a position with pressure on foot rest 42, as can 
best be seen in FIG. 2 and 4. Camming means 50 further includes a 
contoured portion 54 which compliments and works with contoured surface 
22b for allowing adjustment bracket 40 to slide in a direction opposite 
arrow 56 shown in FIG. 4 to adjust the position of bracket 40. In 
addition, an upwardly inclined surface X on cam 50 engages an oppositely, 
downwardly inclined surface Y on bracket 40 as foot pressure is placed on 
rest 42 in the direction of arrow 56. The two surfaces X and Y interlock 
forcing cam 50 to lock tighter in hole 22. Means for releasing cam means 
50 includes an operator portion 60 formed on the opposite end of lever 58 
for manual operation of lever 58. Intermediate operator portion 60 and cam 
means 50 is a flexible stem 62 molded as one piece with lever 58 and 
penetrating into a socket 64 molded as one piece with foot rest bracket 
40. As can best be seen in FIG. 3, stem 62 is preferably of a flat 
rectangular cross-section having rounded edges. Stem 62 terminates in an 
enlarged head 66 having side projections 68 which engages an inner wall 70 
of socket 64 to lock the lever in place on bracket 40. Preferably, foot 
rest bracket 40 and lever 58 are each molded as one piece from a suitable 
plastic material and are locked together with socket 64 and enlarged head 
66 of stem 62. This provides flexibility to the stem so that it pivots to 
release cam 50. 
Foot rest bracket 40 may be moved in the direction opposite arrow 56 
without operating lever 58. Lever 58 must be operated, as can best be seen 
in FIG. 5, by pulling the lever toward the boater to move the foot rest in 
the direction of arrow 56. 
Referring to FIG. 4, remote actuation means for operating lever 58 from a 
remote location in a convenient simple manner is illustrated. This 
includes a flexible cable 72 extending through a hole 74 in operator 
portion 60 of lever 58. Cable 72 may be fastened at 76 to the outer end of 
bracket 40 in any suitable manner. Cable 72 extends through aligned 
opening 74 in operator portion 60 into a flexible cable housing 80. Cable 
72 may be routed to a vicinity of a seated boater and may be actuated or 
pulled toward the boater, in the direction of arrow 82, to release lever 
58 and cam 50, as can best be seen in FIG. 4. Spring 84 may be provided to 
keep slack out of the cable 72. Cable 72 may be pulled manually by the 
boater or a handle (not shown) may be provided to which cable 72 is 
attached. Cable 72, housing 80, and the handle may be any suitable 
arrangement, for example, like a conventional bicycle brake cable and 
handle mechanism which operates to pull the cable 72 in the direction of 
arrow 82. Cable 72 is routed inside flange bar 20 to keep it out of the 
way. In this manner, the location of foot rest 42 may be adjusted quickly 
by the boater without reaching under and into the hull of the kayak merely 
from a seated position. This allows foot rest 42 to be adjusted while the 
boater is paddling the kayak and needs to adjust for more or less bracing 
depending on water conditions. 
Thus, it can be seen that an advantageous construction for a foot rest can 
be had for a kayak according to the invention. The foot brace includes 
only three parts which may be easily and economically molded. Two of the 
parts, the foot rest bracket and the operator lever, may be integrally 
joined to the operator as one piece so that only two major parts need to 
be installed in the kayak, namely the flange bar and the foot rest 
bracket. The construction is lightweight, simple to use and may be easily 
adapted for remote operation. While a preferred embodiment of the 
invention has been described using specific terms, such description is for 
illustrative purposes only, and it is to be understood that changes and 
variations may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the 
following claims.