Freestyle Question for barefoot riders. Footholds??

[Shadow7874]

My feet dont bother me too much. My big toes get a little tore up but only after a lot of riding and its worth it.

Is zinc-alloy a decent substitute for stainless steel?
I found these which look perfect but they are zinc alloy not stainless.

I just need to figure out the correct dimensions for the inserts and bolts and i can order what i need. I just have no clue what dimensions i need...

 

[Waternut]

Go stainless only. Zinc is ok for occasional fresh water use but not the constant water use it will see with us and definitely not salt water. Check out my SN build on the last page or two for what I did. I believe I used clinch nuts and a metal plate fiberglassed to the hull and it worked great.

Barefoot and footholds was heaven for me. I truly loved it. No soggy shoes, no sand in the shoes, no lacing up before a ride or peeling a soggy shoe off at the end of a ride, your weight is lower in the tray, and you can feel whether you're in the footstrap perfectly or not. For footholds, shoes are a must but footstraps are just fine without.

 

[wydopen]

25mm underpadding, footstraps and barefoot couldnt be more comfortable...its like wearing slippers..ive been riding barefoot for years and haven't hurt my feet although I rarely wear shoes on land and have very tough feet..to me nothing feels more unnatural than wearing shoes in the water....whoever said to use underpadding on the top of the foothold instead of turf had a good idea..

 

[B3IS]

I ride barefoot and despite the turf tearing up my toes sometimes i dont plan on switching to shoes any time soon. Ive already dropped a few hundred $$ on parts for my pump swap plus a couple odds and ends (no power adders :frown: ) and i was thinking i should get some footholds while im doing all this work over spring break.
Are foot holds gonna kill my feet if i ride barefoot or should i just get some extra underpadding and ill be ok? I have no clue what type of holds im going to go with as i just recently had the idea to buy some. I wear a size 9.5 shoe if that makes any difference.

My other option is foot straps which i dont mind. I ride in a surf stance 90% of the time but im going to try a more freestyle approach this summer

Just put on a pair of shoes it will change everything.

 

[chriselmore_1]

wear shoes you hippies!

 

[Big Kahuna]

Ive had no reason to wear shoes before and two reasons not to. The only thing i see changing that is footholds. But i find it much much more comfortable without shoes
Gloves are another story. Going without gloves is brutal.

I think ill go with the blowsion kit and some straps for now and work on footholds (and shoes...) at some other point.
Still, shoes+water just seems uncomfortable.

The biggest 2 reasons.

1. Step off your ski at the shoreline or boat ramp and step on a broken bottle or other sharp object and you will slice your feet like you have never seen.
2. Support while riding. If your just riding up and down the lake, you are fine. But when you start jumping, you need the support.

 

[JHD]

^ X2. Wet sandy shoes don't feel great but I would have to guess it's better than a fish hook.

 

[Peter123]

^ X2. Wet sandy shoes don't feel great but I would have to guess it's better than a fish hook.

Or in the eye...

 

[speedysprocket]

I wear booties in the winter, but so far, I like bare foot when it's warm. My foot holds are turf all the way around inside, and I used Gator Grip; it's so comfortable!

 

[Waternut]

The biggest 2 reasons.

1. Step off your ski at the shoreline or boat ramp and step on a broken bottle or other sharp object and you will slice your feet like you have never seen.
2. Support while riding. If your just riding up and down the lake, you are fine. But when you start jumping, you need the support.

1. I never had to worry about the glass/hook thing since I wore shoes when I was launching and only did the barefoot thing later off a dock.
2. I will admit that is the one downside that I noticed when running footstraps on my flatdeck. For the most part, I was fine but I was a little worried about ankle support. I've always said, if both feet are locked in, your ankles are fine. If one foot comes out though, you have no ankle support with straps. I don't care if you're wearing shoes or not.

 

[Big Kahuna]

Good luck when you land of a wave a little cockeyed and jack your angle up............. Not fun.

 

[wydopen]

like i said before ive been riding/punishing myself in the ocean for years without shoes...never twisted an ankle...most people wear lowtop skateboarding shoes anyways that do nothing to support your ankle...then when u get slammed by an 8ft wave and have to swim as fast as u can to get your ski u cant because u are wearing shoes made for skateboarding haha

i find it funny how reliant people are on their shoes..good thing u guys were born in the 20th century...wouldnt have lasted a week a couple hundred years ago..

Good luck when you land of a wave a little cockeyed and jack your angle up............. Not fun.

 

[Big Kahuna]

1. I never had to worry about the glass/hook thing since I wore shoes when I was launching and only did the barefoot thing later off a dock.
2. I will admit that is the one downside that I noticed when running footstraps on my flatdeck. For the most part, I was fine but I was a little worried about ankle support. I've always said, if both feet are locked in, your ankles are fine. If one foot comes out though, you have no ankle support with straps. I don't care if you're wearing shoes or not.

This happened with a wetsuit and boots...........

Lost the ski in a flat water roll. Now imagine that with not boots or wetsuit

 

[Tyler Zane]

I couldn't do it but I have very soft feet and I know i would tear a toenail off everytime i kicked in. I don't know how guys do it.

What about using those thin shoes with individual toes? The Vibram Fivefinger baefoot shoes.
http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/barefoot-sports/

the tops of those shoes are very then, i do believe they would tear apart in no time. cool shoes thou

 

[Shadow7874]

The only time ive ever gotten off my jet ski at a shore was up by this waterfall area on the lake. Aside i only get on and off on docks or boats.

Would these be good for inserts? Im trying to find the ones with the sealed bottom like the blowsion ones but i cant find anything in stainless
http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/f...erts/m10-15-stainless-insert-for-metal-653-10

im about to just cave in and order two kits from blowsion but the shipping is more then the cost of one...

 

[kawasakit2me]

i find it funny how reliant people are on their shoes..good thing u guys were born in the 20th century...wouldnt have lasted a week a couple hundred years ago..

So they didn't have shoes in the 18th century? :biggthumpup:

If we were all born before shoes, we would've been barefoot since birth and it would be no issue because we'd all have hard crusty feet like yours. I wasn't born in a third world country or in a pre-shoe era, so shoes it is for me!

Do you drive a car or have a cellphone or use a computer? Psh! You wouldn't have lasted a minute 200 years ago.

Do you grow your own food and kill animals for meat and skins for clothing? Psh! Tis to laugh!

 

[Waternut]

Mcmaster Carr... P/N 94648A350 (10 for $6). They are round head clinch nuts in 18-8 stainless and have nylon insert that acts as a locknut and seals them. The nuts are designed for aluminum sheet at least 0.060" thick. Then buy a 12" x 12" x 0.063" sheet of aluminum P/N 5865T11 ($7) and cut to the desired size for each footstrap and glass the whole plate down. If you drill the holes correctly, the clinch nuts won't come out or spin. You'll have to drill the tray to accomodate the nuts on the backside but you'd have to do that to accomodate the inserts from blowsion.

 

[Shadow7874]

I was hoping to find something like the blowsion ones so i dont have to glass/epoxy a plate in. Id like to install them without having to pull up my turf and the blowsion ones look perfect, just cut a small circle, drill, and epoxy them in. Im hoping i can get the 140mm pump swap done without having to cut up my tray and if thats the case id prefer to keep my nearly brand new turf in tact if possible.

 

[Watty]

I went through the same thing with inserts for straps. I figure that no matter how many times you test and fit up the straps in the workshop, 10 seconds after you hit the water, you'll realize that you have the straps in the wrongs place. To get around this, I used some 6mm akuminium plate that is twice the size of the strap mounting flange, and pop rivetedit onto the deck. I then used another 6mm plate as a spacer on top of the other one to get it to the height of the underpad. The spacer plate has large holes for the bolts to go through, and they screw into drilled and tapped holes on the riveted plate. Because the plate that is riveted to the deck is large, you can easily drill and tap directly through your tray to change the mounting location. I didn't like the idea of just putting in the Blowsion style insterts as they are large, and small adjustments are not possible...you'd have to move the insert off to the side of the origional hole, plus about 5mm to get bite into the deck.

Yeah, I know...rivets? It's quick and easy, gets 6mm of thread for your bolts, and pulling a plate out of the deck thats riveted on all four corners would be very hard work. I'll post a pic shortly.

 

[Patrick Star]

I like to wear the neoprene Stone Creek booties from Academy. I have a set I wore here for a little over a year, then walked all over the coral in Diego Garcia for a year, and still wear them now when I ride, not bad for 20 bucks. Still got alot of life left in them!

Oh yea and they are easier to swim in than Chuck Taylors.