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So a footbar on an aggressive sea kayak is kind of a game changer as it puts you pretty close to a surfski position giving you the ability to really throw your core behind your stroke. I'm amazed that no sea kayak makers, besides Rockpool, offer this an option. I'm surprised that only Onno and Expedition Kayaks offer a ruddered option as an add in.

I installed his footbar in my Taran16 and have 1 full summer on it. It replaced the stock footpegs on this ruddered boat. The install was very burdensome as nothing really lined up (as per his hand written instructions) and there isn't much wiggle room in his product to make it fit. It also interfered with my day hatch underneath the hull so after much sawing and hole drilling and anger and beers I got it installed. The stock setup makes the bar completely vertical so it's not comfortable with the angle of your feet. I had to shim the crap out of it to make it comfortable. Then came the rudder alignment. It connects directly to the toe peddles so there was a bunch of knot tweaking to make it right. To move it forward and back you have to redo the cable tension and balance it on each side. Not convenient at all.

So onto the review. The carbon feels comfortable on your bare feet which is nice. You have the ability to push real hard on the core of your feet and control the rudders with your toes, which is pretty sweet. The bar is way too flexy though, so it feels like it might break if I push it too hard. It also flexes top to bottom as well so you can't really get full power from your feet. The pegs are way more solid but your stuck bow-legged where you can do either/or with the bar. Overall it's been reliable but I did have it fall apart on a 30miler. Some of the bolts came loose and I was stuck w/o anything paddling home. I lock-tited everything when I put it back together and it's been fine.

So why did I give it 1 star? The product itself is probably about 3 starts. Onno is minus 5 stars. The reason I was sent this footbar was because Onno was duping PayPal into settling a dispute I had with Onno over a paddle I ordered. On the very last hour of my dispute Patrick sent PayPal a tracking #, which was supposed to be my $400 paddle. Instead it was this footbar that I expressed minor interesting via e-mails with Patrick. PayPal closed the case and any chance of me getting a refund. It's been 9 months and I have no hope of received the paddle I ordered from him. DO NOT order anything from Onno. There's a very small chance that you will receive what you order at all.

After several e-mails and phone calls he convinced me that he could get me a solid custom paddle. He was very patient and knowledge-able sounding. So ordered my paddle in March and was promised I'd have it in 3 weeks, just in time to train for my races. It's been almost a year and no paddle. He occasionally responds to my e-mails with bizarre sob stories of his family issues. He'll say very non committal things like "should have time to work on paddles" this week, but never actually commits to making my paddle. He ignores any request for a refund like it's not even an option. He's essentially stolen $400 from me. If your considering getting anything from him first do a web search and you'll find that he's done the same thing to many many people. Avoid Onno like the plague.