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Pyranha Hooker Thigh Brace Add Ons – First Look

When I was about 16/17, I bought a Pyranha S6 that had these brilliant thigh braces called ‘Hookers’ that you could adjust not only back and forward but rotating them. This allowed you to make them easier to get out by having less coverage of your leg or, in my case, give you as much connectivity in the boat as possible but covering more of your leg.

Pyranha Hooker Thigh Brace Add Ons - First Look

The old thigh braces offered in the classic Pyranha S6.

For some reason, these special thigh braces were dropped from the Pyranha offerings in favour of more simplistic lighter units. The old ‘Hooker’ thigh braces had somewhat of a cult following. I know quite a few people who have retrofitted the Hookers into their modern boats.

Fast forward to more recent years. Pyranha’s thigh braces were having a mixed reaction. While they did the job most of the time for most people, I don’t think anyone was raving about them.

Both Dragorossi and Waka were releasing boats with thigh braces that could rotate, Dagger had thigh braces that just seemed to work for anyone that used them. It was time for the Angry Fish to step up it’s game. We saw a few prototypes but no real news of improved thigh braces had surfaced for a while.

Pyranha’s prototype ‘Elite’ thighbraces. Never seen in the real world.

Last year saw the introduction of the Stout 2 fittings. Along with the new fittings, a new ‘Hooker’ thing brace was spotted. As soon as I could, I got my order in for one of the new Machno creek boats and paid the extra for the ‘Hooker’ parts, being told I would get these as soon as they went into production.

The base thigh braces. I’ve added the ‘Hooker’ piece to the one on the left.

Pyranha Hooker Thigh Brace Add Ons - First Look

Original pad setup on the left. New ‘Hooker’ setup on the right.

Pyranha Hooker Thigh Brace Add Ons - First Look

Minimum ‘Hooker’ coverage on the left. Maximum coverage on the right.

Normal setup on the left, ‘Hooker’ added on the right.

Well they are now in production and I got some of the first production models. I pulled out the full thigh brace, took off the old padding and mounted the new parts. You could probably complete the job without having to remove these, but I wanted to take photos.

So far, so good. The new parts make things more comfy, they give you extra connectivity with the kayak and they seem robust. Thumbs up! I cannot see me taking these out of my boat for the foreseeable future.

Words and Pictures: Mark Mulrain

5 Comments

  1. Thomas Bell

    How can I get some of these thigh braces for my Nano ?

  2. Glenn

    Find an old Pyranha H3, I3 or the like and you can take off and refitt to the your new boat. A big saving on the £50+ they charging for the ‘new’ version…

  3. Josh Hill

    has anyone tried to add these to the connect thighbraces with some modification? unfortunately you can not retrofit the stout 2 thighbraces into pre 18′ 9r’s.

  4. Pete R

    I put a set of stout 2 on a 16 burn III and love them. Added 1.5 in foam to build out from the side wall for extra knee bracing (personal preference). Couldn’t be happier. Haven’t considered the hooker braces as the foam padding is doing that job since I actually mounted the foam to the outside of the “Floppy’ thighpads. This way if you adjust the thighbraces the foam stays in the correct location. Since the foam is thick is actually holds against the wall and keeps thighs nice and tight. If I move the kayak moves, but still easy to get in and out.

  5. Wes Prince

    Awesome! Well worth the $

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