Zhik Power Pads

Rob B

Well-Known Member
I just got a pair from APS and they arrived yesterday. It's a really cool concept. They are made of neoprene, (like a knee brace) and the hiking pads velcro into sleeves on the back of the pads and then you pull them up your thigh and that's it.

My main concern is weather or not they will want to slip down my legs, but after walking around the house a bit they stayed up fine. I do think they would slip if you tried to wear them over biking shorts so it's commando time! (I don't wear the tighty whities, don't like the wedgies.).

For me the draw is to find something that provides the hiking support of hiking pants without the added weight, (as I struggle to stay under 200lbs.)

I'm going to wear some SEA skiff pants over them and see how it works. Hopefully I'll get to try them out tomorrow and will let ya'll know.
 
We have a nice tropical depression just to the north of us which gave decent enough conditions with off and on hiking and a lot of movement in and around the boat to test the new stuff pretty well. Here's my take so far:

1) Zhik hiking strap- A+ I had to adjust it several times, but once I got it dialed in it was aces.
2) Zhik Power Hiking Boots- A++ Work "as advertised" with the strap. There's no way you're going to slip out of this strap/boot combination. Made me feel more "connected" to the boat.
3) SEA Skiff Pants- A They slipped down a little on me, but I beleive I can work on this by tying the draw string a little tighter.
4) Zhik Power Pads- B++ to A- This is an excellent concept and they worked pretty darn well and saved a lot of weight compared to traditional hikers. Honestly, when I saw them I really did not think they would work. They did slip down on me a few inches over the course of 2 hours of sailing/1 hour of rigging and de-rigging and when they slipped I was unable to pull them back up without puttin on a show and dropping my skiff pants. The power pads are a 2 pad system per leg and I did leave one of the pads out to try to lower the profile of the them. I'll try the secondary pads next time and see if this makes a difference.

The last thing I changed was I pulled out my old Musto life jacket/bouancy support device. I'm sure you've seen the Red Musto life jackets with lots of little air pockets in them. I've noticed at some recent events that USCG Type III jackets are not required for racing so I wanted to lower weight and the profile from my Soloquest life jacket. I put a Gill long sleeve rash guard on over the top of the Musto jacket and it's amazing the amount of movement I gained by doing this. This will be my new "warm weather" set up. I think I'll stick with the type III jacket for colder conditions when hypothermia can be a concern.

Lastly I took my 6 year old daughter out for some great power reaching. Showed her how to surf waves. She had a blast. It was a great way to cap off the sailing. It's been 15 years since I took someone out in a Laser.
 
Rob B's experience was the same as mine. The PowerPads do tend to slip and they dug into the back of my knees when going downwind. Maybe you could invent a suspender belt for them? ;). (How's that for a picture?) I gave mine to my brother to try and bought a pair of SEA 007s with fixed battens which can't slip.
 
Not trying to hijack this thread, but thinking about getting a pair of these (image attached)

Has anyone tried them?
 

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See: http://sailingforums.com/threads/gul-hiking-pants.27199/

Before getting any responses to my questions about these I placed an order for a pair. The vendor has been very slow to fill my order, but its finally been shipped and I should get them next week. It will probably be a week after that that I'll be able to try them. I'll report my impressions.

Oops, thanks for that! Sorry I missed your thread. Look forward to your impressions.
 

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