CLC has instructions for glue-in studs in their "tips for boatbuilders" section, under "fitting out". They also offer a kit with the weld-studs and other supplies. If you're building a boat, you already have the supplies, and it's maybe easiest (and cheaper) to just get the weld studs from a resource like McMaster-Carr.

i build a lot of kayaks and i usually bolt my foot rest trach through the hull (so the head of the screw is outside the kayak).

it's easy, bullet proof and works for me cosmetically.  the one little thing i do, particularly if i have a dark hull, is to paint the head of the screw flat black with some rustoleum paint.   looks very slick.

howard   

I use the studs nemochad mentions. I just can't see going to all the trouble of making a light watertight hull and then punching holes in it. Also, based on my own amateur mechanical engineering analysis, I'm convinced that the studs properly applied, are stronger than through-bolts. They're best installed before gluing the deck on.

Laszlo

   I'm more inclined to use the weld nuts method. Where do you get them? I can only find them in packs of 100. Btw, Laszlo those look high to me. Not that I'd know but I imagined mounting them lower.

There's probably a bit of visual confusion being caused by parallax and the lack of a deck for visual reference in that photo. I followed the vertical spacing recommended by CLC and been happy with the positions for the last 13 years or so. The horizontal spacing is customized for me. The midpoint of the footbrace track is positioned where it's perfect for the length of my legs as measured sitting on a floor with my back against a wall

nemochad is correct that the CLC kit has some extra stuff that you're likely to have anyway, but that's basically fiberglass patches, so if you're having trouble finding a reasonable quantity of studs, you may want to consider the CLC kit.

 Laszlo

I did a batch of 6 kayaks at once with friends in my shop. We looked for ways to buy things in bigger quantities and better prices. I'm 3 hours from a big city- everything gets shipped to me.

McMaster sells the studs (called adhesive studs now, no longer weld studs...) in batches of 10:

https://www.mcmaster.com/97590A340/

Oh, and a refinement to the instructions that worked well for us:

We wanted to glue and glass the studs in the same step. As Laszlo shows, the rails are used to position the studs- but then how do you smooth the epoxy that extruded through the stud's flanges, and howdoya get the glass on, with the rail in the way??

We would wet the glass squares on a sheet of plastic, mix some filler into the cup of epoxy, butter the backside of the flanges, all with a slow epoxy. Then mix up a little bit of 5-minute epoxy, and butter two corners of each flange, the press the dual-mix flanges in place and hold it with the rail until the 5-minute stuff cured. Remove the rail, tool the extruded epoxy, add a little more to give the glass a smooth surface, then place the wetted glass squares over the stud and press then into the thickened material and smooth them out. Bonus points for using a slightly bigger square of peel-ply over the glass, so the edges are held down and smoothed.

nemochad,

I was only making one boat and not in a particular hurry, so I did the same thing with regular epoxy, spread over two days:

Your way is certainly better for fast mass-production.

Laszlo 

   Thanks for the help.. and the link, Nemo. I have an order on the way.