Hey guys - fairly new indoor rower here. TL:DR - I'm looking to mod my Waterrower Natural for a wider foot stance and am seeking any tips, recommendations, or build guides on how to do it! I've looked around and haven't seen anything actually solve this issue so any help is appreciated! Thanks!

I recently bought a Waterrower Natural Rowing Machine with the S4 Monitor. So far I'm really liking it. It's a great well rounded work out, stores super easily, and the natural feeling and sound of water is pretty great. I'm also a fairly large person - 6'2" 430lbs so the fact that it has a max user weight limit of 700lbs essentially made it the only indoor rowing machine I could use. I'm 3 weeks in to my workout routine (45mins/day 4X/week) and I'm noticing a little knee pain? I think I know why. My only real issue with the rower is the very narrow foot placement. I have a wide foot stance in my everyday life / working out so the narrow foot placement on the rower is a bit uncomfortable but hasn't been a deal breaker. As a bigger guy with a gut when I reach the catch I have to somewhat splay my knees outward to accommodate a bit more room for the old gut. My form outside of this modification is really good. I think this splaying of my knees outward is causing the knee pain? The solution I've come up with is to augment the Waterrower footplate to make it wider, outside the rails, and move the foot straps further out [ See quick mock-up image ]. What do you think? Has anyone done this and had any success? Spot any major issues with this idea?

Appreciate any and all feedback! I'm hoping to be a longtime rower and hopefully lower my lbs so future modifications aren't necessary.

Thanks! - Carl

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