> I am building 2 Patuxent 17.5 (one for me and one for my wife). I am
> 6'5"...so I have long legs. The current design calls for a 30 inch.
> (length) cockpit opening. Having made a 'mockup' out of card board first,
> I determined I would make my cocket 3 inches longer...totaling 33 inches.

> My question is this...am I crazy for wanting to be able to get in and out
> of this kayak WITHOUT sitting on the coaming doing a balancing act? I am
> seriously considering making my cockpit opening even longer (36
> inches)...just to make sure I can get my size 13 feet out...what do you
> think?

> Steve

I'm in the same boat as you are (pun intended). I'm building the guillemot double stretched to a triple. I was thinking of making guillemot single cutouts from front to back, but then I cut the cutout in a piece of cardboard and found that my legs would barely fit.

I'm thinking that the thing to do is take a cardboard form of the cutout down to a kayak supply/rental place and compare the cutouts to the actual kayaks and try getting in and out of them. In the meanwhile, I'm stripping the deck so the smallest one will fit so I can decide later.

The kayak needs to fit so that you can get into it if you are out in the water somewhere. Doing a balancing act on the outside combing in the middle of the water somewhere doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

Dale