I finally figgered out a deck recess. I was sort of stumped, trying to decide how to do a radical recess to make the top of coaming flush with the top surface of the deck. The custom deck I designed for the Cormorant has a totally dead-flat aft deck which precludes the normal sort of laterally-stripped recess that Nick designed for his Guillemot line.

Mick Allen came to the rescue with his 2-part recess, but I didn't want to cut all the birds mouths in the ends of the angled strips. I also couldn't figure out how to drain the darn thing.

http://merrickarch.com/mallen/cpdwg1.jpg

To make matters worse, I wanted a 1" tall coaming, 16" wide inside, with about 3/4" of lip on top. The boat is only 21" wide, but has 3/4" 45º sheer strips. So, that gave me 19.5" of deck space to work with. With a 16" wide coaming, and 3/4" of lip, I had a 17.5" wide coaming to fit. That left me with 1" on either side for both the 45º transition and flat at the bottom.

So....I cut right to the side of the sheer strip and put 45º strips right next to the sheer strip. I'll hold the coaming lip to about 5/8", but make it sharp so it holds my skirt well. I basically made a pond all the way around the coaming, so I'll have to put in some scuppers to drain it.

I think it's actually going to work out.

I wanted a boat to teach with--something with great secondary to demonstrate edging, something that rolls nicely (needing a low back deck for easy laybacks), but also with moderate gear storage, so I can carry a sleeping bag and bivy gear for rough/cold water paddling. Everything is a compromise, so hopefully I found the middle ground I was looking for.

BTW, thanks Mick. And thanks Grant for a nice design.

shawn