It's been a while since I posted an update about this build. Lots has been happening -- most notably, the last step that we did was lower the deck of the kayak.

Maddie and I were looking that the approximate height of the cockpit coaming and decided that the front of the underside of the deck is too high for Maddie to properly fit out snuggly without having to install huge thigh brace pads. From the bottom of the hull to the underside of the deck at the coaming front is 13 5/16" -- quite high. The answer of course is to drop the height of the deck so that's exactly what we did.

The dropping the rear of the coaming isn't such a big deal and I have a pretty good idea how to do this, but the front deck is a bit trickier. So I called my pal Mick Allen (long-time contributor to this board) who just happens to not only know a bit about kayaks but also knows 3D CAD programs. Mick came over to the shop, ran around the boat with a tape measure, went home and e-mailed me some measurements the next day. I transfered those measurements to the panels, used a batten to connect the dots, and cut them.

The lowering of the deck turned out quite well -- I think that anyone who is not familiar with the original design of the boat will have a difficult time determining that the original panels were altered.

The boat will definitely be a lot easier to pad out for my daughter now.

Here's a link to the start of the modification in the build journal:

http://www.westcoastpaddler.com/building/displayimage.php?album=17&pos=88

The drawing below shows the amount that was removed from the deck as well as the cockpit coaming recess.

Dan
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