Kurt / Bill,

Thanks for the feedback and especially the pic of the PAX 20 with the fabric covers as I would also think it a good idea to have them available should water conditions get rough.

This morning before leaving for work, I stood for about 30 minutes staring at my completed Spring Run trying to assess if the hull is long enough for an open cockpit at 16'9" and if the shear line would be high enough above the waterline to allow for leaned turns without taking on water. I thought of building the deck in from the shear towards the centerline so that I would end up with about a 17" wide cockpit opening extending to about 3' of both the stern and bow. Then, build a cockpit coaming from carbon fiber (ala Vaclav) the full length raising it's height to about 2" near the bow to deflect any water coming over the bow... This approach should add some ridgidity especially if I add a couple of supports like "hip plates" in the open area in the bow and stern.

Hmmmmm. Sure is tempting to build it like this and if it doesn't work out, cut off the deck, scrap it and build a traditional one...

Any additional thoughts on the topic??