My concern is the low forward deck height, which looks to be 10.25" in the specs.... I don't paddle that way any more. Bjorn's site says that dimension can be easily increased, and I did so by one inch on the OI at Jay's suggestion and it came out well.

Has anyone raised the foredeck on a Njord, and if so, by how much, and how did it come out?

The two Njords I built back in 2007/2008 had the standard height deck and were quite roomy. I can see how it could be low for some people. It's kinda Greenland-esque.

I dug out a copy of the plans from my plan rack... The fore deck shape is a nice, gentle oval. Should be quite easy to raise it an inch at the cockpit.