I'm making progress on my Hybrid Merganser 17W. The hull is built and glassed. The deck is stripped and glassed. Next step is to cut out and build the cockpit. I'ld like to make a recessed one. The kit (from Newfound Woodworks) came with a half template of the cockpit outline (a curve drawn on a piece of heavy paper). The deck itself has a large difference in deck height between the rear and front of the cockpit area (about 4-5 inches) with a strong curve to the deck in between. This leads to my two questions:

1) Any recommendations on how to transfer the curve from the template to the deck? It is difficult to simply lay the sheet out flat (or even close to flat). Should I cut out some of paper in the the area inside the curve?

2) What is a good way to increase the size of the opening I cut so that I can build the recessed deck? I'ld like to basically keep the shape of the template but enlarge it by about 2" all around.

Any help would be appreciated.

---Paul Johnson

PS: I have put a bunch of pictures of building my kayak on my web-site at work but have not yet really editied them. After doing so this week I'll let you all know the URL.