: Hi,

: When I started my 12'x 28" kayak I wasn't really in to all of the
: details that can go into a kayak. I just wanted a plain boat I could plunk
: around in. I keep getting sucked into more details like rolling and trying
: to make it pretty. I am debating wheather to put a lip on my rather large
: coaming 2'x3' for a skirt later on, because a 28" wide kayak may be
: too hard to roll anyway. What's your thoughts about this? Thanks.

: John

Too hard to roll? That depends on your experience, and to some extent the shape of the boat. If you have never rolled a kayak before, learning to roll in a 28" wide boat can be very frustrating. But rolling is not the only reason for a spray skirt. The most obvious reason is, uhh, spray. A 12' kayak can give a very wet ride, because as waves break over the bow they end up around the paddler. On a longer craft, the waves hit the front deck well in front of the cockpit area. And your large cockpit opening gives the water a lot of room to get into the boat. The only large cockpit boats without a sprayskirt lip I am aware of are CLC's Mill Creek series, and these have a high coaming strip to help keep the water out of the boat.

Unless you plan on paddling only in very flat water on non-windy days, I would recommend the lip for the spray skirt. You may want to do some checking to see if there is a spray skirt available to fit your cockpit - that's quite a large opening. If not, that means you will have to custom make it - or modify the opening (don't know where you are in the building phase).

And it gives you the option of rolling later on.