: Neil - That's a whitewater river kayak you've got there - a high volume
: "creek boat," in fact (though it may not have been thought of as
: such when it was conceived, depending on just how old it is). Nothing
: wrong with that, but those boats are designed to turn. On a nice flat
: lake, or bay, they don't paddle in a straight line worth a darn, so don't
: get discouraged if you find doing so is problematic . . . paddling is
: still lots of fun!
: Plus, you don't have to worry about scratching it, or even slamming into the
: occasional boulder!

: Dave
: PS - you might just be able to shove that foam bulkhead further up into the
: hull, rather than do any cutting.

Hi again guys. Thanks for the new responses - they're all very much appreciated! So today I finally got a chance to get out to the canoe and have a look at the foam. I had already tried pushing hard with my feet, as Dave suggested, to move it further up, but it wouldn't budge. So I thought I was going to have a bit of a time getting it out, cutting, checking for size, cutting again etc...But I got lucky - the foam wasn't one large piece, it was several "layers"...So I managed to just take out a couple of layers and BINGO! I can get in it at last!! Still not had a chance to have a go yet due to work/tides etc. So you know the area I'll be out and about in - it's down on the South Coast of the UK. No white water rapids around here but hey, it can get pretty scary when the Police launch goes past and kicks up a wave or two heh heh heh :-)