: Does it look like you could trim or shave off the two bottom pieces along the
: centerline to take out some of the "V"?

: Randy

My $0.02 worth. I don't see why not, BUT the tricky part would be that the amount that gets shaved off would not be constant along the length of the keel. I think it would be related to the amount of twist on the bottom panels IF you wanted to keep the same curve (rocker) along the keel. You could work it out scientifically with a bit of trig, or better still, plug all the original offsets into the FREE Bearboat kayak design software, and then start tweaking. You could also do it the native way, and rely on your Mk.1 eyeball. My gut feeling is that removing material from the keel rather than the chine side of the panel would cause you less stress.
IMO, stitch the boat, set it up the way you want and see how it looks.
Take a good look at some of the other hard chine boats out there to get an idea of what is "normal", so you know when you have crossed the line to "extreme".
A better way might be to scale all the measurements if you are trying to reduce length and beam.

Pete