Bruce,

There once was a poster on this BBS who would have told you that was a stupid question, but he told everyone their questions were stupid (funny... he said the same thing about everyone's answers too). Anyway, that's behind us now.

NOT a stupid question, in fact, Ted Moore's book on canoe building (Canoecraft) has a few pages on how to loft offsets from an existing canoe hull - I'm sure the same method would work for a kayak hull. If you do that, you can make forms and do it as a strip built wood boat.

Having said that, you could likely do what you are suggesting, but a good mold release would prbably be more effective than saran wrap. How well (or IF) you get your lay-up to release from the existing boat depends on what your boat is made of, what materials you use in your lay-up, and using the right release agent. I know essentially nothing beyond that - if you don't get more direct help here, there are several fiberglass/composite suppliers on the web - email them and ask what materials to use. You could probably do a strip deck, even on a glass hull.

Jim

: ................Okay....asbestos flame suit is on.......here
: goes......so...you've got this production boat who's hull you absolutely
: adore, but the entire deck / cockpit just doesn't suit you. You'd like it
: to be lower....less volume etc. etc. COULD YOU
: ????..........flinch.........wrap the whole boat in stretchy saran
: wrap.........turn it upside down on some sawhorses, and start laying on
: glass ???? Kind of using the existing boat as a reverse mold. When you're
: done with this, you crawl underneath, mark the gunnel lines, pop the whole
: thing off and cut away the nasty dangling excess. Install wooden inwales,
: temporary cross bracing etc. etc., and proceed to fashion your own deck
: atop the existing structure ??? Fire away !!!