Joe,

I would put the aft edge of the cockpit opening at the spot that your boat's designer intended. Then, If you want to play with a different cockpit size, move the front and sides of the cockpit around. This will keep the paddler's CG at the right spot (if you put the seat in the correct location relative to the aft cockpit opening).

On Pygmy boats the distance from the aft edge of the cockpit hole to the front face of the seat back is 3.9 inches. This seems like a lot, but it helps make leaning back easier and the skirt seals better since it has more material behind you to stretch. If you put the seat far back relative to the aft cockpit coaming, the skirt will be just a narrow band that could restrict your movement and might tend to pull off the coaming lip.

Jon

: My "model" shows me that I need to know now how close/far from the
: rear of the coaming the back of the seat rest has to be. If you build your
: own, can you put it as far back as you can as long as your back isn't
: hitting the rear of the coaming? Or is more room required here to
: practically make the seat comfortable in long use. Also is there a minumum
: space required for the spray skirt to have to be at least a certain size
: to the rear too (makes sense, but I don't know). And is it a good idea to
: figure the seat being as low as possible. Any information on spacing the
: seat properly within the cockpit ring is very welcome, thanks.

: Joe