Shawn,
Thanks for the good advice. You have a point, I do want to be able to roll this boat. I have seen a lot about the recessed coaming since I have been coming here although having no pratical experience I could not comment on it. I checked out your Cormorant coaming. Nice work. Those little angled pieces are just glued to the thickness of the strips? And then the flat strips are glued to them? Wow, even with the work I've been doing I am amazed that this would be strong enough. If I wanted to pursue the recess would I need to vary my initial pieces so that I would end up with a flat recessed deck area in which to install the coaming? Your kayak has some curvature and it looks like all your initial pieces were identical but your recess is flat (I guess it angles up in the front even though the flat area is flat unto itself)--oh yeah that makes a lot of sense, sheesh, I hope you can tell what I am trying to say there.

I just went to the two Mick Allen links provided on your site. It appears that he sketched two designs, one with the initial pieces sloping and one with them being perpendicular to the deck. You used the sloping method. I am thinking with my extreme deck curvature that the perpendicular method may be better for me. Once I do a recess it appears that I could use my current coaming halves. Maybe I need to upload some pics for further analysis.

I am assuming that the recess greatly helps in rolling? I would hate to decide against this option only to find later that I will need to do a renovation project such as you are doing. I guess I'm not as impatient as I thought because I would rather do this right now than to work on it again later.

Thanks,

Tony

: 1) Yes, glue one ring at a time so you can better match the deck curvature.
: If you try to clamp both rings at once, you'll deform your deck. Once you
: glue your first ring, it will make the deck's curvature even stronger, and
: the second ring and coaming will go on like buttah.

: 2) No, you really don't have to bead & cove...ever. It's nice, but also
: just takes time, makes your strips narrower, and will take more strips to
: do the lip.

: That said, though, a stripped riser is lighter weight, and if glassed, as
: strong as a stacked ply coaming riser. You can also make the inside
: opening larger for the same outside dimensions.

: I highly, highly, HIGHLY, recommend Mick Allen's double recess for any boat,
: especially a fine kayak like the Cunningham S&G which you'll eventually
: want to roll. John Doornink built this boat last year and is contemplating
: retrofitting a recess into his. (This is pretty much what I'm currently
: doing to my Guillemot:)
: http://www.geocities.com/shawnkayak/guillemot/deckrecess

: The double recess built originally on the Cormorant:
: http://www.geocities.com/shawnkayak/cormorant/#coaming

: You may be an impatient builder; you can start on this sort of recess right
: away!! Any little extra time spent will be well worth it in the end. I
: promise. (I'm not specifically talking about precise fit and
: finish--that's up to you, and I'm personally not a "clockmaker".
: Just that the double recess will take another week, but it's worth it.)

: Shawn