Pete,
You bring up a good point about being able to have one leg in and one leg out and then bring the outer leg inside. I tried that and could not do it. The forward part of the cutout was too close. Now I didn't exactly give it the "old college try" either so maybe I better do some experimenting. The way I did manage to enter the cockpit was to put my hands on the rear deck at the sides above the rear bulkhead and hold my butt up while I slid both legs in followed by the rest of me. I am going to do some interior filleting/taping tonight in the cockpit. This weekend I should be able to start the coaming riser. Before I do that I'll try a number of ways to enter the cockpit so I can see where the problem areas are and alter the hole in those areas only. Of course I'll have to smooth out the curves but even with all that this is a pretty small cockpit 40.4 cm wide x 55.3 cm long (16" x 21 3/4"). I have a feeling that a little more width down low and a slight widening at the upper edges will let me enter easier. Thanks for the advice.

--Tony

: Yo Tony

: I traced the cockpit from my plastic fantastic white water kayak and used
: that initially for the coaming on my Guillemot s&g. I was mostly thinking
: that by having it that size, I would be able to use my trusty old rusty
: spray skirt.

: When I (dry) tried my guillemot s&g on for size, exactly as you did, my back
: was playing up and the initial cockpit size seemed just a little too tight
: for a comfortable entry.

: I thought: "what the hey" and I think I marked the outline only
: +3/4" all round, cut and tried that out. Just that little cut made a
: considerable difference for getting in and out. It just meant that I had
: to hunt down a custom made spray skirt to fit.

: At the end of the day it is a trade off. The bigger the hole: the easier it
: is to get in and out of, but the more water that can potentially get in.
: Small hole, less water, more robust spray skirt = more seaworthy.

: I reckon an ideal size might be if you can slide in and sit down with one leg
: in the kayak and one leg out of the cockpit. If you can bend the outside
: leg and fit it in, that will mean you should be able to wet launch without
: having to have your kayak siting on rocks ...

: I am so stiff and creaky, that I still have to lift my butt up a bit to
: enable me to swing my outside leg inboard on my guillemot s&g. For
: example, just last weekend this ability was handy to make a quick entry
: (while the kayak was floating in the water inbetween breaking wave sets)
: and paddle outside a small shore break, where I could put my sprayskirt on
: dry and at my leisure. My buddy who put his spray skirt on in the sand,
: spent some time high and dry and then got dumped on (splashy ) when he
: finally floated but as he made his way out, he collected a set right on
: the nose heheheheh.

: What ever you are comfortable with, but maybe make a small cut first and see
: what difference that will make.

: Cheers Pete