: A flatish fore deck will give you a face full of water in rough seas. ..... A peaked deck will shed water to the sides as the bow rises.

I will keep that in mind as I work on the shape. But as I said in another post, I am pretty far inland so big waves are not typically an issue. We do paddle on some larger lakes but nothing like ocean waves to deal with. Well, except when a Barge goes by. Even in my big ole' Sea Skiff inboard, they can get intimidating!