I know what you mean- the coaming on my qajaq is a bit too tall, even though the aft-cockpit beam fits right where it felt nice and the coaming is about 2 1/2" behind the front edge of the beam. (Doesn't matter much if that makes sense to understand the point of my post.)

Several people I know who use their boats primarily for rolling have their aft-cockpit deck beam further back than it would otherwise be so that the coaming will not have to rest on it. Because the coaming only rests on the masik and is held simply by the skin at the stern, when you lay back, it pushes down to give a nice flat aft deck.

Since my boat isn't a dedicated roller, I put up with the coaming height for rolling sessions, and don't worry about it the rest of the time.

m

: IMO, it's silly to build a boat with a nice, low aft deck, then put a tall,
: traditional coaming on it, as it defeats the purpose of making the deck
: easy to lay back on. I make my coaming hoops 1" high and build up the
: lip from 2, 1/4" x 1/4" strips. That leaves 3/4" under the
: lip, which is plenty for any type of spray skirt, akuilisaq or tuiliq to
: fit under. For more details, see my "SOF Building Tools and
: Jigs" album on Webshots at the link below. The coaming pics are on
: page 3 of the album.