: I hope this is a simple question, but it's not one I can answer for myself.

: How should I go about figuring where to cut the deck for the recess? I'm
: building the Micro Bootlegger and have the pattern for the cockpit, but
: not one for the recess. Any help would be appreciated.

: Thanks,
: mac

Hi Mac,
Are you going to build a solo cockpit? What size? My understanding of the microbootlegger is that it has an open cockpit.
If you are going for a fairly average cockpit, figure it out as follows:
Find the centre of balance of the boat. That is about where your crutch comes. Mark out where your back cockpit rim should be. That should be 4-5" behind your back. Then measure the height to your back deck at that point and decide how much you want to lower it so that the rim ends up at the height you want. Finally figure out how much you want to slope the recess to get to that point. My recess starts about 9" behind that point. Many don't and just recess close to the rim.
I marked out the cockpit and then marked out the recess from there all around the cockpit and then planked it flat across the width of the boat, then drew the cockpit on the flat recess again, cut it out and proceeded to build the rim. I have a flat section in front of the cockpit as well, but its largely a matter of taste.
JohnK