I'm building a Tom Yost/Sea Tour 17R. Due to a comedy of errors, I've installed a masik behind the cross section that the front of the coaming would sit on (#4, if I recall correctly). I masik is made out of a 1" x 6" piece of pine laminated in 3 layers.

Anyway - my cockpit is going to end up with a front-to back length of around 29" (w/ a width of 18" or 18.5") down from the designed size of 32".

I don't know what's normal for kayaks - I've rarely measured length, I'm normally concerned with my fat (ahem) fitting width-wise. Most of the boats I have paddled have ample cockpits (Tsunami, Carolina, Chatham) (33.5" was the shortest).

I have a 30" inseam.

So... what's normal for your boats? How small are the ocean cockpits, really?

Thanks.

-Doug