: On my very first sea kayak I made the gap between deck and bottom
: of rim 1/2". While it worked, it didn't work well; the
: spray skirt was a bit of a hassle to get "seated" on
: the lip. 3/4", as others suggest, or more is fine, very
: easy for skirt application. But on my latest boat I wanted to
: get the coaming as low as humanly possible for rolling, while
: still being very easy on the spray skirt issue. I used 5/8"
: clearance under a Vaclav/One Ocean style fiberglass/carbon fiber
: layup coaming. I much prefer the look of wood, but again, I
: wanted as low-profile as possible on this one, plus the wood
: rims were forever requiring R&R (repair & refinish) from
: the constant wear of routine neoprene spraydeck use.

: The "ugly" coaming works so well I'll probably never use
: anything else from here on out.....

: http://mysite.verizon.net/NGC704/newOI/Page_9.htm

I prefer the carbon/glass coaming, it works much better than most wood ones because it can be much thinner for the same strength.

I like the look too.

Bill H.