I may have committed the ultimate Sea Kayak sin yesterday and I beg forgiveness from anyone that I have harmed....

Seriously, I have a Spring Run that I built a couple of years ago with a 33" coaming and integrated thigh braces. I've also got another Spring Run under construction with the deck ready for the cockpit to be cut out. So, I was paddling Saturday with my 10 year old in his new Tsunami 135 at a rather slow pace and I grew uncomfortable with the cockpit of my Spring Run as the thigh braces were a bit restrictive and my size 13 feet had very little room beyond the foot pegs. I began to imagine a longer cockpit opening without thigh braces that I could pull both knees up, maybe put my feet out into the water and enjoy a lazy paddle; maybe even a cold brew... So, I started engineering (in my head) how much longer / wider I would need to make the cockpit to get this "comfort" and still keep the boat seaworthy. Well, the idea took root and yesterday I cut the opening in the new Spring Run I'm building for a rec boat cockpit opening. It's going to be 17" X 39 1/2" without any integrated thigh pads. (I'll leave the cockpit in the current boat alone)

No going back now but I think I'm going to like having an efficient hull that will be "lazy old guy comfortable"... Can't wait to get it finished and launched. Has anyone else ever cut a large cockpit in a boat designed for a sea kayak? Would love to hear from you how it worked out.... And, If you think I'm crazy, let me know that as well.....

At the end of the day, it's my boat and I can build it anyway I like and if I don't like it when I get done, I can get out my saw and make it some other way... This a great hobby!!