: 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!!

Hi Bob,

I'm looking forward to building my Siskiwit Bay LV that Bryan Hansel designed and it's going to have a "big" cockpit too, well big for me, standard keyhole cockpit. The longest one I've got now is 22". If you start out with tiny ocean cockpits, normal sized is huge :)

Bill H.