I am building a fishing kayak for my father. The cockpit opening will be quite large so that he can easily get in and out (75 yrs old), and it will be paddled on protected marshy waters. The yak is a Kayak Foundry design of mine. It is roomy and stable at 14 ft long and ~30 inches wide. He will never use a spray skirt.

So...... On the other boats I have built, I used the normal coming riser and coaming lip. This is a bit of a PITA to build, particularly getting the glass to lay flat on the underside of the lip. This is going to be a large cockpit (~25 inches by ~48 inches), so it will be even more of a PITA. Since there is no need to secure a spray skirt, I figure I do not need to have the traditional setup. I am looking for ways to make this better/easier/lighter/stronger and less of a PITA to build. I need the strenght of the riser/lip, and also like the way it keeps small waves from soaking the cockpit.

I have considered using the normal riser, then bending strips in the normal way, but either making them flush with the deck or in a triangular profile so there is not a sharp angle around which I need to wrap the 'glass. I may make the lip a bit taller in the front than normal, as there is not a lot of room between the bow and th estart of the cockpit (~24 inches). I have also been considering shaping the front of the coaming in a sloped shape to help have the water run off.

Any thoughts?

bvs