Dave:

The original design was fine, I just wanted to make some changes to both the deck height and cockpit size/shape.

The Point Bennett is not a high volume boat to begin with. The foredeck at the coaming is 13" to top of the lip. The back deck at the coaming is around 9" - again, which is not very high.

After paddling my Black Pearl, I've grown accustomed to paddling almost flat legged, so I had no issues with dropping the foredeck. I also paddle with my feet splayed and pointing forward, so I can get away with a lower deck.

I like doing lay back rolls and found the "stock" aft coaming a bit high, so I decided to drop it by 1.5".

Duane does not give dimensions for the cockpit, so you must come up with those yourself. I ssrewed up here and made my cockpit too big and the not the shape I wanted.

When I reshaped my deck, I just made the frames to the shape I wanted and went from there - certainly nor rocket science. As you are dealing with the deck, you are not fooling around with the handling characteristics like you would if you were changing the hull.

Cheers,
Sean