I'm drawing out the cross sections for a Sea Rider and think the leg room provided at section 4 will be too constricting for comfort.

I'm an experienced paddler and this design is perfect in all other ways, but at 56 years I am stiffer all round and would like to have a bit more room to ease leg positions during a longer paddle. I find it difficult to paddle with my legs too flat.

For reference I'm 5'8" and 160 pounds with short legs.

I will raise the front of the cockpit say 1/2" but don't want to alter the proportions more than that.

I have another idea which would give 2" more height and 2" more breadth to the space at section 4.

Would it be feasible to replace section 4 with plywood sheet laid flat against the stringers, say 8" wide, so that section 4 did not protrude into the knee area.

On the deck I would like to laminate thin sheets of ply to form an arch running 8" -12" forward of the cockpit, and epoxy these to the gunwales, and flat ply sections between the gunwale and stringers and keel to replace section 4 completely.

As an additional benefit, maybe sliding into the boat would be easier, and wet exit would be safer due to lack of a ridge to negotiate when things get a bit hairy.

It would be easy to build up a comfortable knee brace later if a closer fit is needed.... and attach soft knee pads to this later when I have tried out the 'fit' on the water. In my experience with 80's b slalom boats my knees need to connect well (and comfortably) with the boat, especially for hand rolling.

I would like some help.... is this a good idea from a technical point of view?

Many thanks, James