Jay is on it …
I have lengthened coamings on several boats including CD Extremes. … A person skilled with fiberglass can do this with very little fuss or added weight.
Basically cutting a crescent moon shape out of the deck, slicing the rim and moving the whole thing forward into the same cut. Bridge the deck / coaming edges and done.
Can this be done with thermoform?
Any tips?
The manufacture tells me
my plan to move the seat is sound, and he knows others have done the same. The hard part apparently is getting the seat unglued from the floor of the kayak; but if others have done it…
So I think I am good.
Thanks again for talking me out of messing with the cockpit.
Still mess with the cockpit.
Sand a larger radius at the front/lower edge of the coaming. You will NOT be messing anything up structurally or lowering resale value. What you WILL be getting is seemingly an impossible amount of extra room for in - egress ease just by this small gain in height and softer edge …
I am going to
– Last Updated: May-18-14 6:20 PM EST –
remove the thigh braces anyhow. They don't hit me fit me anyhow, and are restricting. As long as I am doing that I suppose it is easy enough to reduce the coaming some between them. I can see that helping. Is that what you meant?
I was thinking of using a saw blade on a multitool. Does that seem reasonable?
Paddle Brace Entry & Exit
Is your main problem is getting in & out? It would be a shame to put all that work into enlarging the cockpit (and to risk ruining a really nice kayak), if you could solve the problem by learning the proper paddle brace technique.
Are you using the paddle brace? If so, are you doing it properly?
In my experience, almost anyone can get into and out of any size cockpit with the paddle brace technique. It’s practically the only way to get into & out of an ocean cockpit unassisted.
This is a 1-minute video of the technique:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVAJsLeUzYM
Of course, there’s more to it than meets the eye. I’d be happy to elaborate, just let me know.