[Paddlewise] Coaming modification

Brian Curtiss <bc_at_asdi.com> wrote:

>Thanks to all the advice from folks on Paddlewise,
>the refurbishment of my 10 year old ocean cockpit
>Pintail is coming along nicely.

> When I try to lay back on the rear deck,
>the sharp edge of the coaming cuts into my back
> (the coaming is not
recessed into the deck).

>Any other (lest drastic) ideas would be appreciated.
>I'm considering replacing the stock seat with one made from
>minicell.

The ocean cockpit pintail has pretty much the same height rear deck and rear
of coaming as the keyhole cockpit version, but the keyhole is really good
for laybacks and the ocean more of a pain. I don't think its the cockpit rim
so much as the seat position - the rim of the keyhole cockpit is relatively
further back from the seat giving more back clearance. The discomfort is
compounded because the stock seat in the ocean cockpit is angled with the
back of the seat somewhat lower than the front. I would first try padding
out the rear of the seat pan to raise it up and see if this helps, if it
doesn't a foam seat might be the way to go, and as someone said try it first
higher than the stock seat (better forward paddling ergonomics and more
responsive but tippier if you can't sit it) but I would also experiment with
the seat further forward. Experience with my pintail is that it is
relatively insensitive to trim, and particularly if you are reasonably light
moving it forward an inch or two shouldn't mess the handling too much.

FWIW I designed and built a stitch and glue greenlandy sort of boat a couple
of years back
(http://www.abdn.ac.uk/~ltu006/images/kayak/stitchnglue/index.htm), and
exactly modelled the cockpit on the pintail ocean cockpit - with the
exception that the boat is lower volume and I put the seat an inch or so
closer to the front of the coaming - rolling and getting on the rear deck is
really easy for me in this boat.


Cheers


Colin Calder
57º19'N  2º10'W
***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed
here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire
responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author.
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************