: I live in Colorado at 8300' I find that 2 feet of snow in the cockpit leaves
: little room for gear.

heh heh, sorry i wasn't clear erik - the sprayskirt approach covers the ckpt just like a cover would, but puts the 'cover' to the same dual duty as the yak and the box - i didn't mean leave everything open!
i just got back from some holidays in which the above approach was put to great use. Aside from long stuff like Ross' post showed, the top central ckpt allows tight packing and semi central access (depending on boat).

many cargo boxes have boaty aerodynamic shapes - so why not just use a boat? -2 uses for the price of one.
to me, a clc 10' wood duck yak or schade matunuk surfyak, or any ww yak looks way better up on the rax than a pointy end rectangular box!

mick