Anthony,

I've been paddling my WD12 for ten years now and not only have I never wanted a forward bulkhead, there have been lots of times that I've been very glad not to have one. Usually it's after a long morning of paddling and a nice lunch at anchor in a beautiful shady spot. Then I can slide forward, fold the seatback down to use as a pillow, pull my hat over my face and take a lovely post-prandial nap. The rocking of the boat on the water, the calls of the ospreys overhead and the jumping of the fish knock me right out and I wake up ready for an afternoon of more paddling.

If you're worried about that large compartment filling with water, you can do what I do and put a 25 liter dry sack up in there. Empty, it will give you 55 lbs or so of buoyancy, even with the cockpit completely flooded, while leaving enough room to lie down. You also wouldn't have to make the build more complicated, nor would you have to worry about ventilation. It's worked for me for 10 years. A spray skirt also keeps the water out in case you get caught in a breaking wave or inconsiderate wake.

Have fun,

Laszlo

Laszlo, thank you. That's the insight I was looking for. You definitely paint an appealing picture of the advantage of omitting a front bulkhead. 

To provide the front floatation you can also purchase a air bag. I keep the dry bags for gear.  I put kayak air bags in my "recreational" kayaks so I can use them in "sea kayak" conditions. They have more kayak like shape and do a better job preventing water entry.    Don't recall if CLC sells them, but NRS does by the dimension L x w.  You will still have a very large cockpit full of water, very heavy water.  The good news is that a wood composite is not likely to do a Cleopatras Needle. The hull material has some floatation whereas a poly rec boat does not.

The main thing is to remember that you have a rec boat. Stay out of the waves paddle with others and don't capsize, unintentionally.  By all means go out on purpose and capsize and practise assisted rescue exercises. Canoes don't have bulkheads either.  They can be fortified with air bags an spray covers. But the WD isn't designed for that.  A Cheasapeak, Petrel, Shearwater are examples of boats designed for rougher conditions. There is plenty of water suitable for the WD.

I use the dry sack instead of an air bag because of the bow geometry. The air bags I've seen are all for long pointy kayaks and would rattle around inside a WD12, whereas the dry sack is a nice tight fit. That said, maybe since I last looked air bags shaped for "rec" kayaks have come into style. The other reason I like dry sacks is because they're much faster to prepare. Instead of inflating and deflating, they just get their tops rolled or unrolled.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but the WD12 (based on my experience) is a very seaworthy boat that I'd happily take anywhere a sea kayak will go. The only advantage that those boats have, in my opinion, is speed.

In rough water the WD12 is at least as robust as those sea kayaks. In flat water it's stable enough to stand up in (if you have a good sense of balance). If you lean the boat over far enough, you fall out before water comes in. Getting back in requires no paddle float, perimeter lines or rigging due to the stability, large cockpit and the coaming to hang onto. Just climb back in.

There's even a video out there of some super-paddler doing an eskimo roll in a WD12 without a spray skirt and getting no water in the cockpit.

In a small craft advisory with confused 3-foot waves with white caps (Severn River by the USNA seawall, 28 mph wind opposed to the outgoing tide and lots of motorboat wakes) the bow buried in the next wave just short of the coaming before popping back up. When swamped by a cigarette boat wake on the Middle River, the spray skirt kept any water from entering the cockpit.

So rather than thinking of 'recreational" as a limit to the kind of conditions this boat can handle, think of it as a non-racer and short-ish distance boat (though I've done 22 miles in 1 day in mine).

Have fun,

Laszlo

I was considering a front bulkhead for my all strip built WD12, and even had it all cut and ready to go, but found that the bulkhead had to be placed forward of the foot braces. This leaves a small compartment space. I agree with Laszlo that some kind of a float bag would be a better solution. Also eliminates cutting the hole for the hatch access! I was also thinking of shaping some mini cell foam and stuffing it way up in the bow, but I am thinking Laszlo's post-prandial nap sounds too good. 

Rhonda