Mike,

No, you're not out of luck. Here's one way to do it. Take an 8' length dental floss or strong thread, tie it to the center of a matchstick, push the matchstick down through one of the deck padeye holes, and fish the matchstick toward the cockpit. Slip the washer and nut over and past the end matchstick and then let them fall back on it (like an inverted 'T'). Pull the other end of the floss tight and the washer and nut will be right under the hole. The floss will be thin enough that you'll be able to thread the screw over it. Make sure you use a lock washer underneath, 'cause like you said, you'll never be able to reach it (unless you stuff a kid with a wrench up there).

Good fishin'

Ross

> I'd like to install 3/16 inch nylon line around the periphery of the deck
> on my Coho to make grabbing the kayak from the water easier. I've got some
> more of the same (cheap) black padeyes which Pygmy sends for installing
> the bungee cord deck rigging, and had planned to thread the line through
> them, perhaps with a jam cleat reachable from the cockpit. However, I'm
> stymied by how I'd install a padeye at the bow and at the stern, since I
> don't currently have hatches and find my arms a little short to reach
> eight feet to the bow to install washers and nuts from the inside of the
> deck. I thought of pop rivets (are they available in stainless steel?),
> but that seemed pretty flimsy for a fitting that I want to be secure. How
> do people do this if they weren't smart enough to think of it before
> installing the deck, and if they don't have hatches because they're still
> using a sea sock? Am I out of luck? Mike