> Paul, Wouldn't the water go in wherever the rope goes in. That would
> eliminate the first defence, water tight hatches. Rehd

Rehd, He's talking about a system totally within the hatch. Say you put a D-ring way down in the bow end of the boat and another just inside the hatch opening. Run a cord so that you have a big loop running through both (obviously you would have to do this in the middle of your building process -- it would be tough to string it afterwards.) Attach your dry bag to a small loop off the side of this cord, then pull the cord as you would a curtain in the window of your house to send the bag down to the end. Dean