I cut and installed the rear hatch into my Brother-in-law's spectrum when he stored it at my house. I was going to buy the kit but it was a little over-priced so I decided to just buy the hatches, which my local shop owner decided he could sell me considerably cheaper than the whole kit. Perception actually mailed the shop the whole hatch kit,... so they might not sell the hatches individually, but surley more than a few haches get lost out there and need to be replaced.

It was kind of pathetic of perception to sell the boats with the hatch molded in but not cut-out. Kind of like a long bed Toyota, lots of space but no real carrying capacity.

I'd cut the hole in the deck, be sure to leave yourself about 1 inch of lip around the top....and then you'll have lots of motivation for whippin up some hatches out of wood, fiberglass, plastic, a bass drum, neighbors lawn figurine, whatever is in eyeshot after you realize you got a problem to solve before you can paddle.

good luck, its really pretty easy...& you will be alot happier not having to fish your stuff out from behind the seat. They make pretty nice boats for shorter trips in protected water.

BTW Steve finally got over me cuttin on his boat after I installed a rear bulkhead and took him camping, even then it took him a couple of days to admit it was a huge improvement. Still, He has'nt left a boat up here at my house in Humboldt Co. since. Which is fine with his sister because they are starting to accumulate around the house. MarkB