Following my post about breaking the deck of my kayak I've had a few comments about the bungee hold-downs for the hatch covers -- I had originally drilled holes in the deck, dragged the bungee through (hoping that the small hole diameter would keep it water proof with just a bit of silicone -- no such luck since the tension on the bungee shrinks the diameter) and then just looped the bungee over a screw set in the opposite shear clamp.

Problems developed -- I couldn't produce enough hold down pressure to seal the hatches (later installation of traditional strap/buckle hold-downs showed that it was actually my warped hatch covers that caused the problem), second the bungees could be very difficult to release with cold fingers (painful if you lost your grip at the wrong moment)

Now I'm considering going back to the bungee system since I like the look and it could work better than buckles.
Solution - bolt down just one end of the bungee and then loop back and forth between hooks on either side of the hatch cover and then attach the free end of the bungee with another hook/cleat

Any thoughts on good hooks? or other weakness/improvements?

Mark