> Here's some pictures of my hatch holddowns. All the hardware is mounted
> internally to keep the deck uncluttered. The hatch cover has a plastic
> lash hook mounted on the maple block. The underdeck blocks have a slot for
> the bungee. The pictures don't show it, but there is a bungee on both the
> fore and aft edges of each hatch. In the bottom pictures, I lifted-up the
> hatch so you could see the angle of the bungee.

> If you try this, I would recommend just using a hole in the deck-mounted
> blocks instead of a slot. On the fore hatch (not pictured), the bungee
> sometimes slips out of the slot when the hatch is off because the two
> facing blocks are not parallel. A simple hole would have been better.

Excellent job Ross! I finished my first boat, a S&G Cape Charles 17, last year. I built it by the book, no creativity whatsoever. The ingenuity that is demonstrated by those that contribute to this board is very inspiring. I'm not sure straying from the tried and true is such a good idea in my case however. Having said that, I have an idea for a hatch hold-down and need someone to tell me why it won't work.

When I was first viewing Ross' post, a co-worker of mine looked over my shoulder at the hatch pictures and asked ... "Could you replace the foam weather stripping with a magnetic refrigerator door gasket and omit the bungee chord altogether?" ... If for example one used thicker strips for the vertical lip of the hatch hole, and routed a groove along it's top end, a second magnet strip without the vinyl gasket could be epoxied into the groove. A magnet to magnet seal should be watertight and fairly strong. I'm assuming that this type of magnet is non-ferrous and will not rust or corrode.

My only concern is being able to bend a refrigerator door gasket to follow the curve of an oval hatch cover. The magnet alone will bend, but the gasket might wrinkle.

This is where my two cents come in. In order to omit the vinyl gasket and achieve a good seal the underside of the hatch must mate perfectly with the deck or lip. Since viewing Ross' post, I read Nick's book and saw how he actually makes the flush hatch cover. I obviously have never tried this, but wouldn't building a fiberglass epoxy shelf for the hatch cover using the hatch cover as a form, as Nick suggested achieve perfectly mating surfaces? The thin sheet magnetic strips that are sold in craft stores for example, could be epoxied to both the fiberglass shelf and the underside of the hatch cover.

Maybe this stuff is simply not strong enough for rolling a kayak, but I would think a one inch strip around the entire perimeter of the hatch would be enough area to provide a good strong hold.

I offer this so you more experienced builders can tell me why this won't work so I can concentrate on my job instead of kayak hatches.