: I'm glad to know more about the REAL factors involved in this subject.

Like Val said, it's more for others than for you. If you like the safety of paddling in a group, then you owe it to others to have good decklines and they owe it to you.

If you paddle solo, and have the good habit ingrained of holding onto your cockpit when you wet exit, you may never need them.

They sure are handy in surf or waves on landing, though.

: It
: does seem like a good idea to have EASY access to stuff that doesn't all
: have to be on deck. I tried to put a pic on a way some handy guy put
: together to get access to the cockpit through the spray skirt. Can you
: tell me what a "Day Hatch" is. I'll build a front and rear
: hatch, is the "day" hatch the rear one or is it something
: else???

A small hatch in the rear; immediately behind the cockpit and in front of the main hatch. Usually offset to the right side of the kayak (if you're right-handed), and a good place to store lunch, water, snacks, paddlefloat, safety gear, etc. The reasoning behind the day hatch is that you have a dry, accessible location for your stuff, but if you're in it, and a wave breaks over your deck, at least you're not flooding a large compartment.

Shawn