I seem to recall a design for decklines (not carrying handles) that used a curved copper tube in the deck. There is certainly no reason why you could not make such a thing in a size large enough to serve as a carrying handle.

Perhaps if you search the archives for padeyes and deck line attachments you might find such a post If so, you'll be having better luck than me.

But, why do we need those old psots anyhow? you have the idea, so run with it.

Get a piece of copper tubing, about 3/16 to 1/4 inch internal diameter should do. Thats about 4.5mm to 6 mm. You can buy flexible copper tubing for plumbing use at most hoe repair, or hardware stores. Bend this into a "u" shape and then cut the ends off evenly to leave you a semicircle. Place this on your deck and mark the two locations where the ends touch your deck. Drill through the deck at these two pots, with a drill bit which is slightly larger in diameter than the outer diameter of the tubing. Use a piece of wire with one end bent into a similar curve, and "fish" this through one of the holes so that it comes out the other. Pul on the wire to get severla inches of wire on both sides, then thread the wire through your copper-tube semicircle.

Now, you just need to feed one oed of the tube through one of the tholes in your deck, and its curvature, guided by the wire that is inside it, will allow you to pull it up to those holes you've drilled.

Since the holes are a bit oversized, you should have an area around the outside of the tubing that you can push a few drops of epoxy into to secure the tube. Again, the wire in the tube will hold things in place while the epoxy hardens. Jut put a block of wood on the deck between the holes, and twist the wires together -- makes a fine clamp. When the resin has hardened, bent your wire into a loop and snag the end of a piece of rope. pull on the other end of the wire and the rope should pull through the tube with ease. Knot it and go paddling.

PGJ