In all my boats and in my instrucion booklet, I always recommend and add a second layer of cloth on the underside of decks in stress areas such as hatches and around cockpit where one would push to get in and out or sit on decks. The pieces would be larger than the actual hatch and could extend right to sheer line in your case. The extra layer also prohibits any warpage of the hatch over time which will create a sealing problem.

Hopefully it is not too late for you to accomplish this.