: I'm not too far away from rigging the deck lines and I was wondering . . how
: do you keep the perimeter lines pulled taut?

Essentially use a low-stretch material, and possibly pre-stretch it. You
don't want the lines under so much tension that they stress the boat, so
using a stretchy line is a bad idea - to keep it taut you need it to be
applying a lot of force to the deck fittings. This force increases a great
deal when people carry a loaded boat by the deck lines, or get involved in
an on-the-water rescue.

On the other hand, you don't want your lines so tight that you can't get
fingers underneath - otherwise the entire point of having deck lines is
defeated.

: I'll be using 1/4" poly
: (maybe not the best choice but will do for now) with 3/4" webbing
: loops fastened with tee-nuts/machine screws/finish washers.

Poly-what ? Polyester is low-stretch, polypropylene is not, and has poor
abrasion resistance too. Its main advantage is that it floats, which is
useful for throw- and tow-lines, but not a consideration for deck rigging.
Static nylon accessory cord or some polyester lines from a boat chandlers
would probably be the best choice. Use a braided or kernmantel construction,
not hawserlaid.

: I may or may
: not run it past the sides of the cockpit - looks like it can go either way
: without getting in the way of the skirt (which I usually don't use where I
: paddle anyway).

Deck lines running past the cockpit are recognised as an entrapment hazard.
Also, for most of what you use deck lines for, this isn't a useful place to
have them.

: Anybody have a good diagram of an efficient/convenient setup or advice on how
: it should be done?

Start off with a minimal set up and find out where you need them. So much
depends on cockpit size and hatch position that it is difficult to generalise.
It also depends very much on what you want to carry: Bungies in front of
a small cockpit for a map/chart and GPS aren't so good in front of a large
cockpit where the map would be too far away to read without stopping paddling.
In that case, its better to have a chartcase that clips to the spraydeck.
Similarly, bungies aft are good for carrying a split paddle, but if you never
feel the need to do this (perhaps you paddle in a large group where not
everyone needs to carry one) the layout you need will be different.

Things I carry on deck include map-sheets laminated in plastic, GPS, paddle-
park forward. And aft a tow-line, deck bag with flares and vhf radio, split
paddle, and occasionally another drybag with things that don't fit inside at
the start of a long trip. Flashing rescue beacon, pogies, whistle, compass
and a hydration bottle all live in buoyancy aid pockets, but some folk don't
like to be encumbered and prefer some of these things (especially the water
bottle) to be on deck.

Here is a pic of our four boats (two commercial, two home-built) so you
can see how the arrangements differ and are affected by the builders'
choice of hatch positions. I don't like day hatches (as on both the
fibreglass kayaks) because they make it awkward to carry split paddles,
flares and a tow line all on the aft deck. Geyrfugl (the smallest boat,
at the bottom of the photocomposite) is a child's kayak, so it isn't set
up to provide a tow, but the lines work fine to carry a split paddle aft.
The pitched deck of the Great Auk means that a map is awkward to carry
forward of the cockpit. The hybrid Cormorant (third down) has a very
minimalist set of bungies aft, because it keeps the deck clean (one of
the objects of having a bulkhead hatch), but it still works fine to
carry towline, deckbag and split paddles...

Andy