If you don't glass it and sit on it, you'll hate the end result. You'll hear this sudden crack then you'll hear yourself swearing madly as you kick yourself for not glassing it. Glassing the deck, especially on a S&G is not overkill, it's necessity. The wood is too thin to support much weight without the glass. Epoxy is only a glue and offers little structural strength to the kayak. The strength is in the wood/glass combination.

Robert N Pruden