I am working on a pair of Pygmy Ospreys and have two questions:

I am thinking about cutting the hatches in the deck right after gluing the deck to the hull and before doing the fillet on the inside sheer seam. I would leave the ¾” wide strapping tape on to add some additional strong. This should help make doing the fillet and taping of the inside sheer seam a lot easier. If I did this I may be able to install the bulkheads before the deck is applied. Has anyone done this and what issues should I lookout for?

I have been looking at the hatch cover hold-down system. I don’t like the standard Pygmy strapping system. I remember seeing a system somewhere on the Internet, of a kayak that used a bungee that came back though the bulkhead into the cockpit. One end of the bungee was attached near the hatch and then want up though a couple of loops on the hatch and then ran though the bulkhead, into the cockpit to a tie down of some sort. I think I would use a piece of stainless steel wire though the bulkhead. The only drawback I can see is a couple of small holes in the bulkhead. Any suggestion.