I am working on a One Ocean Cape Ann and wanted to ask if there is any need to add reinforcement braces under the deck.

On my S&G kayaks I had a day hatch area so have two bulkheads just aft of the cockpit, and then aft of the rear hatch is a plywood brace that is about 1.5" tall running from the upper part of the hull and under the deck (it is the top part cut from a S&G building form). This is there to add strength to the rear deck, such as when doing a self-rescue.

On the strip kayaks I have never seen any mention of adding any such under deck braces. I plan to only have the single bulkhead behind the cockpit (no day hatch), so I am concerned about the strength of the rear deck area. I can see on S&G kayaks that since they are constructed from more-or-less flat sheets that they don't have the eggshell compression strength that a strip kayak would have, but is this enough?