: I asked Peter if he would be interested in having hatches in his
: Sea Bea and he was interested. I showed him the SeaLect Design
: hatches and the method of installing at Kudzu Craft and he was
: instantly put off (no offense, Jeff). He figured I was planning
: something that didn't stand out so much (I think he had the
: notion that I would somehow create flush mounted
: "skin" hatches like on Fishstalker).

: Has anyone come up with a "hatch" that doesn't look like
: a hatch? We are planning on covering with 14oz polyester sewed
: down the center of the deck. The only thing I could come up with
: was a zipper, like on some of the folding kayaks I have seen. I
: doubt the zipper would do the job for accessing just the area
: near the bow and stern (you know, the areas that you can't reach
: unless you crawl into the cockpit wrong end first...).

: Anyone done anything like this before?

I've used plywood sub-bases for the hatches, under the fabric then using a plywood hatch. (the fabric is glued to the plywood) While this does work it adds considerable weight, which seems a crime on such a light weight boat.