what works for me is using the bulkhead installed at an angle for the foot brace .

Good idea, but it is tricky (in my experience) to get the bulkhead in the right place. Do you install it after joining hull & deck and installing seat and thigh hooks/pads?

i have two petrels and everyone wants to use the bulkhead brace one instead of the foot brace one.

There must be a remarkable similarity in leg length in your circle of friends!
;-)

the beckson plate means no hatch is needed.i use mine in the ocean and this setup is so easy to clean no need to try and wash sand out of the foot brace sand trap.

I don't understand - you don't have a front deck hatch forward of the bulkhead?

I've had Beckson screw-in hatches in quite a few (Mariners + one home-built) kayaks and I found they were magnets for grit, and easily jammed. On my Outer Island, I installed a Beckson screw-in in the fwd bulkhead to make it possible to access the end of the footbrace rails. I epoxied a wood 'handle' to the screw-in to make it easier to turn, with my arm(s) through the front deck hatch. I definitely couldn't turn it at arms length (via cockpit) in a boat with a full-size cockpit. With the small cockpit on the OI, the bulkhead is beyond reach anyway.