fwiw, the mariner coaster example in the pics is exactly what i had in mind when i said that i have seen boats where the cockpit was wide-enough that the hip plate was in the same plane as the inside of the coaming....and everything (padding, backband attachment etc.) could be accomodated appropriately.

in the picture....i guess this is the 'hanger'......but same concept.

on the question of hip brace going from coaming all the way to floor......i have done it both ways. on the strip built i did not take it to the floor....per nick schade's books and advice that you do not want to create a stiff point like that into the hull where the rest of the hull has a certain amount of flex.

on some stitch and glues....i followed designers advice and the hip brace goes from deck to the floor of the hull.

in both cases, the back-band attachment is much closer to the coaming side....so no real concern about weakness by having the brace only attached to the deck/coaming side...at least with respect to the back-band attachment.

to the extent i had a view, i guess i figured that going deck all the way to the floor with the hip plate was more about supporting compression on the coaming when entering/exiting the boat than worrying about the back-band tearing out the hip plate by pulling it aft.

howard