It no longer bows up. Note the finger hole carved out of the deck to allow the hatch to be opened. Some folks prefer a loop or handle, I like the recessed look.
Here's a gizmo that I'm proud to have come up with. It's so simple that someone else must have thought of it before me, but I never saw it used for hatch hold-downs until I posted it at the CLC builders' forum.
Anyway, the traditional way to adjust bungie tension is to tie a knot at each end and try it. If it's not right, you untie one end and try again. It's hard to think of anything more annoying than trying to untie a knotted bungie in the confines of a hatch compartment, especially one that's been tensioned.
With this setup, you just slide the wooden tensioner along the bungie until it has the correct tension. Not only does this make the initial tensioning easier, but as the bungie cord ages, it's easy to compensate for the loss of elasticity.
Here's a Creature Comfort seat installed and ready to go. It clips to nylon webbing loops that are screwed through the deck into the underside of the coaming. The seat is held in place by the paddler's weight and a couple of strips of velcro on the bottom.
The deck rigging is held in place by a figure-8 shaped webbing loop. One loop slips through a slit in the deck to hold the rigging. The other loop stays below the deck and is held in place by a dowel slipped through the loop.
This allows the rigging to be removed as a unit without having to untie the knot. Can you tell how much I hate untying knots in bungie cord?.
This view also shows part of the footbrace assembly, as well as the seam between the hull and deck.
Outside view of the arrangement described above.
Just a piece of nylon rope spliced back onto itself. The spliced area is thick enough to make a comfortable handle. It's waterproof and rot proof, yet quiet while out paddling.
The oversized screws holes were drilled through into the stern piece, then plugged with epoxy and rolled up glass tape. This gives a tough waterproof material for the screw to grip.
Next stop, the top of the truck and Okoumefest 2008.