And the 4 screws have some tension on them already from the straps. I havent heard of them ripping out, but I havent paddled in the surf either. Mine leak like a sieve, and I have finally gotten some T-nuts. I will simply bolt the covers to the support beams underneath them. A hassle to remove the hatches, but they wont leak and they wont come off.

> Has anyone ever heard, or think it is possible, to have a non-flush hatch
> cover, held down by webbing, ripped off by a crashing wave catching under
> whatever rim exists between foam and hatch cover. I never considered this
> until I tried to launch in some surf and had some padeyes which were
> epoxied to underside of deck get ripped off when a wave broke into cockpit
> and caught on the object that the padeyes were holding in place. As a
> result, I am considering the possibility of epoxying a splash guard to
> deck around the rim of the hatch cover to deflect any such wave. As it now
> stands, my hatches are held down by 4 screws into sheer clamps (which hold
> the webbing in place).

> Dave