Hmm... interesting idea! I hope that you will be able to thaw out your caps lock key soon! (Writing in all caps is perceived as YELLING, which probably--hopefully-- is not what you were intending in this post....) --Julie

: I USED THE LATCHES OFF OF OLD SKI BOOTS (found them at the dump, actually)
: ATTATCHED THE LATCH TO A SHORT PIECE OF NYLON WEBBING ON ONE SIDE OF THE
: BOAT AND THE CABLE BAIL TO A PEICE OF WEBBING ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE
: BOAT. I USED TWO PER HATCH AND THEY ARE QUITE STRONG AND VERY POSITIVE IN
: LOCKING. YOU STILL NEED THE HALF PIECES OF DOWLING GLUED TO THE HATCHES TO
: GET POSITIVE PRESSURE ON THE HATCH RIM FOR A GOOD SEAL. THE DOWNSIDE IS
: THAT YOU CAN GET ENOUGH TORQUE WITH THEM TO RIP OUT THE SCREWS HOLDING THE
: WEBBING, SO I REPLACED THEM WITH SMALL BOLTS. ALSO, SLIPED STRONG RUBBER
: O-RINGS OVER THE ENDS OF THE LATCHES WHEN THEY ARE SNAPPED DOWN IN LOCK
: POSITION SO THAT THEY CAN'T BE RELEASED IF YOU HIT THEM DURRING A
: RE-ENTRY. THE LATCHES NEED TO BE PLACED SO THAT THEY ARE AT THE CENTRE OF
: THE KAYAK DECK OR THEY DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TRAVEL TO LOCK. THEY TEND TO
: SCRATCH THE DECK A BIT SO I ALSO GLUED SMALL PIECES OF THIN TEFLON TO THE
: DECK WHERE THEY SIT WHEN LATCHED. HOPE THIS ISN'T AS CONFUSING AS IT SEEMS
: TO BE TO ME AS I RE-READ IT: REGARDS FROM THE FROZEN NORTH COUNTRY: TOM