After looking more closely at the design,and considering the effect on storage. I decided to locate the Skeg box just behind the rear hatch. I will soon find out how it works out.

   After looking more closely at the design,and considering the effect on storage. I decided to locate the Skeg box just behind the rear hatch. I will soon find out how it works out.

apologies.....was moving and am back on-line after a short hiatus.

with respect to the arctic hawk skeg location, in my installation, the front of the skeg box was about  6  inches back from the rear most opening of the rear hatch.   i did not try to place it as rear as possible for the reason that you cited.  in addition, if it is far back beyond the rear hatch and you can't reach it, if you need to do a repair, you then need to open up the deck...which i did not want to do.

so to your point, my calculus was no farther behind the rear hatch than was necessary to not interfere with storage.   but part of the calculus is also keeping clear of the hatch opening,  the skeg mechanical connection to the control box.  in the unit i used (superior kayaks skeg kit), a control tube comes off the front of the skeg box and can only be bent at a rather gentle radius.  if i had placed the front of the skeg box immediately aft of the rear hatch (vs 6 inches farther back), the control tube would have run right through the hatch opening area messing up the storage.  in the unit i used, 6 inches back allowed the control tube to be bent out of the way of the rear hatch to keep the storage area/opening clear. 

fwiw, i also added some control tube support pieces to ensure the tube would stay snug up along the underside of the deck and not be bent or otherwise dislocated by items put in the rear storage.

 hope that helps

h

oh, and to answer the other part of your question, it performed just fine on the water in the position i described above:)

i have several other boats with similarly located skegs and they all work just great.

h

oh, and to answer the other part of your question, it performed just fine on the water in the position i described above:)

i have several other boats with similarly located skegs and they all work just great.

h

   Thanks Howard. I did install the skeg box, prior to seeing your reply. I have not installed the deck yet, so I measured where the hatch is supposed to be, and positioned the Skeg Box, rite behind that spot. That didn't allow for the gradual bend required for the cable, so I will probably have to move the rear hatch opening about six inches forward of the location in the manual. Hopefully this will end up working.