How does H-Crate fasten to PA14 rear deck?

I just tried attaching my new H-Crate today and found a couple surprises.

1) H-Crate strap clips will attach to the pad eyes right behind the seat and by the molded-in rod tubes, but not to the mid (bungee criss-cross) or rear-deck pad eyes. Clip geometry won't fit those eyes.

2) No way to remove the rear deck bungee without completely pulling out and replacing the rear pad eyes - they seem to be permanently attached to the bungee cord.

So ... To what do you connect the H-Crate rear corner straps? And what do you do with the bungee (if you don't want to remove it entirely) when the H-Crate is in place? For the moment, I temporarily attached a loop of rope to each rear pad eye. I clip the rear corners of the H-Crate to those loops, and stretch the "center diamond" of the bungee around the base of the H-Crate. For an expensive accessory on an expensive kayak, however, this seems like a pretty redneck solution. What have the rest of you done?

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Has anybody attached additional pad eyes on the rear deck for the rear straps on the H-Crate? I am finding that my rope loops extending to the rear bungee fasteners leaves little useful space back there for holding a net or minnow bucket. I love the utility of the H-Crate, but so far, integrating it with the stock PA14 rear deck has been a puzzler.

Make sure the H-Crate straps are plenty loose to begin with, giving enough slack to angle each clip so that it fits the padeye effortlessly. Should fit either mid or furthest aft rear cargo area padeye without a problem (even with bungee running through it). If you're having trouble getting the H-Crate clips to fit the padeyes, you likely have standard size padeyes. We recommend replacing those standard padeyes with Padeye XL's (part # 71125001). This will allow you to attach multiple straps or rod leashes on the same eye. For seating the H-Crate, the best thing to do is to stretch the bungee around the base of the crate. This helps lock it in place and minimizes shifting. Keep in mind you have 4 integrated rod holders, one in each corner of the crate, and you can always add additional rod holders (part #72020015) to the grid wall if you want for holding a net.

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Howie Strech
Parts & Accessories Product Manager
Hobie Cat USA

I've removed the bungee cord from back there...I've never used it. I'v replaced the wrap-around holders with pad eyes and replaced the H-Crate straps with bungee hooks. I find the bungee hooks much easier to take the crate on and off.

This setup gives me more options on where to place the H-Crate.

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MTM -
That makes good sense, because it would permit placement of the H-Crate either right behind the seat, or further aft. When you replaced the stock bungee pad eyes with the larger ones, did you have to do any drilling or did the new pad eyes fit in the old holes?

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They are direct replacement...just unscrew the old ones and screw in the new ones.

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