Your bats right under the cockpit sole is a great idea, Best yet.
I'm going to "waterproof" one or both port and starboard lazarettes, as some people call them, with plywood panels and glass tabbing. So that no water can get below thru the seat-lids. I see the inside floor of the stowage at the same level as the cockpit.
To have these panels (which in my case would run the length of the cockpit along the lower corners) as sides to cleat the battery boxes to would be they only way I can see how to do it. One reason is that I think the cockpit still needs support which the longitudinal panels would provide - there are heavy varying loads concentrated here. My guess is that you are going to build up 'tables' from the hull for the batteries to sit on and they will be loaded and accessed thru the sole. Of course those structures could go from hulll to cockpit bottom providing said support.
But I'm really interested in what hatches you choose. I assume the cockpit to be a wet zone. Some people have developed rot here because of clogged drains and constant wetness. I've gotten Bomar for 338 but I'm not really happy with them. Designwise, as I haven't tested them yet. Don't know if I'd even put one of their cast aluminum reinforced offshore lexan doodawhotsis in the cockpit. It's only a pressure fit on half-round rubber using two dogs. (And then you'ld have to reach in under to release the dogs.) What else is there....acrylic access hatches? What can you step on? And what truely won't leak on the batteries?
The right hatches and I can see your idea in my case at least for the OB starter bat. And who knows, the others too.
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