Fixating on weirdness

So, I've looked at every picture of a Santana 22 that I can find and none of them seem to have this hatch cover/housing. The hatch slides forward into this thing, it is robust, don't worry about standing on it, but it is a little tall. Tall you may ask?

I recently picked up a bridge plate (for lack of a better word- one of those things that let you bring more control lines to the cockpit). It is just a little short. If I want to use it, and I do, it will need to be raised to be able to be used.

What I now regret is that i didn't look at this structure more closely when I had it off. Sounds stupid, but maybe it is not really necessary. The hatch is held on by sliders.

If I run lines down to the mast base plate and route to the bridge plate, then the lines will rub across the front edge of the hatch cover, maybe a non-issue, but weirds me out anyway.