Q: I would like a configuration option outside of changing code to display my panels by default
A: You can either extend the current Map Perspective (that is an extension point) or create your own perspective. An example of extending a perspective is in the net.refractions.udig.feature.editor/plugin.xml file. (Hacking the Perspective class is wrong and the example you see there is wrong too. I'm going to change it). If you define a new perspective and you want it to be loaded by default you have to create a fragment for net.refractions.udig.ui and in the fragment override the UDIGWorkbenchAdvisor class to return your perspective ID in the getInitialWindowPerspectiveId method.