More Hatch Construction
Deck to hull seam. Another photo of the deck-hull seam. Before I started on the hatches, I took time to fill out the hull to deck seam with thickened epoxy. I am sure that this seam is now strong enough to stand as it now is (since it uses an inside shear strip) without fiberglass tape, however I think that I will add it for additional peace of mind; although, the resin laden tape will add several ounces of additional weight to the boat. Hhmmm... decisions, decisions...
Hatch parts. The hatch-lip
assembly is made from a plywood spacer (the parts with the little holes) and a lower
flange (that makes the lip that supports the hatch), the later will be covered with
a silicone or ensolite rubber gasket to make the water-tight seal against the hatch.
In the upper right you can see the spacer in position on the lip flange. Use a marker
to mark the hatch outline on your stock (cheap paneling works great). Then, using
a ruler to measure from the hatch outline, add two more lines, one about 1-inch to
the inside of the line, and another 1-1/4-inch to the outside of that line. This
is the flange. The spacer is marked from the hatch outline to the outer 1-1/4-inch
line. Be creative to save time and effort. Make one set for half of each hatch, then
flip them over and use those flanges as templates to mark the others. These are easy
to cut with a hand-held jigsaw, but it tears up the plywood more than a bandsaw...
no big deal,, hit them wth the random-orbit sander. The assembly will be installed
and touched-up with quite a bit of thickened epoxy, and after the seal is installed,
little, if any of it, will be visable. The little holes in the spacer ensure that
resin pentrates though the spacer, hardening it in place, as well as ensuring that
some of the resin makes a continous bond from the inside of the deck through the
spacer to the flange.
Clamps! Time for lots and lots
of screw clamps! The more that you own, the more work you can accomplish in one operation.
Sanding-dust hickened resin is used to glue the parts together and to the boat. Note
the wax paper to keep drips out of the inside of the hull.
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