Sunday, August 29, 2010

Building The Hatch Cover

First I placed a garbage bag over the coamings for the hatch to keep the new hatch from bonding to the cabin top or coamings.  The sides for the hatch were then placed over the coamings having first been scribed to fit the shape of the hull and glued together at the corners.  The sides were just the same height as the top of the coamings.
The first layer of 1/4 inch was glued to the top of the hatch frame and tacked where needed with bronze ring nails to be removed when all set up.  After all was set up the router was used to trim flush and a second layer of 1/4 inch was added for strength and trimmed with a round over bit and covered with 6 oz glass.
The hatch with the first layer only waiting to be trimmed off.  Fits nicely to the camber of the cabin top.
A possible choice for hinges for the hatch.  Probably will use something different though.  Very difficult to find hinges for hatches on small boats apparently.  Lots of choices for larger hatches but this one is only a little more than an inch and one quarter high.
A long view of the hatch waiting for me to get back to work and put the camera away!!
Pictures in the next post show the finished hatch.