[rb437]

My hatch was very soft before I made this repair. The wood was soaked. Water ran out when I cut the hatch open. Here's what I did.

I cut the glass off the underside of the hatch. Then I scraped off what was left of the wood. I removed the two inspection plates from the top side ofand allowed everything to dry out. Now I have a stripped down bare fiberglass hatch with no wood or any other hardware attached. Next I cut a 3/4" piece of plywood to the same dimenions as the old piece of wood and epoxied it to the underside of the hatch. I used plenty of epoxy and a lot of weight to try to eliminate any air between the wood and the hatch. It seems to have worked, the hatch is solid all over now. Once the epoxy cured I turned the hatch over and used a jigsaw to cut the inspection holes in the wood using the hatch itself as a guide. Then I used more epoxy to cover all the exposed wood including all the exposed edges around the outside and at the inspection plate holes. Once that was dry, I re-installed the inspection covers (with 5200) and re-installed the hatch. I did not replace the fiberglass that I cut off. I only used epoxy to secure and protect the wood. This hatch is as solid as any where on the boat. I forget what grade of plywood I used , but it was not marine or treated. I did like Franco said. I went to Home Depot and got a good quality piece of wood. I was able to find a 4' x 4' sheet that more than enough for the job. There is one thing I would have done different. My hatch had a couple of small cracks in it because thae previous owner walked on it when it was soft and the hatch flexed and cracked. When I repaired the hatch, some epoxy seeped through and now I have a couple of small spots on the deck. I should have patched those cracks before I glued the wood down.

Apparently my tape measure is more accurate than my memory. That was 5/8" plywood I used.