Sliding Hatch??

[chesapeake724]

I'm surprised no one here has MacGuyvered and redesigned the whole hatch "system". Instead of the flimsy slider, you could make the hatch hinged, opening to port like the windshield. Add some gaskets to the hatch and it'd be more watertight than what's there now. Just a thought.

On a different tangent, what if the rails could be replaced with aluminum or stainless, would you guys buy them? My dad has an in with a metal fabricator and was toying with the idea of pulling the teak strips and seeing how much it would be to make them out of metal. Just another thought.