advice on re-core fuel cell hatch

[Greyduk]

Phat, You look like you are going to perform a Hatchectomy (?)

[wellcraftv20step]

The little roller they sell to aid in removing air bubbles and shaping the mat on contours is very helpful, and as far as the hatch holes ,it's important to keep the hatch flat when you apply the core but try not to let the resin-drip through the hole and seep back onto the top side of the hatch cover, I taped around the opening, good thing I did! Hope this helps some.

[SkunkBoat]

Are you going to do the little squares or one piece?

I'd be afraid that one piece would eventually warp, especially if you use 1/2" 3 ply pine. Might even twist when you wet it with resin or while its setting up?
Not that I know... I haven't done a full deck or large flat piece...yet...

[phatdaddy]

Found local 4x8 i/2 kiln dried treated ply from local boat builder. $80. He'll sell me what i need , 30"x43". But its still $80. Probably gonna go with that.
Was thinking cabosil to bond wood to hatch, then seal all with couple of layers of 6 oz.

Any thoughts

I thought it was a little overkill, greyduk, but it sure saved a lot of itching.

Thanks for the tip,step. Was wondering how to avoid drips. Luckily i have a large piece of starboard to us as a work table and i have to repaint deck afterwards anyway.

[phatdaddy]

Skunk, i was going to do one piece, I think this is at least 5 ply, not sure.

I did notice on the fishbox lid, they added a stiffener down the middle

[phatdaddy]

made a little progress past couple of days. found some 1/2 marine ply, so went with that.



even managed to get the "Ferm" bevel on it



we are going out tomorrow, so needed a tempory hatch. this is some old 3/4 shelving i had in the shed.


V20 looks good with a dance floor

[phatdaddy]

never did like the way wellcraft had sheet metal screws holding down the hatch, too easy to strip out, kept loosening up, etc. decided to see if i could improve on this. screwed some aztec board to the stringers, going to drill and tap and put some 1/4-20 stainless screws in them. for the ones on the forward side i had to epoxy some starboard on the lip, bulkhead was to far away.

the "clamps" are pieces of 2" pvc, work great




when i changed out the tank 3 years ago, i had to cut the lip off one side. replaced it with aztec also



epoxy supplies should be here tuesday, tying to get it back together for snapper season,

all 3 days of it

[wellcraftv20step]

Looks like it will work well phat, love the pvc clamp!!!!!