Morgan Stinemetz
Moderator
A number of years back, I had my plywood laminate main hatch replaced with one made of solid teak. It is gorgeous and I am glad that I spent all of $100 to have it done. Bears looking into. It is ever so much more attractive than plastic.
Morgan Stinemetz
Morgan Stinemetz
Since the boat is made of "plastic...."
Since the original tooling has gone away a couple of decades ago...
Can you find a sistership that has a hatch you could make female mold from? Then you could make a strong one in FRP and composite, with a foam or balsa core. Light and strong, and you would only have to paint it once a decade....
The custom wood option mentioned by other owners would be lovely, but I have never spec'd out such a project -- finish carpentry is not one of my skills....
I much prefer epoxy; if I make a mistake I just grind it off and do it again!
Loren
Since the original tooling has gone away a couple of decades ago...
Can you find a sistership that has a hatch you could make female mold from? Then you could make a strong one in FRP and composite, with a foam or balsa core. Light and strong, and you would only have to paint it once a decade....
The custom wood option mentioned by other owners would be lovely, but I have never spec'd out such a project -- finish carpentry is not one of my skills....
I much prefer epoxy; if I make a mistake I just grind it off and do it again!
Loren
Why the "regular" plastic?
Anybody thought of a pattern so it could be made from, say, Lexan? A nice hunk of transparent Lexan, say, .5in thick, would be entertaining.
My E25's hatch needs to be replaced so I've been thinking about alternative ways to replace it...
...not to mention figuring out how to remove and replace what's there!
Anybody thought of a pattern so it could be made from, say, Lexan? A nice hunk of transparent Lexan, say, .5in thick, would be entertaining.
My E25's hatch needs to be replaced so I've been thinking about alternative ways to replace it...
...not to mention figuring out how to remove and replace what's there!
Joe Benedict
Member II
Use Teak
It is probably correct that the tooling (and most of skills) in creating the teak hatch are long gone. The yard put a foot through my hatch (somehow my fault) so I had to replace mine. Cost me $300 in materials. Attached are a couple of photos of the construction - could send more but the site has a size limitation. The frame is 3/4 teak and the center is laminated 1/8 baltic plywood with a teak veneer on top. The angles (at least on mine) are either 12 or 24 degrees. The upper drop board will give the template for the arch. The only thing I would change is the glue in the veneer. I still need to find something to use to re-attach the veneer. Most of the work is done with a table saw using a dato blade, sanding wheel, molding head, and a custom designed fence. It was a lot of free hand work on the saw and a shaper machine would have been better and safer. Give it a try in poplar - my only training is 3 night courses at a junior college and 55 years of mistakes.
It is probably correct that the tooling (and most of skills) in creating the teak hatch are long gone. The yard put a foot through my hatch (somehow my fault) so I had to replace mine. Cost me $300 in materials. Attached are a couple of photos of the construction - could send more but the site has a size limitation. The frame is 3/4 teak and the center is laminated 1/8 baltic plywood with a teak veneer on top. The angles (at least on mine) are either 12 or 24 degrees. The upper drop board will give the template for the arch. The only thing I would change is the glue in the veneer. I still need to find something to use to re-attach the veneer. Most of the work is done with a table saw using a dato blade, sanding wheel, molding head, and a custom designed fence. It was a lot of free hand work on the saw and a shaper machine would have been better and safer. Give it a try in poplar - my only training is 3 night courses at a junior college and 55 years of mistakes.
The plywood base on my E27 hatch was delaminating causing the side pieces to fall off. I took it off and made a new base from 3/8" flexible plywood (to easily get the required "curve") to match the size of the original one. I coated the plywood with several coats of West Systems epoxy resin to waterproof it. I then reassembled the hatch using all the old teak (except for the 2 new "spacer" pieces at the front and back of the top). I put teak veneer on the underside of the plywood using contact cement. Cetol Light was used as the finish.
Here' s the final result:
http://www.hogtimemusic.com/photos/hatch2.jpg
I took it down to my boat recently and the spacing of the "slots" on each side was a bit off, causing binding in sliding. Today I'm going to try and saw off 1/8" from the inside of each side piece to remedy this.
All and all, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. given that I'm no woodworker. Of course, it did take me around 1-1/2 years, as I put it aside every time I ran into problems. I've had a temporary plywood one on all this time.
The real test will be if it holds up and doesn't start coming apart again. I'm no spring chicken, so maybe it will last that long.
Here' s the final result:
http://www.hogtimemusic.com/photos/hatch2.jpg
I took it down to my boat recently and the spacing of the "slots" on each side was a bit off, causing binding in sliding. Today I'm going to try and saw off 1/8" from the inside of each side piece to remedy this.
All and all, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. given that I'm no woodworker. Of course, it did take me around 1-1/2 years, as I put it aside every time I ran into problems. I've had a temporary plywood one on all this time.
The real test will be if it holds up and doesn't start coming apart again. I'm no spring chicken, so maybe it will last that long.
Joe Benedict
Member II
Attached is my final product. I didn't even try to match what may have been originally individual boards used in the center. In the first email I showed (and didn't explain) the template I built to put the laminate together. It goes under the hatch so you can put weight on each layer and have something to clamp on to. I cheated and put epoxy resin between each layer. I thought about a waterproof glue such as Gorilla Glue (excellent stuff) but opted for the old standby. Also thought of 3/8 plywood but the layers of 1/8 were very easy to work with. The glue used in the Baltic Birch plywood is also better - expensive but so is my time. I am going to reapply the top veneer this winter and epoxy - not just glue. The underside is stained a redish mahogany which matches the interior. I also made a temporary hatch and took all winter to make the final hatch. It was a lot of work, but looking at pictures of Ericsons, it just didn't seem right to replace the teak with something else.
Wow
Way to go, Captain Joe.
I d/l your PDF and had a look. Nice grain and a nice finish!
When you comin' over to work on my teak?
Loren in PDX
Way to go, Captain Joe.
I d/l your PDF and had a look. Nice grain and a nice finish!
When you comin' over to work on my teak?
Loren in PDX
Yeah - very nice work! Want to come out to Seattle and help me add a dormer to our house??? 
Joe Benedict
Member II
Loren & Sean thanks for the compliments - the final layer will need to be re-done this winter due to some bad advise I got about glue. I strongly suggest that people try wood at some point - you have to make a mold for the glass anyway. Sorry, I'm a right hand coaster who took a temporary job in Chicagoland in 1980. If the recession - sorry - downturn ever ends - I'll be homeward bound - which is the Fall River, MA area - former home of O'Day and across the bay from Pearson.