Sunday, May 4, 2008

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Hatches

I've come down with a little bit of a cold and the thought of slipping the respirator over my face makes my sinus cavity throb. So, I have been taking it easy, working on a few steps that don't require lots of filtered air. This weekend I started preparing the deck hatches. These will ultimately cover the hatch openings that allow storage access in the fore and aft areas. 

The hatch covers are pretty simple to put together. here's the illustrated version:


This is the bottom of the aft hatch cover with 3" fiberglass cloth 
waiting for epoxy. The fiberglass adds extra strength but mostly 
helps to hold the curve the hatches will have.


Here you can see where the hatch ribs go. The contact side of the 
rib is slightly curved (to match the deck) and will bend the hatch 
cover when everything is clamped to dry.

This is the forward hatch cover and here you can see more clearly 
the curvature the ribs impart on the plywood. The clamps hold the 
bend and the ribs in place as the epoxy cures. I should be able to 
remove the clamps tomorrow and the curve will remain.

2 comments:

Katie said...

Sorry to hear you're a bit under the weather. Glad there were some things you could do on the kayak that didn't involve putting on a mask though. Very cool how you can make wood bend!

Anonymous said...

When I was little and my dad built the catboat, we had to steam the planks in a home-made steambox. I think they were oak--hard to bend. As I recall, with one end clamped in place, Dad was trying to clamp down the other end into the curvature of the boat. The end he was working on sprang loose and knocked him down. You can think of Granddaddy building his boat and steaming his planks.
Mom