Solo hatch

After tiring of Ports getting all of the attention in the last post, Hatch left the 70's rock duo for a solo performance ...  Okay, enough of that, back to the serious matter of installing the hatch in our F-82 trimaran.  The process of cutting the opening was similar as that used for the ports.  A router pattern was strapped to the hull and carefully aligned with the layout.  The router depth was set to produce a reasonable shelf for the hatch support plate, while minimizing the difference between finished deck and hatch cover.

 Here the hatch plate is epoxied in place and the inner opening cut out.  Since the hatch opening is much larger than the ports, and I wanted to ensure it provided a flat surface for the hatch, I left the center intact until after the epoxy cured.  The two large cutouts are for two port rings.  The four smaller holes were precut with a hole saw to make clean corners.  The plate was pre-glassed at the same time as the port rings ... many months ago.   After glued in place, I simply cut along straight lines between the corner holes to finish the opening.

And here is the finish hatch opening.  You may notice the gap between the central deck and the hatch plate.  This opening will be filled in next (see below).

After cutting out the hatch opening, a test fit both ensured I didn't screw this up, and also gave me the opportunity to get a sense of progress.  Once finished, this should be a nice installation.

The last task was to fill the gap between the deck and the hatch plate.  I made a template out of poster board and cut tight fitting slivers out of the leftover hatch plate center.  I then glued these in place with a thin epoxy putty and held them in place with a couple clamps until cured.  Next I will add some lightweight putty to blend the raised edge into the hull sides.  After some cosmetic sanding and filing, I will glass the hatch opening for final structural integration.  I expect a little follow-up filling and sanding to make it all smooth and fair.