New Hatch Fitted

I met Bruce at the boat early on Tuesday 16 June, which was the one dry day before the advent of several days of heavy weather. 

Conceptually the bedding down of the hatch on Sikaflex 291 then screwing it down would be straight forward and fast, but the job took about three hours of hard work by both of us.  It was imperative that the hatch not leak and Bruce is a master at that sort of work.  I provided the support and some surprisingly good suggestions. 

Bruce applying Sikalfex 291 sealant

Our first task was to drill the new holes for the hatch and fit all of these screws.  The marks for the new holes had to be precise and the selection of the drill bit diameter had to be perfect because the 20 screws holding the hatch down had to bite well into the wood and be drilled straight enough to achieve flush counter sinking.  Once we had dry fitted the hatch we removed all of the screws, lifted the hatch out of the way, and Bruce got to work with the caulking gun.  He knew from experience how much Sikaflex 291 to lay down with minimum cleanup. (Had it been been me, I would have overdone it with the sealant and spent probably hours cleaning up the resultant mess.)  We then screwed the hatch down, spent a few minutes cleaning up, then stepped back to look at the result.

The Master showing the finished product

We were both happy with what we saw, which to me appeared to be as close to perfection as possible. 

But that is not the end of the project.  The hatch was originally installed with bolts followed by a perimeter of wood to support the ceiling, rendering it impossible for those who followed to use bolts again without removing that securely glued in perimeter of wood.  We have used screws to make it easier for any future hatch replacement.  However,  Bruce has made the sensible suggestion of bolstering that wood perimeter with thickened Epiglue, and I was to replace an incredibly rough block for screwing in one of the four teak discs covering the access to the deck winches (which don't exist: the two forward positions are used for deck pad eyes and the rear ones are not used).  I have made the required new block and after I have fitted it Bruce will visit the boat for the Epiglue work then to help  me with the 2-man job of fitting the ceiling panel into position.  After the ceiling is fitted  into position it will be left to me to fitting all of the ceiling panel screws then the wood trimming.

Wood perimeter preventing access to hatch thru bolts