Hatch Replacement Finally Completed

Fitting the section of ceiling and associated wood trimming that we had dropped in order to replace the  hatch took a lot more time and effort than we had expected. 

No matter how hard we tried we could not screw the ceiling panel firmly in position.  We finally figured out that it was the Megapoxy glue that was causing the problem.  We then  dropped the ceiling and I returned to the boat the following week armed with a Dremel tool and a light drill for fitting screws.  Bruce used a chisel to remove the excess glue and finished off by using the Dremel tool fitted with rough sandpaper. 

Ceiling, looking forward

Ceiling, looking aft

The ceiling went up OK but we then had trouble fitting the wood trip  around the hatch.  It should have been a quick and easy job because I had carefully written the position of each piece.  Things got so bad that we began to wonder if I had confused port with starboard and forward with aft, juggling the pieces around made things worse.  We gave up at the point where the trim was fitted to three sides but the  piece for the fourth side was more than 5mm too long.

On Monday morning I was back at the boat with the plan to work patiently alone and use my head rather than hurling in trying this and that.  The approach worked and after two hours the job was completed.  I am convinced that the problems were caused by the use by Zelko of an impact drill  to self tap the screws into position, rendering everything too tight and inflexible.  I did thinks like enlarging the holes through the trip so that the screws could pass easily through them and elongating some of the holes.

But the time Bruce visited the boat in the late afternoon the rest of the trim was up.  The next day I put up four circular pieces of trim spent a couple of hours cleaning the boat.  I  left the boat satisfied but ru-ing the fact that there is no such thing as a quick job on a boat.