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.

Megapoxy Filling and Leak Test

 Last Wednesday afternoon I visited the boat and used epoxy superglue to fix an  aluminum plate to which the round teak cover is screwed. (There are four of these setups in the cabin because the ocean racing boat was designed to have winches on the cabin deck.)   This had been the only one of the four teak covers that was screwed into a rough piece of wood glued to the plate instead of directly to the plate.  In knocking off the piece of wood to replace it with a properly finished one I dislodged the aluminum plate and saw that it had never been drilled and tapped like the others.  I drilled the hole and with Bruce's help found a workshop that tapped the hole at no charge.

Aluminum plate tapped and glued in position

Then on Thursday I met Bruce at the boat and watched him mix two batches of thickened Megapoxy and apply it  to the forward side of the below-deck hatch support.  The idea was to be able to use long screws for the three hatch hinges, with the screws passing through the first layer of wood, through the hardened epoxy, and into the lower layer of wood. The result was a greatly strengthened support.

The next day I confirmed that the Megapoxy had properly hardened then did some extensive testing for leaks through the fitted hatch.  There were no leaks when I used the stream from open hose but there were leaks through the middle part of the seals on each side of the hatch when I applied a jet of water from a nozzle.  The seals at the forward and aft sides of the hatch held up well with no leaking, no doubt because the hinges hold down the forward edge and the locking handles hold down the  aft edge.

Megapoxy filling on leading edge of hatch support

I am not too concerned given that the open hose test suggests that the seals will stand up to seawater washing over the deck and besides, there is little that I can do about it.  Nevertheless, Bruce and I agreed that there is a good chance that the sealing will improve once the seals are properly bedded down.  There are, by the way, two seals running along the perimeter of the hatch.  The seal on the lid has a "female" profile and the seal on the base has a "male" profile, and the two rubber seals interlock, preventing a direct path for water into the cabin. And of course I am very happy that the Sikaflex bedding work that Bruce did proved to be flawless.