I HATE my hatches

Posted by Monterey Matt on Jul 19, 2005

So there have been two parts of the Chessie 18 build that have had a high degree of difficulty. The first was the first step, scarfing, which I survived. The second was the last, the hatches, which I suppose i will survive as well.

Getting clamps on correctly was aggravatingly difficult. I had to take it on faith where to put the frames, since the plans didn't specify a distance (I ended up copying from the plans to the old cut-outs used to make the hatch holes, and then using those to get the placement of the frames in the "right" place.

Even so, something must've slipped, as one of the frames on my forward hatch ended up being just ever so slightly off the line. No big deal I thought. When I fitted the hatch, the camber of the whole thing was too flat -- there's a significant gap on the underneath. I can't see that it was the fault of the misaligned frame, it seems like the curve wasn't severe enough. The rear hatch fits OK. So I'll end up putting more foam tape around the front hatch, I guess, and it will look slightly odd.

The other strange thing is that the color of the wood after being coated with a couple of coats of epoxy is significantly darker than the rest of the 'yak. I suppose here I should withhold judgement until the varnishing is done (god knows when that will be) but it looked really, really odd when I did a test fit of the hatches on the rest of the yak.

Well, one more touch-up coat of epoxy for the undersides of the hatch frames and the stiffeners and this part will be done.

Replies:

• front hatches by LeeG on Jul 20, 2005
• Re: I HATE my hatches by Mike D on Jul 20, 2005
• Re: hatches by CLC on Jul 20, 2005
  • Re: hatches by Monterey Matt on Jul 20, 2005
    • Wood Color by Robert N Pruden on Jul 20, 2005
    • Re: hatches by Karl on Jul 20, 2005
• Re: I HATE my hatches by Mike M. on Jul 20, 2005
  • Re: I HATE my hatches by david on Jul 23, 2005