Hatch cover blunder - need advice

I'm nearing the end of my Ches 17LT kit and I had another, and hopefully final, goof.  I glued the frames to my hatch covers upside down.  Now there is no camber to match the deck curve.  The thickened epoxy has cured, and both sides of the hatch surfaces are stiff with clear epoxy as well.   Any suggestions on how to correct this newbie-blunder would be a helpful.

Thanks,  LTM


6 replies:

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RE: Hatch cover blunder - need advice

 

Epoxy takes some time to dry. Have you tired to cut it off with a knife?

If has become hard skined, get a heat gun and use a low or medium heat to warm the joint so it becomes soft and use a putty scrapper to break the joint and clean up the cover and the frame. Let the pieces cool and try again.

Keep the heat gun moving on both sides of the frame so as not to burn the wood and evenly warm the epoxy.

 

RE: Hatch cover blunder - need advice

   Thanks for that George.  The thickened epoxy has been curing for 48 hours, and I feel I can probably remove those upside down frame-cleats, but will not the hatch covers be too stiff to bend to the correct camber?

RE: Hatch cover blunder - need advice

   They quite likely will be too stiff to bend LTM and may well twist when clamped up. I have twists in both my hatch covers but I'll wait till I fit the straps to see how bad they are when strapped down. I'm a scratch builder though (making a Chesapeake 17LT) so have enough plywood lying around to make new ones if needs be. How did I get the twists in? I suspect that the edges are not cut square all the way across. The jigsaw is good but the operator. . .  Could be better.  

 

RE: Hatch cover blunder - need advice

   Yambo:  I took George's advice and applied a heat gun for a couple of minutes and was able to remove the cleats, but also noted that the entire hatch cover was more pliable from the heat.   So, I scraped off the rubbery residue and re-applied a freshly thickened paste, but this time I used metal clamps to exert the bending pressure needed to create camber on the hatch cover.   Seems to be working and the cleats appear to be straight enough.    This was the sort of bone-headed mistake that comes from working tired and trying to move to fast through the project.

LTM

RE: Hatch cover blunder - need advice

 Glade to hear that. Heating melts or softens the epoxey. The sonner it is done the easier the epoxy softens. Epoxy takes along time to cure so you doe have a chance to fix most errors. Since andy residue will be on the inside, things should be goog. Just use pads under the clamps and only use enough preasure to hold the shape. More epoxy and maybe some tape or glass will give the hatch more strength.

 

RE: Hatch cover blunder - need advice

   LTM, your thread helped me. I am building a Chesapeake 16 and I lined the hatch frames up by size then put the three largest with the large hatch cover and two smallest with the small hatch cover. After I glued up the small hatch cover and waited the required 24 hours I thought 'radius'. I checked and three of the frames have one radius and the other two another. I had one 'wrong radius' frame on my small hatch cover (fortunately I had not worked on the other hatch cover).  I bought a heat gun last night, removed the wrong radius this morning, glued up the right radius and am in my 24 hour waiting period. Your thread and George's advice were a big help.

Mike

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