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Shop Tips » Working With Epoxy and Fiberglass |
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Installing Flush Hatches without Toggles
If you'd like to opt for an even cleaner deck than a standard flush hatch system, you can try our internal bungie-hatch system. Using some simple wooden blocks, bungie cord and stainless steel eyehooks, you can create a hatch hold-down mechanism that is entirely hidden from view. The only thing on deck will be the little grabloop.
The hidden hatch hold-downs begin with simple wooden trapezoids, drilled for the bungie cord.
Epoxy mixed with silica is slathered on the backs of the blocks.
Here's a good shot of the bungie blocks, with the hole for the bungie. The blocks are smoothly rounded off so they don't snag gear. The hole was drilled while the block was still cube-shaped, then the angles were cut.
In they go, four blocks per hatch. Nothing odd about the hatch openings; just a plywood sill glued in.
If you've made the epoxy thick enough, the blocks will stick to the sides without clamping. The suction holds them firmly in place while the epoxy cures. Hard to see here, but we carefully scuffed the cured epoxy on the sides where the blocks are glued, for a better bond. These will be under a good bit of load.
Note that we didn't forget to clean up the epoxy squeeze-out.
Here's the bungie cord spanning the two blocks. Tension of the bungies is established by changing the position of the stopper knot. Took some experimentation; it was easy to make it too tight.
Two strips of wood are epoxied to the underside of the hatch. We'll screw the eyehooks into these.
One stainless eyehook per side works perfectly.
You'll need some sort of grabloop; we put a loop of line through two epoxy reinforced holes in the hatch (See our Shop Tip Drill, Fill, Drill). To hook the bungies, just hinge the hatch open with one hand and pull the bungies onto the hooks.
