Tartan 30 Lazarette Hatch Replacement - May 2010

The photo below shows the original lazarette hatches. Construction was teak boards athwartship, screwed to pieces inside the cover. A facing board and two drip strips for trim. Leakage, cracked boards, and general thinness (ie: weakness) were grounds for replacement. The hatches are so thin that the plugs over many of the screws are gone.

Original concept was to construct similar to original, but using edge glued boards. A suitable stock of teak was acquired. Inquiries as to what glue to use gave interesting results, and led away from using edge glued boards to using thin slats glued to a stable substrate. Plywood was recommended, but I decided to go 'high tek' and use foam core. First thought was a 3/8 inch piece of core-cell, but the cost of a 2'x4' piece was over $60! A trip to Home Depot turned up some foam board that seemed suitable, with a 2'x8' piece at less than $9. Another trip brought home some 10 oz glass cloth, enough to do two layers each side at 0-90 degrees. The following photos show the raw foam board, the four pieces of 0 degree glass (kept the 90 degree in another pile to avoid confusion), and one board with the skin on the upper surface.

After trimming to size in the band saw, the edges of the lower surface were tapered to the proper thickness, blocks of plywood for the hinges were installed, and then the bottom surfaces were glassed.

After further trimming, the edge drip strips were installed and trimmed flush with the upper surface. Then the teak slats were glued to the upper surface, carefully spaced at 1/8 inch. After all the slats were on, things were trimmed up a bit (slats were a bit long) to prepare for the face boards.

Finally, the face boards were glued in place, and after a bit of trimming the glue out of the groove, the grooves were filled with 'Black Death' - actually an epoxy/graphite mix. After cure, the upper surface was planed and belt sanded to smoothness. Final finishing with varnish is underway.

Anyway, that's where we are today as of 5/17/2010. What these photos don't show are the mistakes and corrections. If I did it again, I wouldn't use the foam - I'd use a good 3/8 inch plywood for the substrate and just seal it with epoxy. The weight savings (about 4 lbs for the two covers) wasn't worth the hassle of the foam.