Project Hatch

We had a boat broker take a tour around Drift Away the other day.  I was pointing out some of the water damaged paneling when he asked if the boat still leaked.  Nope, I fibbed.  It was only a little white lie.  The decks don't leak, but when I run a hose on the foredeck, we get some drips around the deck hatch.  I had replaced the old hatch with a new Lewmar and it leaked.  I've taken it out, gobbed it up with silicone and rebedded it four times.  It still leaks.

It only leaked around the back edge.  The new hatch was about a half inch smaller and I think the problem is that I couldn't get enough silicone in there.  Yesterday, I removed the hatch for the final fix.  Make the hole smaller.

How?   Well, the first thing I did was to cut out pieces of cardboard, fold them up, and nailed them to the inside edge of the hatch.   Then I fiberglassed over it.

I'm not very good at fiberglassing stuff, but this will be completely hidden by the hatch so it won't matter.

Next I gobbed it up with silicone real good...

and then dropped in the hatch.

I didn't screw the hatch down.  I just pushed on it to make sure it was seated all the way.

I made sure silicone was oozing out from underneath.   Tomorrow I'll screw it down.

Just as I sat down to enjoy a victory beer, Chevy decided he had to get off the boat and go potty RIGHT NOW!

sigh.

Next project- paint the inside of the gunnels, finish painting the cabin sides, and finally paint the decks. The weather is getting perfect for painting, dry and temps in the upper 60s and lower 70s.