September 19, 2019
I resumed work on the forward hatch this morning, removing the protective plastic sheeting, and setting the frame and lid together.
With 80-grit discs and the small finish sander, I cleaned the top of the hatch up, removing the thickened epoxy squeeze out.
I did the same for the underside of the hatch.
The small v-groove I routed in the individual hatch boards were not as pronounced as I wanted them to be. So to that end, I grabbed a flush cut bit and the trim router to cut a 1/8" deep groove at the joint of each board. The groove will be filled with black teak decking caulk, and sanded smooth prior to varnishing.
The hatch, in rough form....but coming together.
Before moving on to the lazarette hatch, I prepared and glued the hatch lid and frame together. I drew a fillet of thickened epoxy along the interior joints and set it to the side to cure.
After grabbing some lunch and checking the materials list for the brightwork, I selected the board from the teak stock for the lazarette hatch.
At the boat, I used a straight edge, clamped at the apex go the cambered molded fiberglass lazarette hatch lip, and took the gap measurements to the outboard of the hatch lip. This gap is formed by the cambered deck falling off to port and starboard. The extreme height of the new hatch frame will incorporate this gap measurement. When the cambered deck is transferred onto the new forward and aft hatch frame boards, and the excess material removed, the hatch will fit snug to the existing fiberglass lip.
I took some measurement notes for re-sawing the teak timber.
I moved the table saw out to the boat for completion of the brightwork. It is far too heavy to move in and out of the shop, and far too dangerous too - I shave a few layers of skin off the knuckles moving it outside yesterday.
With measurements taken and applied to the teak board, I began the exercise of re-sawing the teak board. To start, I focused in on the hatch frame boards.
After cutting the hatch frame boards, I brought them up for a rough sizing around the existing fiberglass hatch lip.
Satisfied, I progressed to the shop to joint the one of the face surfaces and one of the edge surfaces of each board.
I then planed the boards to the 3/4" dimension I was looking for.
I performed some last minute planing by hand. I first hand planed the fore and aft boards clamped together, and then followed with the port-starboard boards clamped together.
With the table saw, I removed a bit more of the height dimension on each of the hatch frame boards, and then reviewed the fit.
Happy with the appearance and dimensions, I moved back to the shop to epoxy glue the hatch frame together. I cleaned the natural teak oils from the surface of each board with acetone, and then set the boards in their proper orientation on a table protected with plastic sheeting. I then wet out the surfaces to be glued with epoxy resin. With the balance of resin, I mixed in some West System 406 colloidal silica to thicken it. With this thickened resin, I buttered the surfaces and clamped them, two per side. I carefully aligned, re-aligned, and checked for alignment...cleaned up the squeeze out and closed the shop for the evening.
Total Time Today: 7 hrs
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