Hatch covers

After drilling all the holes and epoxying them we loosely put the hatch straps in. The next step is to glue some half dowels on the hatch cover. It is easiest to use the straps to measure where to put the dowels.

When the straps are tightened on the dowels it creates more downward force on the hatch covers and makes a more watertight seal.

I didn't glue the foam on the hatch lip yet cause I don't want to ruin it during the final sanding and varnishing process. But to get a proper measurement and proper force on the dowels while they are being glued on I taped the foam on the hatch lip temporarily.

After marking where the dowels will go I mixed up some wood flour thickened epoxy and glued the dowels to the hatch covers.











To make sure the dowels are glued onto the cover well I tightened the straps over them. Also I put some plastic wrap under the straps so that any epoxy that squeezed out wouldn't get glued to the fabric.









Done!

The next step is to saturate the dowels with epoxy and attach a pad eye with really thick epoxy to the underside to make a leash.