DECK HATCH REPAIR - full article
|  | During the spring clean-up of this 1981 28' Trendsetter pleasure craft we noticed that the fibreglass laminate on one of the boat's Deck Hatch Covers was de-laminating from the plywood. In addition, to the de-lamination, the edge of the plywood was starting to erode and was looking pretty ratty. While first thought was to use some epoxy to re-attach the laminate to the plywood, the Boys at Industrial Plastics & Paints suggested that we replace the hatch with one made of maintenance free King Starboard.
|  | | We decided to use Starboard's Anti-Skid version because its pebbled surface matched the gelcoat texture on the original hatch cover. This AS version of King Starboard is ideal for decks, ladder rungs and even as and all-weather bench seat. IPP stocks this product in white 3/4" and 1" thick with a sheet size of 54" x 96". They sell it in units of 12" x 27" and so you can purchase any multiple of these units. |  |  | Our hatch size was 16 x 38 so we purchased 4 units providing us with a piece of stock 27" x 48". The boys at IPP cut this piece to our required size of 16" x 38" at no extra charge and we kept the off cuts to use in a future project. With the material already cut to size, we had them planed the edges to remove any saw cut marks and provide a finished edge. That cost a little extra but it was well worth the money.
Starboard machines very nicely with general woodworking tools so it is
easy to finish your project with as fine a detail as you would like. All we needed to finish the project was a Router, a 1/8" Bull Nose Bit, a Bearing Bit and a drill to cut the finger hole. | | The next step was to use a router bit with a bearing, along with and a
1/4" radius template, to make nice attractive round corners. |  |  | Because the original hatch cover was 5/8' thick and the Starboard AS was 3/4" thick, we again used the router to rabbet the bottom edge by 1/8" so the new hatch would sit flush to the rest of the deck. | | | | |
| | Finally we removed the sharp edge off the top of the hatch cover with a 1/8" radius router bit. | 
|  |  | So here is the finished hatch in place. I was surprised that it just slipped into place without and extra fitting required. Boy does it look fantastic, what a terrific upgrade, thanks to the Boys at Industrial Plastics & Paints. Click on the picture to take a closer look!
| | | | submitted by . . . Ken Jones
| OK so the only drawback to this whole thing is that now my ladder looks really bad so with the extra pieces I have left over from this project I am going to replace all the rungs with King Starboard. I will keep a photo record of the work and send it to this website as soon as it is complete. I will start with the Before picture . . .
|  | | | | | | | | |
|
