> I was wondering if anyone out there has ever made a hatch in their rear
> bulkhead, so as to make loading large items like tents, sleeping bags, and
> air mattresses easier? There's a company here in Michigan that installs
> them in their stitch-n-glue boats -- they call them 'expedition hatches.'
> There is a 1 1/2" (or so) wide plywood ring with foam gasketing
> material on it, and the removeable bulkhead is attached to it with 4
> finger-tightened, knurled screws. Dean.. .I put bulkhead hatches in the Mill Creek 13 I built last year. They are just covers 1.5" larger than the holes. One is a 8x12 oval. Have never had a leak using 1" foam seals around. Four screws sounds like overkill to squeeze some foam. I used a single nylon bolt in the center pulled tight by a 1x1 bar from the other side of the bulkhead. The bolt is tightened by a wing nut that I epoxied into a handle carved out of fir so the nut and bolt aren't visible. A very simple setup but it works. Addison