: Can anyone give me some suggestions for building the inner lip for my hatch.
: I guess I did some things out of order and installed my rear bulkhead at
: the same time as I installed the deck. Now I have no access to lay
: fiberglass tape as shown in Nick's book. I tried 1/4" pine strips
: clamped to the inside, but it flattened the deck the match the pine strip.
: Tried cutting several kerf in the pine strip to help it bend but it
: doesn't look very good. Any Ideas? Thanks in advance. Don

: fyi... The hull is 17' version S&G Cape Charles with stripped deck made from
: butternut with black walnut accent stripe down the center line of the
: deck. coaming is also black walnut.

Hi Don

Gee the deck sounds interesting, but here are some other lippy ideas:

1/ if your hatch has straight sides, and you want to use the pine strip, kerf it from the underside. then the kerfs aren't seen and close up w/ the curvature. This approach prob gets difficult at sharp changes of hatch profile or sectional profile - so most likely too difficult.

2/ Or use the hatch to lay out a profile on 2 sep pcs of 1/8in ply scrap. On the 1st: cut the profile and 1/2in on the o/s. Cut up into sections or kerf from below as above and glue on the u/s or the hatch opening and flush w/ the edge. On the 2nd: cut 1/2in o/s the line as before but 1in on the i/s. Throw the ring in some hot water for a while and hopefully it'll fit w/ minimal cutting( - prob have to cut at the peak). Clamp w/ C clamps. Glass the flange if desired. The gasket ends up being 1/8 in deep.

3/Or use little strips.(I used a similar approach for my depressed coaming) Cut about 50 typ strips at 1 1/2 in long, and 50 at 1/2in long. Glue the 1/2in strips on top of the longer ones and flush w/ one end. Hot glue the 1st under the hatch opening flush w/ the 1/2in pc. Now using white glue or epoxy work all around, use a sanding block to taper one side only so that one side always points to the ctr. (actually quite quick and easy). After set up, sand smooth and glass. The gasket ends up being the thickness of the 1/2in strip. (So adjust the strip if you want.

4/ Or build a form from card. Make sure the hatch opening is sealed. Cut say 2in wide strips of cardbd box and white glue to the opening. Like they're lining the opening. Wind and glue around and around until say 1/2 in thick or so. Glue little gussets from the deck to the card to keep it vertical. Sand this card from below untill it's flush w/ the u/s of the deck. Trace the hatch outline on some other card, cut to the line and 1in i/s. Glue to the first card from u/s the deck. Maybe add another layer. Seal edges w/ glue or duct tape. Now glass from i/s the deck.(maybe hot glue the bathroom mirror to the hull so you can see what's going on.) After all set up, soak the card and gussets and remove. maybe a little sanding. You end up w/ the cleanest result.

-mick