: I cut the three hatch lids in my double and epoxied a lip underneath for them
: to rest on. My original intent was to use rare earth magnets to hold on
: the hatch lid. A couple of weeks passed before I got back to cleaning up
: the lip and fitting the lids. I've found that the front and rear hatches
: (the more rounded of the three) have flattened out some in relationship to
: the deck. Rats, I thought they wouldn't move since they'd been glassed top
: and bottom. I didn't seal the edges, thinking that the house was
: relatively dry and it wouldn't be a problem for the shortterm. While I can
: push them back into the same curve as the deck it requires a bit of force
: to do so and I'm worried that the magnets (or bungee cord for that matter)
: won't be strong enough to both bend the hatch lid to the proper curvature
: and compress the gasket to make a watertight seal. Has anyone dealt with
: this before? Will it gradually re-conform to the curvature of the deck if
: I hold it in place for a while? If not, could I sacrifice a little
: underdeck space and make a truss on the bottom of the hatch lid to hold it
: in the proper curvature? How about using a turnbuckle underneath the lid
: to draw sides together to hold the right shape?
: Any suggestions are greatly appreciated--
: thanks,
: mark

Hey Mark,

If no other good ideas come in, if it was me, I'd probably warm the covers in the kitchen oven and then I'd see if I could bend them into position and tape them into place on the yak and let them cool. (I'd probably place some thin shims between the edge of the cover and the "edge" of the seat due to the fact that it will probably tend to spring back just a little when it cools and you remove it.

Keep in mind two things tho'

First: it may be a good idea to apply some wax (SOMETHING LIKE YOU WOULD USE AS A MOLD RELEASE)before you heat it so it doesn't adhere to the lip when you place it back on the yak while "warm"- although it shouldn'd stick if you don't get it too hot. and:

Second: after it cools, shape some type of re-enforcement strip of wood (Probably two per cover) to attach to the under-side of the cover to help it to retain the desired shape. If it distorted one time, it may do it again.

Just Remember: Cured epoxy, according to MAS anyway (I think thats who it was) is nothing more than a very durable, hard PLASTIC . . . and anything that you can do with plastic, you should be able to do with epoxy. But, of course you have to allow for the rigidity of the wood sandwiched between the two outer layers of glass/epoxy (plastic).

Good luck . . . but you don't really need luck! Its actually called perserverence, or if you want a Stronger term . . how about determination, . . . or even better yet . . . RESOLVE . . . yea thats it!!!!! Your're resolved to making those covers do what you designed them to do! You are NOT going to make more covers .. you already have covers . . they just don't know that they ARE kayak hatch covers!!! but they ARE going to learn their purpose in life!

Happy Building . . . or maybe I should say "slight adjustments!