: It sounds like a great trip Malcolm. And I've been meaning to tell you what a
: beautiful boat you built. How did you do the hatches? I notice from an
: earlier post that the bow hatch is flush - what's underneath it? (I have
: to finish the hatches in the next week on my Night Heron.)

: Thanks.
: Wes

Hello Wes,

The hatch lips were done like Valclav and Nick both suggest.

Cut out the hatch.
Get weatherstripping 1/2 the thickness of your gasket material. Use the "peel and stick" kind, and make sure it's the same width as your gasket material. Tape the weatherstrip to the hatch lip.
Wax the hatch lip and inside and outside deck. (Outside so the drips will come off.)
Tape the hatch in place with plastic packing tape. ('Glass won't stick to it.) You have to tape really good around the seams because its going to drip out some.
Use thickened epoxy to build up a "hump" around the weatherstrip so that the glass will lay over it, and also so that there will be a nice edge around the weatherstrip.
Lay up SIX layers of 'glass cloth strips all around the edges. Yep, six.
I tinted my epoxy black with tinting gel. Please note: it thins the epoxy out a lot, and it is reaaaaalllyyyy messy!!! It only takes a dab to tint a whole batch.
Once you lay it up, put saran wrap over it, and then pour wet sand on top of the saran wrap. That will press it all down evenly while it cures.
When cured, peel up the hatch lip. It may be a little flexible, but in a day or so it will cure solid. Trim it up around the edges, and scrape out the weatherstrip.
You now have a hatch lip with a recess for your gasket material. A good marine store will have really good thick black rubber weatherstrip material that you can lay in the groove left from your weatherstrip blank.
The hatch lip should be glued in with thickened epoxy AND when that dries take a syringe and squirt epoxy all around the edge and smooth it out with your finger. I didn't do this at first and that's where the hatches were leaking.
Glue the weatherstrip in with a flexible marine glue (I chose black.) *** Make sure you get the fast drying version that dries in 24 hours. I goofed and got the 7-day kind and had to go back and redo because I launched the next day. Oops. (Also use the same stuff to seal your bulkheads.)

I went out and took this picture while the kayak was still on top of the truck and still covered in salt and sand. I put the bungees back in place so you can see my bungee arrangement. This applies pressure to the top and sides of the lid, and it also matches the arrangement of the deck bungees in front of the cockpit for a nice symmetrical look. The bungees are attached using Kajak Sport deck fittings. GET THEM!!! They make rigging the deck so easy, and with black deck rigging they really set it off nicely. They are through-bolted so you can apply pressure to your rigging without worry. I had all kinds of plans for recessed rigging, but I love these things. Now look at that little plastic catch for holding the bungee. Like them? I made those from some fittings that are made to attach a cover to a dinghy. They have a tube molded into them on one end that fits through shock cord, and they are used to clip the shock cord to the rubrail of a rigid inflatable boat. I cut off that tube and drilled holes for two bolts. On the backside I used fender washers. (Much larger than regular washers to disperse the force.) Also I made a gasket out of hypalon (rubber coated PVC) so that there is no way they will leak. Of course I drilled the holes larger, filled them with epoxy, then drilled to size so there is an epoxy ring around the holes. My plan had been to make a wood catch, but these match the black rigging nicely, and no chance of them coming unglued like a wood one could.

This kayak is going to be used on some very long trips in open water, and I wanted very sturdy deck rigging and dry hatches.