After a six-month hiaitus away from the garage, I finally made my hatch lips last weekend - 1/2" magnets, and the recessed gasket channel a'la Vaclav. Time will tell how well it seals, but with the recessed gasket, there should be minimal separation between the magnets. I did put patches of 4 oz glass over the magnets, though, to protect them from abrasion & keep them from popping out of the epoxy. You can't go wrong with John's sequence of pics on this procedure.

John - I followed along in your footsteps, and everything came together nicely. I did have a few more wrinkles (compared to your nice pics) in my "mold release" plastic sheet, though, after placing the sacrificial gasket around the edge of my egg-shaped hatch. So the wrinkles transferred into the epoxy & had to be scraped out.

Hopefully this arrangement will be adequate for day-paddling, but if I do any extended tripping, I'll have my deck fittings arranged so I can throw a couple of straps over the hatches, for extra security.

: I did magnets (1/2" diameter) in combination with Vaclav's sealing
: arrangement on my Return. This works well to get the magnet's close
: together - too close, it turns out. Because of rubbing during lots of road
: miles, the epoxy over the magnets worn, allowing water to get to the
: magnets. Nothing rusts faster than magnets!

: In my King, I'm going to use magnets, but cover them with .75 oz glass to
: give them more protection. I'm also going to forget about Vaclav's cool
: "inlaid" gasket concept and go with foam on the lid sealing
: against the edge of the hatch lip. I think this combo will be easier to
: build, just as dry, and protect the magnets such that I won't have to
: replace them like I did on the Return.

: jrs