: I'm considering my first kayak to build. The Queen charlotte from Pygmy is
: appealing to me. My question is: has anyone found a watertight solution
: for hatches other then the black Valley product Pygmy sells. One of my two
: factory made boats has Valley hatches, and I know they work well, but they
: don't blend very well with a wood boat. Anyone found another solution?
: Thank you for your time..

: Bob Babin

: Minneapolis

: BobBabin@hotmail.com
Like you I find the QC to be very appealing. It was my first kayak too. I built the 19. If you build it and end up selling it don't tell anyone. Well, thats a different story. If you want to put hatches in you can mask off the area where the hatches will be and draw or trace your pattern and cut the lids out with a jig saw. Dress up the edges and seal them with epoxy as well as the edges of the deck panel. Cut out a ring of ply with a hole the same size as the hatch opening and about two inches wide and another with a hole smaller than the opening but with the same outside diameter as the first. How much smaller the opening will be will be determined by the width of gasket material. I used weather stripping from Lowes and sealed the ends together with GOOP glue. Epoxy the first ring to the underside of the deck and then the second, smaller ring to that one. Run a filet of thickened epoxy all the way around the rings. Build it up enough so that it can be sanded smooth and makes a gradual transition to the deck. Lay on a few layers of fiberglass and epoxy in place. Now for the hold downs. I don't think my set up was the most attractive but it was effective. What I did was drill down through the deck and rings at the places where my latches would be.All I did was use SS screws, SS washers and nuts and rubber O-rings. My latches were carved from Oak but I think bone would have looked better. Take a screw and put it through a latch, put on a washer and then an O-ring, put it through the deck, reach underneath and put on an O-ring, a washer and the nut. The nuts were those with the nylon inserts. I am better at doing than explaining. If you have any questions let me know.
If you are interested in "keyholing" the cockpit I can try to tell you how I did that too.