: I'm getting ready to glass the top deck of my Guillemot L, my first kayak
: (which looks totally awesome so far), and was wondering if anyone out
: there has tried alternative methods for cutting cargo hatches than those
: Nick discusses in his book? Specifically I was wondering how a Dremel
: tool, or some other kind of spiral cutter would work if you used a very
: small downward spiral cutting bit. I've used RotoZip cutters before for
: less precise cuts (not on kayaks), and they work good, but I don't know if
: they would work in this application. I'm worried because my kayak has a
: lot of detail that all converges in both the areas I want to install my
: hatches, so there is no room for a mistake. Thanks for your help.

The difficulty with the rotary type cutter (rotozip, dremel tool, etc.) is that the cut tends to wander because of the circularity of the cutting. If you practice enough, on a similar surface, I think you might feel confident enough to make your hatch covers. I think the other concern you might have would be the size of the cut...the blade width of say a jig saw or something similar would probably be much thinner than the thinnest drill bit blade of a rotozip or dremel tool...which translates into a better seal for your compartments.

In the long run, I think Nick's book is still a very good guide in spite of the advances in cutting tool technology since it was published. The toughest part is getting the cut started...not only because it's precise work, but also because it's that first intentional hole being drilled into a perfectly fine deck... good luck with your project! I wish I was building!!!

Cruz, W.F.