: 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.

There is little room on any kayak for a mistake when cutting the hatches and I think it scares even the very experienced builders a little. Scared me alot

I agree, the RotoZip's cut will be awfully wide leaving a gap much bigger than you'd want on a detailed deck.

I did drill a series of small holes and opened them up with knives, files etc. so I could avoid the plunge cut. I too had some detail to cut thru and didn't want to risk what a plunge cut can do.

Bill H.