: Hi All ~ I am in the process of starting my Outer Island build and
: was wondering what others think of inspection ports/deck plates
: to be used as deck hatches? I have one in my rowing shell and it
: works great. I plan to use the OI mostly for day paddles, so
: don't need to store a lot of stuff in the hull. I want the port
: to be large enough to sneak my hands into for deck-to-hull
: bonding. I used Kurt Maurer's technique for holding down the
: hatches on my just finished One Ocean Kayak Sport, and I like
: it, but it sure would be nice to simplify the process!
: I would love to hear others' comments, pros and cons. Thanks for
: your time.
: Kyle

My rule of thumb is that for any hatch apart from a day hatch is that you need to be able to fit your head through the opening. It helps when trying to find that small bag of tent pegs and ensures that you've got an opening large enough to be useful. Since your mostly using this boat for day paddles maybe this advice isn't as important but I'd still say that hatch openings should be big enough to fit your head (plus an arm) through for when your doing the deck to hull bonding, it makes getting to those hard to reach spots at the ends that much easier. That said a friend of my was doing some repair work on the inside of his fibreglass boat through a small hatch and used a video camera streaming live to a tv so he could see what he was doing.

One other thing, whatever way you go make sure that there is some way of attaching the hatch to the boat. Some of the ready made hatches don't float and losing one in any sort of swell can be pretty dangerous.

Finally a few boat builders use those Valley Canoe Products style hatches. They look alright (if you like black rubber), seem pretty watertight and seem to be pretty easy to install. I've got to admit I'm leaning towards that type of hatch on my next build.