: Hi Ian,

: Go to Workshop then scroll down to hatches.

: Bill H.

Gentlemen, I am sorry to keep dragging you back here but I am not getting this hatch seal thing. I have already read Kurt's and One Ocean Kayak's sites which are excellent and I re-read them again and they make perfect sense to me. What's not to understand about peel-and-stick weather stripping with a tapered face for better sealing. I understand it - - until I read this post made by someone a few weeks ago - -

"Perfect material to form the channel. It's a silicone rubber strip that is self adhesive on one side. I ordered the exact size I wanted for the channel from McMaster-Carr. The self adhesive pulled right off the packing tape I used to protect the inside of my hatch and then the silicone rubber stretches and releases from the channel leaving a perfect trench for your gasket. It is also dense enough that it won't deform when you press down on it when packing glass around and on top of it"

This post raises several questions. The first questions are - it sounds like the silicone strip is being used as a form to lay up glass for it to fit into? How is this possible, there would be no place for the silicone to expand to when compressed to form a seal. How could it compress within a rigid glass structure ?

And to make matters even more confusing I have another post where someone is saying how difficult it is to find two different sizes of stripping that will fit together?? Why would one need two different sizes?? Unfortunately, the more I read the more confuseder I get:(((

Thank you for your patience
Randy