: I've done 7 kayaks with mostly Valley hatches and one with Kajak
: sport. I drill out the bolt indentations and epoxy them in after
: roughing up the glue surface. After that hardens, I flood the
: top surface area with blackened epoxy that fills the bold holes
: and actually creates epoxy rivets. When it's done it looks like
: the lip assembly was molded in the boat. As far as removing the
: lip? Why? They never go unless your boat gets smashed in some
: freak accident. For a cheaper deal, you can use Plastic Beckson
: hatches wich i used on one boat and they were totally dry. I
: used the pry out type and put a little grab loop of line so I
: wouldn't need a tool. Don't use the screw in type - they can
: warp and catch sand too and lock up. It's not easy to make 100%
: water tight wood hatches and I value that.

: http://www.outer-island.com/Kajakhatch.html

I really like rubber hatches, even with screws , I even like my NDK rubber hatches. I don't though like the price. They are as someone mentioned a bit tricky to remove the covers when they are new though. Btw, those on my NDK Greenlander are now 14 years old and still going strong. Coating them frequently with FP303 (or it's equal) does wonders for their life. Meguires makes a product that I can't remember the name of (comes in a red bottle) that does the same thing and is about 1/3 the cost, find at your auto parts store.

Bill H.