[alberg30] Inspection Hatch / Deck Plate

[finnus505 at aol.com]

From: finnus505 at aol.com

In a message dated 2/27/00 7:05:47 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
Rabbit649 at AOL.com writes:

<< here is no question that any removal of material, any opening, especially 
a 
 square one with small radius corners, weakens the boat. The books say "put 
 back around the hole as much material as you remove" so 18" x 22" x 5/8" 
 gives you the amount of material you removed, and then you have to design it 
 into a lip which stiffens the opening. I've always thought the way to go is 
 to cut a triangular cross section of foam and glue it around the opening 
 underneath, then glass over heavily. Then you have a kind of sleeve around 
 the opening for the full depth of the aluminum hatch frame, which is braced 
 at a 45 degree angle up to the deck, with extra glass around the corners, 
 where forces on the sole are likey to concentrate. Wish I could send a 
 drawing. Can you visualize what I mean?
     What do you think?
 Regards,
 Paul
 #23 Ashwagh
 
 Hi Paul,
Your replacement of the glass from the cut-out definitely will be strong!!! I 
found that since the cut out I made in the forward end of the cockpit had 
it's margins so close to the corners of the cockpit sole, the L shape, of 
where the sole meets the vertical walls of the cockpit, is rigid enough that 
no extra reinforcement seemed necessary. However, the aft margin of the 
cutout, did flex when i stood on the sole, and so I through bolted a nice 
stiff 2 x4 athwartships, an inch or so aft of the cutout. Spanning the width 
of the sole as it does, it stiffened up the area considerably, and I feel the 
sole is as strong now as it was before, and the access hatch does not 
compromise the structure of the boat.
When I was done cuting out the hole for the hatch, the cut surface of the 
masonite core had seperated from the laminate in a couple of places, probably 
from the vibration of the sawsall.  With 20-20 hindsight, I realized I shoud 
have changed the blade more frequently, as the heavy glass laminate dulled 
the blade fast, and the dull blade made the vibration.  I let GitRot, a 
thinned epoxy, soak into the 'end grain' of the masonite, to reunite it with 
the fiberglass laminate, and to make it waterproog once the hatch was 
installed. The hatch is bedded in silicone caulking, so theoreticaly, no 
water should reach this end of the masonite, but we both know, on a boat, 
water eventualy gets everywhere.
Hope this helps,
Lee
Stargazer #255

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