once again i must ask the v20 gods

W

wellcraftv20step

Senior Member
i have a starboard cover over my gas tank installed by the previous owner . now i find that no caulk will stick to statboard to bridge the gap between the gelcoat deck and the starboard, so now i am going to make a hatch from scratch, my question is can i wrap the fiberglass material over the 3/4 edge of the plywood or do i need to cut strips for that , or do i need to ease or round this over to some degree ? and how much of a gap must i leave so that when i wrap the wood with the fiberglass and the several coats of resin and gelcoat that it still lays in without being to tight. thanks for your help in advance . john,
 
If you want to get fancy with it make a mold to the exact outside demensions you want. Molds can be made from plywood laminated with formica use modeling putty for the radius and bend the formica for the radius corners . Glass the shell, add the core and glass the core gelcoat before or after for a factory like hatch. Lots of work and $$$ is the downside. Otherwise you laminate your precut plywood, leaving the plywood a bit smaller than your desired finished size (say 1/2" smaller than your opening)and work to it with glass and grinding. The top side radius and the corners of the lid will take the most time. You will not be able to make a tight radius with 1208 or any other multi-layer fabric IMO. You will need to do it with multiple layers of matt and hardware cloth. A 1/4" or less roundover bit on a router for the top edge all the way around would look nice and can be glassed without cutting into strips. You have to be creative on the corners sometimes. Wellcraft used a chopper gun on the liner and hatches, matt is close to the same when finished. Multi-layer fabric is great for the top and bottom. Be mindful of the thickness at the edge, Wellcraft did not run the core all the way to the edge on my boat. Measure the distance from the deck to the lip where the hatch will rest. It is probably only 3/4", meaning by the time you glass your 3/4" plywood on both sides your installed height will be higher than the rest of your deck. After you get the glassing done is no time to discover you have to grind it down to make it fit. BTW - NOT A GOD, bilge boy maybe. If you go for it post up some pictures.
 
hey ridge , thanks for the reply. i have no choice but to take on this project do you think i should double the plywood , not up to the supporting lip of course. but just to give the hatch more strength by having more density, and if so what should i use to join them together. and . it will be the last piece of the year long project, mymac helped me with re gelcoating the deck. i just wish i figured this before i gel coated the deck
 
I wouldn't double up. The fiberglass will serve to strengthen the plywood. Then the hatch gets screwed down and caulked in place. All of which makes it very sturdy. Do you have the cuddy or the center console?
 
after you get the hatch the way you want it, when you go to fasten it down, lay a couple of the foam noodles(cut to fit) across on the tank straps. i did this on mine and it cut down on the flex the will eventually lead to failure of the glass. it is good if it has to compress a little.
 
Core = Plywood. If you go to the trouble of building a mold what you make is the female version so when you lay the glass in you are really making the topside of your lid. Like they build hulls from molds. Gelcoat,Glass,stringers or core, More glass. You might want to look into some of the ready made fiberglass or composite panels. I never priced them but I have seen them online. Then you need only worry about sealing the edges and fitment. Depending on what you can find you could use some fiberglass tape and a minimal amount of materials.
 
gas hatch

After getting advice from Ridge and phat i decided to go for a completely new build of my 34"x35". gas tank hatch. so today i built the mold for hatch out of MDF it was actually very simple to do, i have a question regarding Duratec. i understand it is applied after i have waxed and sprayed the mold with PVA. is the Duratec meant to adhere to the first coat of Mat or is it also just to keep the Mat from sticking to the mold? and do i even need to use Duratec .. i will try to get molding putty and all the other supplts this weekend. And yes i know this thread is useless with out pics. i will be taking pics of my rebuild. thanks guys,
 
no clue on the pva and duratec BUT if you have the clearance, a couple of 2" ribs made from ply strips glassed on the bottom on edge will REALLY stiffen the hatch.
 
yeah I got that.... I'm talking about a couple ribs in addition the the core glassed to the bottom of the hatch..... makes the difference between little flex and no flex
 
wellcraftv20step said:
After getting advice from Ridge and phat i decided to go for a completely new build of my 34"x35". gas tank hatch. so today i built the mold for hatch out of MDF it was actually very simple to do, i have a question regarding Duratec. i understand it is applied after i have waxed and sprayed the mold with PVA. is the Duratec meant to adhere to the first coat of Mat or is it also just to keep the Mat from sticking to the mold? and do i even need to use Duratec .. i will try to get molding putty and all the other supplts this weekend. And yes i know this thread is useless with out pics. i will be taking pics of my rebuild. thanks guys,
Click to expand...

PVA is the stuff that prevents things from sticking. Once your mold is built, wax the surface to make it slick, spray the PVA (mold release agent). The next application is the first thing you will see when you pop your hatch out of the mold. A guy on Classicseacraft.com used Duratec in place of gellcoat. It came out great. It would go PVA, Duratec, mat, reinforcement glass, core and more glass. The gent applied the Duratec and let it get tacky before he started to lay in the mat. He also had help because he was working on a large section (the entire sole)
 
I forgot who it was but they made a cover out of that plastic lumber that they use for decks, looked real nice!
On my Sea Ox I had to remove the cover to fix gas tank when I bought it, its a huge cover!! I say about 3 feet buy 6 feet, I call it the coffin as that's what it looks like (110 gal) Sea Ox used PVC pipe cut in half glassed under the cover to help with flex, floor is solid!
 
Again thanks for the help guys. I got it now Ridge, Duratec = primer. I think the gent you mentioned was Strick, what a talented guy. I still however am not sure about the molding clay, dues it get rock hard or do i need to press gently as i use the roller to remove the air bubbles? and i think i might use the factory grey color gelcoat that i have left over from redoing the rest of the deck this past summer. Cant wait to see how this comes out. thanks ,
 
If you can use the gelcoat that would be great. The modeling clay needs to be glassed over gently. It is tougher than you think. Yes, Strick definitely has skills.. Any updates?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top