happy life skills foundation wrote:
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> West Wight Potter Website at URL
> http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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> i like judy's idea about hatch boards vs. the silly table. i mean, the
> table's cute and it works but where the hell do you stow it when not in
> use and yes it barely keeps the rain out! (believe me i know here in
> eugene oregon where the slugs hold up traffic on a regular basis!)
>
> so judy, what are you using for material for your hatch boards? any info
> in this way i'd be interested in.
>
> and everybody, where do you all stow the stock hatch?
>
> Ken Silverman
Ken, What really annoyed me about the stock hatch board was that it was so
awkward to stow anywhere. Add to that, that it was practically useless in
the way of water tightness and security, and hatch boards start to look
really good.
I made mine from top grade 1X10 redwood. It is very light and rot resistant,
and looks beautiful with coats of varnish. You need to install side strips
(just like the the little strips for the stock board), very simple, drill
through the glass adjacent to the hatch sides and screw from the back. I put
a soft weather strip type seal on the bottom of each board (not the foam
stuff), and nailed a .75 x .062 anodized aluminum extrusion (using aluminum
tacks through pre-drilled .062 dia. holes), overlapping half and half,
acting as water and wind baffles. So far I am very pleased with the results.
I still need to provide some kind of a pocket to stow them in, but that will
be no problem. The boards will also easily be converted to a table by laying
across the cockpit seats. it is very nice also to be able to have the hatch
partially open by removing one or more boards. I am going to provide a means
of locking all the boards together into a nice tight unit. The final
appearance looks very nautical and shipshape, as opposed to looking like the
door to a kid's tree house. :-)
Hey, different strokes.....
Regards: Bernie Johnson