Advice on Fabricating a New Companionway Hatch ?

[theclimbings]

My wife and I are trying to fabricate a new hatch for a previously abandoned sailboat now in our possession. The boat is a 1971 Hunter 30. It currently has neither companionway hatch nor rails. We are considering making a simple cantered hatch out of plywood and fiberglass and then making rails from brick molding. Any comments, suggestions or advice would be great!

[cabo_sailor]

I would suggest you google Don Casey "This Old Boat", an excellent reference book. I believe he details a project on fabricating the hatch you need. Another reference would be to contact the folks at the magazine "Good Old Boat" they have reported on numerous projects of this sort. And finally, although a long shot, you might contact Hunter to inquire whether they can be of assistance.

Rich

[capngeo]

I've made them out of Starboard with good success

[minaret]

See if you can find the same model boat in your area and borrow their hatch so you can pull a mold off of it. Then you can see what the original setup looks like and reproduce it as well.

[sanjuanman]

I purchased a Venture 21 a few years back and being a trailerable boat, it was only a matter of time before the hatch blew off on I-5... I ended up making a wood mold for it that I then layed it up with 7 layers of mat... not too hard but would have been way better to borrow someone else's hatch for a mold. ...the drop boards are super easy... the hardest part was getting the proper curve of the cabin top... but hard was relative on this job.

[James S]

Its been a while since I've messed with any brick mold, but back then it was pretty much all finger jointed from soft wood...IMO not good stuff for a marine environment.
Why is the companion way missing?

[Patrick_DeepPlaya]

Originally Posted by cabo_sailor

I would suggest you google Don Casey "This Old Boat", an excellent reference book. I believe he details a project on fabricating the hatch you need. Another reference would be to contact the folks at the magazine "Good Old Boat" they have reported on numerous projects of this sort. And finally, although a long shot, you might contact Hunter to inquire whether they can be of assistance.

Rich

If you go to Amazon and "Look Inside" that book, the hatch cover in the book is a canvas cover for a hatch, not a new fiberglass\wood turtle.

check the index and pages 407(blocked) and 408 in the results of a query on hatch: Amazon.com: This Old Boat (9780071579933): Don Casey: Books

-p