Hatch Details

  I can appreciate how a boat like this is put together and I can imagine doing it reasonably well given that you get the pieces to mate together and fill gaps, fillet over corners and given some patience get things square and neat.  The hatch on the other hand is 2 moving parts that are light weight, have tight tolerances, 3 or 4 mating surfaces and a slide with a detent when it closes.  It is enough to haunt my inner handiness and at the same time inspire it.  The original builder did such a great job and in order to haunt/inspire others I thought I would post some detailed pictures of it.  Also a few people have asked about the hatch and I am at a loss to adequately describe it without pictures.  I am still debating whether I should protect it with paint.  The wood has a very nice look.  Earlier I think I posted too many pictures detailing the design of the hatch.  I think a person can go to far in publishing details of a intricate nature of someone else's intellectual property.  While nobody said anything I would certainly be happy to receive any requests should I push such boundaries.

It would be tough to paint over this hatch.  I'll just have to do the maintenance.  Notice the tolerance.  Even though the front part of the hatch is fixed it is only tied down and can be slid right off the front of the cabin top.  Here the back part of the hatch is pushed forward - opened.

A closer view of how perfectly the hatch fits the cabin top and how even the spacing is between the forward and back part of the hatch.  Both these pieces are light weight I'll have to think about how I can stow them safely.

Here you can the back part of the hatch in the closed position from the front.

Here the hatch is open and you can see the rail that the rear hatch rides on. The lip of the rear of the cabin top acts as a detent for the hatch when it is completely closed.  The hatch lifts up and over it and won't go any further.

Here you can see the rear hatch pretty much flush with the cabin top lip so the back isn't riding on the sides of the lip but you can see the hollow where the sliding surface is.