The hatches are on their way. Abouve is a video of me testing the waterproofness of one of the hatches.
No leaks not one drip even after 5 houers filled with water. In the video the hatch is upside down.
The hatches have taken a long time building, but for me this is part of a seawrthy boat. Together with the ventilation system and the well built boat this ensures that no water can enter the boat wathever the conditions even with the boat upside down. To have a boat that is always dry gives peace of mind, no reason to worry about storms, you know your boat can handle any weather.
Below are pictures.
The mold for the coaming is made from styrofoam.Starting to build the mold for the part of the hatch that will hold the gasket.The mold done and waxed.The idea is that the gasket is not glued in placed. It just fits very tightly. Therefore no problem of changing the EPDM-gasket made of foam. The disadvantige in production no release angle of the moald. The mold is only good for one piece.Now the hatch is getting nearly ready, the Divinycell is laminated with NM-epoxy. The corners are being reinforced with carbon fiber to hold the clamp down screws. The gascet is in place covered with a Nylon vacuum bag to prevent NM-epoxy to fill the place where it lives.I am doing oversize bronze nuts to help align the gaffs that takes the M8 clamp down screws.One of the gaffs being aligned.To make sure that the bottom of the gasket holder is flat I have poured a bit of NM-epoxy in the holder. Nothing is as flat as hardened NM-epoxy.Fitting and laminating the inner coaming of the aft hatch.
Hopefully more about the hatches will be on this website to make it more clear.
