JEM Watercraft

After installing the weather proofing as a gasket, would it be a ggod idea to add, say, some silicone grease to the wood on the mating surface?

Mmmm........not sure KJ. Maybe someone can answer that for me too. Would that be to prevent the outer side of the rubber sticking where you DONT want it?......as rubber can have a habit of doing.

Kayak Jack wrote:After installing the weather proofing as a gasket, would it be a ggod idea to add, say, some silicone grease to the wood on the mating surface?

I would not do that. When the hatch is off, then all kinds of sand, grit & garbage would get into the thin layer of grease, not to mention that you would get the grease on your sleeves and arms and hands when ever you are putting things in or getting them out of your hatch.

Depending on how you are holding your hatches down and compressing the weather stripping, you should get a good seal. Mine are held down with 1" nylon straps and those quick release buckles, so I can get good compression. A hinged hatch might take some planning to get good compression with out putting a lot of load on the hinge. I remember somebody on the build pages used hinges on their hatch, but cant think of who it was at the moment..

DM

When I built the Freedom I turned the rear bulkhead into a hatch and it was hinged at the bottom. It is located under the rear deck of the boat but I still lined it with some , thin , foam tape as a precaution.

The kayak I have that the short ( African ) folks make kits ( here in the USA) for has two hatches in it , one forward and one aft. They are lined with the foam tape and strapped down. I have paddled it threw all day rains and even had water come over the deck and never have gotten a drop of water in there.
It even rode home on the top of the vehicle at 60 mph in a two hour drive with heavy rain all the way and still never got a drop of water in there.

Chuck.

Some pics of my hatches, they have worked well in some bad water and
storms , kept my gear dry and took on no water.
I saturated the lips I put in then used rubber (not foam ) stripping with adhesive backing on it, One tip start and stop your stripping at the highest point.
Ron

Great tips and ideas guys.......Thanks.
I've been mightly frustrated this weekend by not being able to do much.
Had to catch up on a few chores around the house that have been rather neglected in the past couple of months....not too hard to guess why!
The upside is that it's given me time to absorb your input and help me decide how to approach the next step.
Cheers.

Another idea that seems appealing is to apply a bead of silicone silastic as a gasket on one mating surface. While it is still wet, place plastic wrap (Saran wrap) over the other surface and lightly press them together. Allow the silicone to fully cure and separate it.

For an even better gasket, I would mark the hatch and the surface where it rests. One gasket would be on the hatch cover, and one on the mating surface. They would have 1/8"-1/4" separation.

More difficult than simply adding WX stripping.

Oh - and tether the hatch so it doesn't blow away.

It seems like ages since I made any progress on this.
Tied up with home maintenance stuff ........ work ......
and a bloody head cold
Anyway...... the rear deck and hatch is taking shape.

Aft deck and hatch finished apart from final cleanup and a couple of coats of varnish....


Starting on the forward deck.....hopefuly won't have too many delays now and can get a wriggle on.....

A few update pics.

End pour.



I'll be putting a grab handle on the forward deck (same as the one on aft deck) but didn't want the deck to take all the weight when lifting. My solution was to run these cross pieces across the bow, glued below the inwales. The handle will be attached by bolts running through the deck to these cross pieces.



Forward deck installed and stained prior to glassing.
I was a bit disappointed with the look of the my internal fibreglassing (will get it better on the next build )so have painted the interior. I quite like the look of the stained wood against the olive green.