repaired hatch finished

After a lot of dithering, we do now have the rotten plywood in the cockpit hatch cover finished now. The SP expoxy coating on the inside is just curing. It was an interesting experience doing this as it is a very long time since I have tried any sort of carpentry and I have never worked with the modern epoxy stuff.

Essentially, as described earlier, I chiseled out the rotten ply and then cut a new piece of ply to fit and glued it in. Things were complicated a bit by my managing to break one of the edge pieces off and the end product is not therefore quite as good as it might have been. At least I know what to do for the next one. My error was not to ensure that the facing teak and edging pieces were both well bonded and sealed from the inside. Quantities of the expoxy seeped through which has made the outside not quite as neat as it might be.

The SP epoxy is fascinating stuff and is able to take almost any form you need depending on what you add to it. Most of my stuff has been done as a glue with microfibers added but there was also a lot of filling to do with the microballoons and finally I have done a varnish type coating on the plywood with no additives at all. If this last bit is a success, I may thing about using it on all our brightwork.