2983Hrs – Hatching Slowly But Steadily

Work on the port hull main hatch seemed to progress very slowly today. I know why, it was because I deliberately took my time to ensure that I got things right.

I have another three of these hatches to make to the same design and I know that once I’ve completed this one the others will go a lot more quickly.

I took the time to build a mock up hatch frame from softwood first so that I could test clearances and dimensions before cutting into my expensive hardwood. I’m pleased I did as I got a couple of things wrong.

By the end of the day though I’d made and temporarily fixed the hardwood locating blocks for the stainless steel tube slider and got the hardwood hatch frame constructed and glued together.

If all goes well tomorrow I’ll rout out the top of the frame to take the 9mm ply lid and get it glassed into place, that’ll see hatch #1 pretty much completed.

The photos below show the stainless slider and locating blocks:

This last photo shows the hardwood hatch frame glued and clamped: