Cracked Storage Hatch

DavidPJ

On the underside of my storage area hatch there is a crack along the entire width of the cover. The crack appears to be a seam that joins the thin outer fiberglass edge with fiberglass on the back of the cover. I wish I had a picture to show because I'm probably not describing this very well. Walking on the cover is a little soft towards the rear of the cover where it's cracked. I'm thinking of using 3M 5200FC to glue the edge in place. Has anyone encountered this problem with their Hurricane? Is it possible to buy a replacement hatch? Thanks.

cjjjdeck

David also posted this in another forum.  I just figured I'd post my response for the benefit of this forum as well:

Reading about your situation made me think what I might do. This might be an alternative.

There's a product called King Starboard which is a great marine environment material made of a polyethylene. It's available in a variety of sheet sizes and thicknesses (1/4" to 1"). Working with it is like working with wood. It can be cut and shaped with pretty much any woodworking tools. If all else fails in your hatch repair attempt, you may consider laminating a layer of this material to the underside of the hatch. Although polyethylene can be stubborn to bond to other materials, King's FAQ section on their website does cautiously recommend some adhesives and the method for preparation (some two sided heavy duty tapes may also work). They actually prefer you to use a physical connection (bolting or screwing it together) over a bonding method (hey, maybe both!), but using this material would give you a permanent solution, it's very strong.

The other way, if you're more adventurous and handy with tools, is to make a new hatch completely out of this material and replace the damaged one. Frankly, any competent cabinet maker could make it and it would be a piece of cake for them since your original is still sound to copy from. Starboard can be a bit pricey, but it will never have to be replaced, so shop it around.

Maybe someone on the forum has worked with or used this material to comment further.

Here's some links that might be helpful:

King Plastics FAQ page
[link]http://www.kingplastic.com/info-center/faq/[/link]

A King Starboard Supplier (there's plenty more)
[link=http://www.tapplastics.com/product/p...FSUTNAodNWcAtw]http://www.tapplastics.co...uct/p...FSUTNAodNWcAtw[/link]

Just something to consider if you haven't thought of it already.

Good luck!