Back from vacation. Hatches, pt. 1

So I took the summer completely off from RC sailboat building, and played on our real boat and did many other things. Had a great time. But it's fall now, and that's Vintage Marblehead building season!

When I left off back in June, the hull had been largely completed. The hull was painted, varnished and polished. The deck was installed.

Now it's time for the hatches. I've contemplated all summer what to do about these hatches, and came up with several possibilities, but finally settled on magnetic hold downs.

The aft hatch will have magnets on all four corners.

When the epoxy is cured, I will run strips of 1/16" wood all around the outside of the deck-side magnets. And then I'll contact cement a rim of foam around the outside of the magnets on the hatch side. Should be watertight enough, but I'm sure some water may get in on a really rough day.

The main hatch has two larger magnets on their sides. The hatch sides will also have matching magnets and will slip over the top. Should be strong enough. Again, probably not completely watertight, but few boats are.

After the hatches are installed, I'll varnish the deck and simultaneously get to work on the rig. The mast is ready, and I have two possible booms ready. Will order sails soon too. I'm in the final 15% of the build and should be sailing by the end of the month... fingers crossed. Certainly by Thanksgiving.

That's it for now! Hopefully more updates shortly. It's nice to be back to the boats.

Peace!

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