Well, I can tell you what I did, as I just rebuilt them about 2 mos ago. When I got my 1981 Baba 30, the propane locker lid was in very sad shape. The plywood insert was decaying. The prev owner reinforced the plywood with some 1/8th inch beadboard from home depot. Needless to say this was not very effective. I removed the hatch and unscrewed the beadboard. The underlying plywood peeled off in layers. What was left I chiseled out with a large wood chisel. The overlying teak was bedded in black poly. I used a disk sander to sand away all of this just to the teak. The frame of the hatch has a dado all the way around the circumference that I cleaned out with a chisel and a dremel tool. Upon inspection, I found that a few of the corner joints were loose. Rather than dissasemble the whole thing, I used a thin saw blade to clean out the joint of the old glue and expose fresh wood. Then after taping off the surrounding wood I used West epoxy to reglue the joints and then clamped them up to dry. It took several glue
 sessions to get the joinst completely filled because the epoxy would settle as it cured. Once the joints were glued and sanded I made a posterboard template of the cavity where the plywood insert goes. 3/8 inch marine plywood fills the bill here. I cut this on my table saw for the straight edges and freehanded the curved edge with a jigsaw ( took two trys to get it right!) The original plywood had multiple stainless screws securing it to the overlying teak decking thoughout the field of the plywood. I did not do this but I may go back to do it. At first I thought they were just in place of clamping but now after I repaired the lazarette cover in the same way I feel that they also provide strength by unifying the plywood to the teak decking because the lazarette cover has more flex than I would like when standing on it.

After the plywood was cut and dry fit, I trowled a coat of silkaflex into the field of the hatch just up to the edges of the frame dado. In dado I used more West epoxy around the whole edge. Then I put the plywood insert in and clamped up the whole thing. (Lots of clamps, but if I were to do it again I might consider using the small stainless screws throught the field as was done originally) On the top side it is important to look at the caulking in the seams. And that has lost it's grip on the wood should be replaced. Luckily for me most was in good shape except for the seams of the joints that were loose. I cleaned out these with a bent flat bladed screwdriver and repayed them with more deck joint compound. They blend in perfectly.

When I did my lazarette cover, the removal of the plywood was not so easy, as it was in better shape. I used a router here with a flat bottomed bit and made multiple passes with it removing a little at a time. Messy with dust and chips but effective.

I thought long and hard about how to do this. I was quoted $50 and hour x 4-5 hours to do this by a professional.

Good luck!

Steve
S/V James Henry

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Received on Thu May 12 18:04:00 2005