bertram31.com

Hey all:

I have the original hatches in the cabin-- soft, 1962 plywood with a terrible vinyl floor cover. How would you rebuild them? Star Board? Pressure treated plywood?

I plan to use PlasTeak to cover them. It's important to run the hose and rinse the floor occasionally, if you ask me.

Jamie

Jamie,
The hatches in the floor are easy enough to replace, 3/4" Marine plywood with mahogany supports. I redid mine (1961express), used marine plywood with 4 coats of epoxy thinned resin, frames are 1" white oak with 4 coats of epoxy, I used some fiberglass non skid material that was left over when I was building boats and finished off with stainless steel trim I got from Taco metals.

The 2 large hatches in the salon floor sit on mahogany ledger boards that are attched to the floor supports and bulkhead tops. I found that most of the ledger boards were either loose or rotted, I replaced all the ledger boards with 1" starboard thru bolted them to the bulkheads, you will find that the hatch nearest the salon door is the worst because of years of water leaking at the bottom of the door.

If you know anyone that is building boats ask them to lay up a sheet of non-skid, GibCo is the usual supplier of non skid patterns. Starboard is not good for large areas too flexable, also very heavy and nothing will stick to it, leave the pressure treated lumber at the lumber yard.

You could also use teak & holley plywood with the exposed edges coated with epoxy. The original Nautalex floor covering material is still availible from larger marine supply houses. Good luck with the project, just take your time and think out the project step by step.
Pete Fallon

Pete:

Thanks for the advice. I wondered about the weight of the Star Board. That's helpful to know. I have some beautiful oak I can rip to make the frames. I haven't looked at the supports that closely, but the sill below the door was rotted. I just made a new one from a mahogany piano bench that I've been saving for a project.

I tried to find the white Nautilex with black stripes--it's discontinued. That's what I remember from the Bertram's I scrubbed as a kid. I'm taking my time-- here in NJ we have long winters for such projects.