Finished with the GlassTech hatch repairs

[In Memory of Vicroy]

Finished up last night and they came out better than new.....many thanks to Capt. Patrick for the guidance and Terry Frank for the gasket material.

If any of the Faithful plan to tackle this project, let me know, I learned a few tricks along the way. And those with glass hatches, check them now, 'cause if the gasketing is gone they will rattle holes in the underside and once water gets in the core, its a major job to dry and repair.....I had one 22" square hatch that I had to dig about 50% of the core out of.

UV

[Craig Mac]

I am on my second glass tech deck----I had similar problems with the first---in my case i suspect that from factory hatches were ground down for high points so hatches fit flush with deck----but were actually ground thru the glass and just painted.

in addition, there was water intrustion due to the hatch handles, which were not properly bedded.

these were both factory problems, also when deck was installed some of the screws used to hold deck down were not properly sealed as well.

[In Memory of Vicroy]

Yeah, I saw that too, a few of my hatches looked like the corners had been ground down. I dug all the rot out, broke out the thin underside glass over the voids, let it dry good, put a coat of unthickened epoxy on, then the Vermiculite & epoxy filler right over that. The Vermiculite will never rot. The trick to the Vermiculite is to use small batches so you can get it real coarse but still have all the particles wet with epoxy. I was mixing up about a quart in volume at a time and that was about the most you can work with before it gets too stiff to stir good, even before it kicks.

Patrick told me to spread the mixed Vermiculite & epoxy out in a thin sheet - say on your wife's good cookie sheets - while you are working with it and it will slow down the kick time. I been married to the same Bride for almost 41 years and one reason is i don't use her good cookie sheets for glass work......Anyway, using the sloooooow 209 hardener and mixing about a quart or less volume at a time, it's not an issue to have it kick off before you can get it in place.

The simple way to see if you have water in the hatch cores is to grind the paint off, look at it, the wet sections are dark....then sound it with a hammer and it ain't hard to tell what's sound and what's rotten. Clink vs. Thudddddddddddd, speaking of rotten.

UV