This evening when I got home from work I was able to give the hatch lips their final adjustments and epoxy them in place. All that remains to do on the hatch lips is to laminate a little fiberglass cloth at each seam to make them one solid piece. This is a HUGE milestone, as it is the last fiberglass that I have to apply to the Ronan.

EDIT: I’m going to have to wait a couple of days to finish the hatches. The weather is pretty good for the next couple of days, so I am going to have to mow the property after work instead of working on the Ronan.

Then a little cleanup with fine sandpaper and a light coat of epoxy over all to make them pretty. That’s it! Well, almost it. After the finish work, the hatch lips get a foam strip all the way around to create a watertight seal between the lip and the lid. But I am going to wait until I have finished sanding and varnishing the entire kayak before I do that. The foam will happen at the same time as the deck rigging. The only construction steps that remain are the “end pours.” I am not sure when I will be able to do those, as they are weather dependent. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I need two dry, warm (over 55 degrees F) days to do the end pours, because the kayak must be taken outside to stand on end (probably strapped to a ladder) until the epoxy cures, in order to create a solid epoxy plug in each end of the kayak so that I can drill 1/2″ holes for the hand toggles and perimeter lines and not have any leaks.

Hatch lid spacers installed. I also cut the half-round pieces that will live on the hatch covers to provide a elevated surface for the tie down straps to ride on. These will allow the straps to provide enough pressure on the hatch lids to create a good seal against the foam that will eventually go on the hatch lip. The next step will be to install the hatch lips themselves, and to glue the half-round pieces onto the hatch covers.