Re: adding hatch to casting deck
You can buy the hatches allready made. You can buy just the hatch, or a boxed-in assembly. There are so many places that make them, I'm sure you can get any size/ shape, if you shop-around enough. And I know what you mean about inefficiant usage of space. My project boat has 13" of space currently covered-over topside, with two boxed-in floation chambers underneath. Needless to say, they are getting ripped-out, once I get back there.<br /><br />But be carefull with where you place them, as you do not want defeat structural elements of the design. A boat hull will (and must) flex underway. But you don't want to change this by making it flex too easily, or too stiffly.<br />And therein, lies the rub. Few of us backyard boat builders are structural engineers. So what I do is ask myself what a hole would do to the strength, before I make it. Then, I get a second opinion from the guys I werk with, and a third from the group here. This place is digi-gold! I'll even bet there are a couple structural engineers, with project boats in thier garages.
