My 2 cents: fuel hatch repair

[abl1111]

I just finished repairing my fuel hatch. If ever you have to do this repair. A few words to the wise:

First, the manufact. of the hatch is poorly engineered ( as are most hatches ). They install a wood core on the bottom of the hatch. No matter how good you are w/ siliconing the screw holes that attach the hatch to the deck - water will, over time, find its way in and into the wood core which 'bleeds' it's way into the neighboring wood and 'oila - your hatch is on it's way to being shot. All manufat. needed to do, was to NOT have the plywood core be anywhere near the screw holes - the hatch would last forever. So, I replaced mine, and this as a brief description:

On a flat surface. chisel/grind out all old wood then sand fairly smooth - it does not have to be very smooth, just uniform.

Use solid A/C plywood as replacement core. I used 3/4 " and cut around the fuel inlet on the fuel tank to avoid a clearance problem. I use the 3/4 to max strength.

Most important (when you replace the core w/ ply wood, do not cut wood to fit exactly in the bare hatch area ! Short-cut the wood approximately 1 1/2" on all sides so that when you lay the wood in the hatch, it will leave a 1 1/2" area around all sides of the hatch w/ no wood !

This way, once you glass the wood in, you will then lay several add'l layers of 1 1/2" cut fiberglass ply in this edge area ( I call it the ' mote area ' ) w/out the wood. This way, this hatch will never rot again via the screw holes attaching the hatch to the deck ! If water leaks through the screw holes again, it will only find glass and not wood !