: i have a chesapeake 17, any ideas for droping the hatches flush to the decks?

My flush hatches rest on a lip under the deck opening. This lip provides a surface for a water proof gasket to seat against. The hatch covers can be held in place with deck hardware and shock cord or with magnets for an invisible holding method. The magnets work very well for flat deck/hatch covers since there is nothing for shoch cord/straps to press down on to make the gasket seal properly.

The hatch covers are cut from sections of the deck, fore and aft of the cockpit.
The lip the hatch cover rests on is made by fitting and gluing wood strips under the edge of the hatch openings. This lip is a donut shape, 1” larger than the hatch cover (gets glued under the deck) and 1” smaller (which forms the lip). Glass the underside of the lip and extend the glass 1" past the lip onto the deck underside for strength. Just coat the top surface of the wood with epoxy.

If you use magnets to hold down the hatch covers, I use four per side recessed into the lip AND hatch cover for magnet to magnet contact. This may seem like a lot of magnets (16 in all) but you have to compress your gasket so there will be a gap between the magnets. Cover the surface of the recessed magnets with a layer of 4 oz glass and resin to ensure waterproofness since they will rust if you don't. I've used this system for more than a year now and it works well.

1/2" diameter rare earth magnets are available from Lee Valley tools at:
www.LeeValley.com

All the best,

Rob Macks
Laughing Loon CC&K
www.LaughingLoon.com