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Re: Strip: Magnetic hatches and electronics - GPS
By:Steve Rasmussen
Date: 1/23/2009, 12:37 pm
In Response To: Strip: Magnetic hatches and electronics - GPS etc (Peter Bruckmann)

I have magnets on my hatches. They work great and I really like the look. My only electronics experience is with my digital camera and I have had no trouble with that (and would not expect any).
The one side effect that I had not read about had to do with sand. During my paddle on the Columbia I found that sand here has enough iron in it to be attracted to the magnets - creating a series of dots on my hatches and hatch lips.
Not a big deal, I just make sure the lip is wiped clean before sealing the hatch - something one should do anyway. The only other issue is that it turns out that 8 year old boys like to throw sand on my kayak and watch it stick on the hatches!
I covered my magnets with a thin (1/32") veneer of wood and then fiberglass on both the hatch and lip. The holding power drops off fairly quickly with increasing separation gap and I had to double up some of the magnets in the lip to get the holding force I wanted.

Steve

Messages In This Thread

Strip: Magnetic hatches and electronics - GPS etc
Peter Bruckmann -- 1/23/2009, 11:11 am
Re: Strip: Magnetic hatches and electronics - GPS
Steve Rasmussen -- 1/23/2009, 12:37 pm