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I need to replace the bow locker wooden hatch on my 1973 SPORT 13. The original hatch blew off while trailering. To my understanding, the original bow hatches were made of marine plywood with a with mahogany veneer.

I am looking for a new material which will require less maintenance and be more affordable.

Q1: would a bow hatch made from 0.75-inch-thick KING StarBoard, an HDPE plastic, be as strong as mahogany plywood?

Q2: what is a source for affordable 0.75-inch-thick HDPE plastic sheet?

Q3: what alternative material or wood would be better for making a replacement hatch for a SPORT 13?

Thanks

Ray Martin of Martin Marine Design offers KING StarBoard hatches with non-skid. Give him a call.

http://www.martinmarinedesign.com

thum wrote:The original hatch blew off while trailering.

Many years ago I bought a used 1976 SPORT 15. The bow locker hatch was not the original hatch. The hatch was just held in place by gravity; there was no retaining mechanism. I always thought the OEM hatch must have been lost while trailering.

A bow locker hatch made of wood is the most appropriate for a classic 13-footer. A hatch could be made from wood material such as tongue-and-groove flooring planks. Coating the wood with epoxy will make it completely waterproof. Coating the epoxy with varnish will give it UV protection. Wood with epoxy and varnish finish becomes very durable, almost like a piece of plastic instead of wood.

The replacement hatch on my SPORT 15 was made from three boards. On the underside there were two narrow boards running at a right angle to the fore-and-aft boards of the hatch, and these underside boards held the whole assembly together with countersunk screws. Those two boards were at the front and back edges and helped position the hatch in the deck opening.

I made a replacement hatch for my c.1970 13-footer with a solid piece of varnished teak board. The varnished teak hatch board looked great.

I have always thought the hatch should have been a teak plank as used for the thwart seats and not from plywood.

Solid teak is the most attractive cover. Unfortunately the hatch cover on our 13 is plywood. I often remind myself to get a solid replacement but so far lacked sufficient motivation because the plywood does well.

I don't know if it was part of the original design but our cover has a small pad eye mounted near the underside of the leading edge. There is a matching pad eye mounted on the forward vertical bulkhead of the locker. A light bungee cord connects the two eyes keeping the cover from flying away. To remove the cover requires lifting it high enough to get a hand on the cord and unhook it from the eye.

Jefecinco wrote:I don't know if it was part of the original design but our cover has a small pad eye mounted near the underside of the leading edge. There is a matching pad eye mounted on the forward vertical bulkhead of the locker.

My 1973 13-footer's bow hatch has this same pad eye.

Q4: what is the model year [of the 13-footer mentioned above with pad eyes for retaining the bow hatch cover]?

I [now plan to make] a wooden hatch. Wood seems easy to work with.

Wood should be fairly maintenance free if I use a quality wood. A wood hatch preserve the classic feel of the boat.

I'll make a trip to the lumber shop next week. I believe wood prices will be lower at a lumber store than prices at Home Depot.

Thomas

thum wrote:Wood should be fairly maintenance free if I use a quality wood.

There are no wood species that will be free from maintenance if the wood is exposed to fresh water and sunshine.

Our Sport 13 is a 1981 model.