Capedory 28 construction at hatches

[Pembquist]

I have to rebed my hatches but I am thinking of just replacing the hatch above the salon with a new larger one. Why? All of the screw holes have cracks radiating out from them which have to be fixed, (I suspect maybe on a previous rebed someone used bigger screws and didn't chamfer the gelcoat if that makes sense,) it is a smaller hatch than the forward one, by the time I get into replacing the gasket and acrlylic and painting the casting a brand new hatch looks pretty competitive.. The molding of the cabin liner and cabin roof are identical for the forward and aft hatches which suggests to me that maybe hatch size was an option. My question is does anyone know what the construction at the hatches is like. Is the deck solid in the entire molded recess where the hatch is located. It would be pretty easy to run a router with a panel bit to cut the right size opening but I would not want to find an exposed balsa core by surprise. If cutting the opening would expose a core I assume that I would cut it back past where the hatch flange would go and fill in with epoxy but this makes leaving things as they are more attractive. Does anyone know what the construction is in this area? Does anyone have a CD28 where the hatches are the same size. Any problem with a bigger hatch at this location? Thoughts?

[Jim Walsh]

I presume the CD28 and CD31 have similar midship hatch installations. This is what I found when I removed and rebedded my midship hatch. http://www.capedory.org/board/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=34245
A replacement hatch of equal quality is very expensive. Prepare yourself for sticker shock.

[Pembquist]

Well, I was thinking 400 to 600 but at 1000+ for a Bomar the same as my forward hatch I think I will be refurbishing the little hatch.