Classic hatch?????

[ky-donzi]

Hello I have searched a few threads about replacement hatches. There seems to be a few people that were making them at one time or another. Does anyone out there still make hatchs? I have a 98' classic and would like to do a few mods over winter, and cutting my hatch is total out of the question. I wouldn't mind cutting a aftermarket one tho.

Please Advise.

[TXDONZI]

Same here....I would like second hatch too. That and a set of white seats like in the Shelby or Aronow Edition.

[gcarter]

I have one with a scoop already in it, bigger than the AE though.
I may be interested in getting rid of it.

[ky-donzi]

Gcarter

Could you email me my email is

reida.davis@kctcs.edu

Thanks

[Madcow]

3 weeks ago I had a 79 and an 81 18 classic in my garage at the same time. The hatches were not even close to being interchangable. My only advise would be check first.

[Jamesbon]

Keep checking ebay and craigslist. They appear from time to time.

Somebody here posted a neat trick for searching craigslist nationally. Try this;
go to www.google.com , then type the following in the search box

site:craigslist.org donzi hatch

I just found a pair of polished aluminum Imco BBC slant type valve covers for "a song and a dance."

Could always make a mold of your existing hatch and pull a new one from it...lotta work though...

[Lenny]

3 weeks ago I had a 79 and an 81 18 classic in my garage at the same time. The hatches were not even close to being interchangable. My only advise would be check first.

BINGO, they are not, at least as a "stock replacement goes" ...

All these boats, be it the weight of the driver, the number of passengers or the frequency of the given load, have DIFFERENT arcs to the decks and thus at that point as well.

I have molds for the X-18's hatches, they do not fit even close between two boats.

What does work is glassing in a straight strip (along the outside/beam edge) then drill two symetrical holes down each side, attach a threaded rod with nuts and washers and all, and tighten them till you get the "arc" that emulates the deck as it decends into the transom. THAT, is what you then have to make a hatch out of through a quick mold and it will look fine or GREAT.

Hatch to hatch to hatch on the same hull, different owners, does NOT work... Taking a mold off of YOURS or one that has been tweaked to emulate the proper deck lines, does.

[ky-donzi]

What does work is glassing in a straight strip (along the outside/beam edge) then drill two symetrical holes down each side, attach a threaded rod with nuts and washers and all, and tighten them till you get the "arc" that emulates the deck as it decends into the transom. THAT, is what you then have to make a hatch out of through a quick mold and it will look fine or GREAT.


Not sure If i understand this.

Has anyone ever made a aluminum hatch.

Im a welder and have a plasma CNC machine so I could write a program for the outside circumfrence of the hatch but the arc was what was bothering me.
Please explain the paragraph you wrote again. Thanks

[gcarter]

Maybe he's saying to bolt an angle onto each longitudinal side of the hatch, drill the holes in the vertical legs of the angles and install the threaded rod accross the inner surface of the hatch. But this would only work if you needed a tighter radius.
I suppose you could make some longitudinal scarf cuts along the centerline of the inner skin of the hatch so that it could be adjusted for greater radius or less.
Of course if one were to do that, the hatch could probably be adjusted (lay some glass over the scarf cuts once the correct curvature is attained) for any hull.

[Lenny]

George re-explained it better. To get the shape of the corners WITH the radius simply grab a relatively rigid piece of cardboard (or white FORMICA laminate in my case) and (with a childs paintbrush) brush on some machinests die (dark blue) around the htach perimeter. Then take the laminate (cardboard) and bend it over the area so that it makes contact with all edges. Lift it up and you have a traceable pattern.

Acetone will remove the die instantly. No problem.

I use the die and wipe it onto deck/hull surfaces and let dry. Then you can block out (with very fine paper or rough depending on what stage you are at on fairing somethng) and you easily see highs and lows with the blue. GREAT STUFF :yes: :)