askets fabrication: the critical thing in a hatch’s waterproofness is its gasket, and I realized that the best material for gasket is silicone: flexible, durable and offer a very good fit. And for a custom size and shape hatch, somehow I’ll need to make the gaskets too. It turned out to be pretty much easy, using the 2 – parts silicone available here on local market. You mix up component A to component B (catalyst, around 1 ~ 4 % by weight) and pour it into a mold, wait for about 2 hours, and it’s done.

1^st image: the mold (cut from plywood) is filled with silicone, I use the “Silicone” (red bottle) spray as a mold release, it’s “strange” that silicone is used as a release agent also for silicone. 2^nd image: the product, the O – ring released from the mold. 3^rd image: the gaskets inside the hatch lids. The gaskets are 15 mm wide, 5 mm thick, and are pressed down to the hatch rings with those belt locks. I hope I would end up with excellent waterproofness, but let wait until “sea trial” to know better.

I reuse the bilge pump from my previous boat, it still sees very little use, the installation is quite straight forward using some cable ties fastening the bilge pump into its mount. The flexible water pipe leads to a hose right on the right side behind the cockpit, the hose is protected by a screw – in cap, to prevent water from leaking back into the boat when waves wash over the low aft deck. The bilge pump really offers lots of convenience and confidence when you are out there, in the roughness.