Galley Hatch Screw Up!

[RunnerDuck]

I'm really upset and after you hear my sad story I'm sure you'll understand. Hopefully this will help someone else avoid the same mistake.

I made my galley hatch with great perfection and it fits perfectly on my TD. It looks beautiful inside and something to be really proud of.

Here's the hatch on my TD. You'll notice the two strips of plywood running top to bottom to help stabilize for handling until I get the outer skin on.

Hatch.jpg (194.26 KiB) Viewed 1391 times

I removed the plywood strips, set the hatch up on my saw horses, glued, clamped and nailed the plywood outer skin. It went on great and should be as perfect as the rest of it.

Hatch Clamp.jpg (244.34 KiB) Viewed 1391 times

After the glue had dried overnight I removed the clamps and placed it onto the TD. WTF, something wasn't right, it felt like it was hitting on something.

After examining everything possible thing I determined that it was so warped that it just wouldn't close. It's a little over a half inch away from the TD on the bottom left corner.

In an attempt to "de-warp_ it I've placed a spacer between the hatch and TD on the right side and clamped it down as much as possible on the left in hopes of pulling it in.

Hatch Fix.jpg (229.68 KiB) Viewed 1391 times

I let it set over night and I feel I may have made some improvement but still off. I added a thicker spacer to the right side and clamped it down again.

My big concern now is if I get it pulled back into shape will it hold over time or is it slowly going to creep back to where it was. I do plan to use draw clamps in each corner to hold it down when not in use so maybe, if I can get it straightened out, that will keep its memory from coming back.

I guess I'll find out as time goes by.

So the lesson learned: When you go to clamp the outer skin on the galley hatch make sure that it is sitting dead flat before gluing, clamping and nailing!

Lesson learned the hard way.

Thanks for listening,

[halfdome, Danny]

Sorry to hear of your warped situation.
If it were me I'd toss it and start over again as I have once in the past.
Here's a photo on how I make my hatch lids.
The 1/2" ribs are 6" apart.
The blocking between ribs is structural and also a place to mount paper towel holder, lights, etc.
The blocking in each corner really adds to the stability of the lid.
Hope this helps, Danny

[ae6black]

I made a warped one work. I am still planning on taking it off and starting over. Most people won't know about it unless you tell them. The problem is you will and every time you look at it, it will bother you. My advice from my own experience, do it now or do it later. Your are still going to redo it.

Art

[tony.latham]

Kenny:

How thick is that plywood???

Tony

[RunnerDuck]

Kenny:

How thick is that plywood???

Tony

1/8".

My wife just suggested, "Why don't you peel it off and put a new sheet on?"

Easier said than done but it certainly has me thinking about it. I probably have sixty to a hundred nails in it around the edges and cross beams. I also used Loctite PL Industrial Adhesive all the way around and cross pieces.

I'm sure it would be a mess but possibly doable. I think it would be easier than rebuilding the whole thing especially the sides with the interlocking feature which fit perfect before the warp.

Thoughts?

[Alan_H]

Sorry to hear of this, but thanks for sharing that lesson with the forum.

I'm in the boat of do it now, or you'll regret it later.

[tony.latham]

K:

Do you think this is spring back? That looks like the same 1/8" BB I use and there isn't much spring to it. Or do you think it was glued up with the hatch sitting spread-legged so to speak? If that's the case, it may be worthwhile to attempt to reskin.

I build with just two end ribs also but add a 4" tapered gusset (ala Steve Fredrick's method). Three hatches and they all fit with zero spring back. The downside is it cuts into the counter depth.





A rough problem.

Tony

[noseoil]

Kenney, peel it & set the skin with the hatch in place. There's really no other way to be sure it will sit properly to seal, unless you make a jig to act as a form when adding the skin. Even though I had more ribs, I still didn't trust having it sit on the bench when putting on the outside skin. Any slight movement will cause a bad seal.



I did mine in 2 sections, due to the "oversize" condition of my frame (the one I found was 60 1/2" wide, unfortunately). I used shims to locate the hatch inside the opening & keep it in place, then pre-cut the material to fit. It works, but takes a bit more time this way.


Chin up buddy! If this is the worst thing you've done, a short trip to the moaning chair is in order, then start again.

P.S. Don't cut the hatch side hinge too short (see top-left corner for my solution to a hinge which is cut wrong)!

[RunnerDuck]

K:

Do you think this is spring back? That looks like the same 1/8" BB I use and there isn't much spring to it. Or do you think it was glued up with the hatch sitting spread-legged so to speak? If that's the case, it may be worthwhile to attempt to reskin.

I build with just two end ribs also but add a 4" tapered gusset (ala Steve Fredrick's method). Three hatches and they all fit with zero spring back. The downside is it cuts into the counter depth.

A rough problem.

Tony

Thanks Tony but I built it exactly like yours with tapered gussets and all. I don't think it's "spring back", something changed when I took the temporary sheeting off and glued down the real deal sitting on the saw horses. I guess I'll find out more once I get the skin peeled off but certainly not looking forward to doing that, sounds like a big project but still better than making a new one.

Ken

[RunnerDuck]

Kenney, peel it & set the skin with the hatch in place. There's really no other way to be sure it will sit properly to seal, unless you make a jig to act as a form when adding the skin. Even though I had more ribs, I still didn't trust having it sit on the bench when putting on the outside skin. Any slight movement will cause a bad seal.

Thanks noseoil, but I don't see a way to clamp the skin to the frame with the hatch sitting in place. How would you do that?

I do like your idea of two pieces though. Once I get the old skin off I think I'll add a temporary piece of plywood like I had before to one half, held on with screws, then remove it, glue, nail and clamp it and then check it for fit, it should be perfect. Then I'll skin the other side.

Before I do that though I'm going to add corner blocking like you did.

Thanks for the ideas, I'm regaining my confidence.

Ken

[aggie79]

Kenney, peel it & set the skin with the hatch in place. There's really no other way to be sure it will sit properly to seal, unless you make a jig to act as a form when adding the skin. Even though I had more ribs, I still didn't trust having it sit on the bench when putting on the outside skin. Any slight movement will cause a bad seal.

Thanks noseoil, but I don't see a way to clamp the skin to the frame with the hatch sitting in place. How would you do that?

Ken

I'm a fan of skinning the hatch in place.



If you are not building a woody, you can use screws and scrap plywood as "cauls" to clamp the skin.

[tony.latham]

Kenny:

Photo your struggles on this endeavor.

We'll all feel your pain!

Tony

[RunnerDuck]

Kenny:

Photo your struggles on this endeavor.

We'll all feel your pain!

Tony

Alright then!

First of all, here's the problem. Note the gap difference from side to side.

Hatch Fix.jpg (187.49 KiB) Viewed 1098 times

First step was to mark out the edges of the hatch frame so I didn't cut into or through them.

Hatch Fix 1.jpg (160.21 KiB) Viewed 1098 times

Next I started cutting out all the plywood in between the frame using my multitool. I cut inspection holes ever so often to make sure I wasn't running into anything.

Hatch Fix 2.jpg (110.72 KiB) Viewed 1098 times

To be continued!

[RunnerDuck]

Here is the hatch with all the plywood cut out between the frame.

Hatch Fix 3.jpg (149.36 KiB) Viewed 1096 times

Then I started working my way around all the glued plywood with a hammer and chisel.

Hatch Fix 4.jpg (307.93 KiB) Viewed 1096 times

It made a pretty good mess and it wasn't pretty but I got it all off.

Hatch Fix 5.jpg (120.75 KiB) Viewed 1096 times

To be continued!

[RunnerDuck]

With a big pair of wire cutters I removed nails for the next hour!

Hatch Fix 6.jpg (205.55 KiB) Viewed 1095 times

Finally I found the right tool to clean up the glue and wood scraps still stuck to the frame, a "Paint Scraper", it seems to work pretty good.

Hatch Fix 7.jpg (132.55 KiB) Viewed 1095 times

I'll sand with some 60 grit sandpaper when I get most of the glue off but that's not going to happen today. Removing the plywood took me all day and I'm bushed!

I've got an appointment off island tomorrow so won't get any more done until Wednesday.

Stay tuned!