mat australia sk14

[mataus]

[mataus]

fairing the topsides

[mataus]

time for paint

[Jeff]

Nice progress!!! Jeff

[Eric1]

Outstanding!

[mataus]

more drilling and refilling.

[mataus]

In my reading of other sk14 builds, I saw the grab bar is to be over station/frame c.
due to the size of my grab bar, the length of my tiller extension and i wanted to make sure I had a last a few screws in the doubler I mover the grab bar back about 50-100mm (3-4inch ish).

[mataus]

I used tape on the drill bit to get the right depth (few mm longer than the screws.) then I refilled with thickened epoxy and recoated the entire area. I got some 5200 off eBay (not sold in shops that I can find in Australia) and use a liberal coat on the bottom of the grab rail, around all screws and screw heads and a bead along all edges.

Then it was onto finishing the hatch. I enjoyed making the hatch, but it added lots of time to the build. I was going to router in the hinges but given it is only 6mm I didn't think this would be a good idea. In fact If I had my time over I think I would make the hatch out 12mm so it would be easier to screw into. 12mm (1/2 inch) long screws were the shortest I could find. So I filed down screws.

Initially I was also going to have a nice recessed latch but all of them I could find looked like they would leak through the mechanise. I know there is no such thing as a 100% waterproof hatch, but after I had just added significant amounts of time to the build I didn't want to undo my work with leaky latches. So I went with a simple ontop one. It works well but it is only a matter of time before some fly line finds it.

[mataus]

[mataus]