I’ve had one rather peculiar problem with my boat over the years, and I think I may have figured it out and to some extent, have resolved it. Basically, when my boat was about 20 years old or so, the hatch cover at the cabin entrance became soft with wet rot.

The picture below is not my boat, but the same model, and shows the hatch cover in an open position.



The cover was made of ¾” plywood with a white Formica top and varnished on the bottom. The edges were tapered and teak trim was added. The wood around the mounting plate for the gas strut became too soft and the strut fell away, mounting screws and all.

So I rebuilt it, saving the teak as it was in good shape. I used a new piece of plywood with hardwood veneer, and varnished it with polyurethane varnish. For the top, I used a piece of 14” white plastic; I think is polyethylene.

Much to my dismay, a mere two years later, I noticed the gas strut hanging down again, but this time something different had happened. The plywood was like powder held together by the exterior varnish.

Oh darn! So I rebuilt it again. This time I used 3M 5200 between the teak trim and the plywood. Yet, two years later, the same thing happened. The plywood turned to sort of a dust.

So I rebuilt it again, however this time instead of varnishing the plywood, I gave it a few coats of West System epoxy. Again, I used 3M 5200 to join the trim to the plywood, and even dribbled some epoxy in the screw holes for extra protection.

This time it lasted 3 years until eventually the plywood turned to dust. At this point, I was not only frustrated, but confused. But I did come up with a theory. The original cover had a Formica top, but my rebuilds all used this white plastic. It seemed to me that it was possible that sunlight was passing through the plastic and baking the plywood.

Now I suppose I could have tried to laminate some Formica to the plywood for my next attempt, but seeing I had the plastic, and didn’t know much about purchasing a small piece of Formica, I thought I’d try something different.

I decided to add a piece of Aluminum foil between the plywood and the plastic, shiny side up to reflect the sunlight from getting through.



Two years passed and it was still fine when I covered it last Fall. I fully expect it to OK when I uncover it this Spring. So…. It looks like I have found and rectified the problem. I’ll know for sure if it lasts a few more years or longer.

At the beginning of this post, I stated that I “to some extent, have resolved it”. Maybe I have resolved the plywood disintegration problem, but there’s another issue. The 5200 always seems to crack away. It appears it doesn’t like to stick to teak very well. I suppose sorting that out is as easy as trying another type of sealant. Any suggestions?


ps: I saw a picture of a boat like mine on the net; presumably newer, and it appeared to have a 1-piece fibreglass hatch (no trim either). Probably an upgrade by Carver, but not as pretty either. LOL.