Monday evening, November 10th, I began addressing the companionway hatch. The companionway hatch paint is flaking, and generally in rough shape. The teak rails have not been taken care of and are weathered pretty bad. There are nicks and gouges here and there on the hatch that will need to be filled and faired. The first step was to remove all brightwork and wood bracing. Removing the wood and setting aside, I then turned my attention to the initial rough sanding of the hatch. I used a 5” VS random orbital sander and 60 grit disks to remove the old paint, and in the process exposed a lot of stress cracks running the entire width of the hatch itself.
The companionway hatch itself is pretty flimsy without the wood bracing, so I have decided to take a few measures to strengthen it. I will first fill and fair the existing screw holes. Next, I will wet-out the top with epoxy, lay a layer of 6 oz cloth over the entire top surface, and then completely wet-out the cloth. After curing, I will come back to fair the top and drill screw holes for reinstallation of the teak rails. After test fitting the teak rails, I will prime and paint with a two-part polyurethane.
You can see from the photos that I have finished sanding the companionway hatch. In addition, I have wiped it down with acetone to remove remaining dust, and am ready to begin filling the screw holes. I have also sanded the wood bracing and teak rails: starting with 60 grit paper, progressing to 220 grit, and finishing with 320 grit for a very smooth surface. After vacuuming the wood to remove a majority of the dust, I wiped the bracing and rails down with mineral spirits to collect the stubborn dust particles and ready them for either teak oil or an epoxy barrier coat.
Finally, here is the companionway hatch with screw holes ground out from the top, and filled with West System epoxy and low-density filler. After this cures, I will scrub off the amine blush, lightly sand and then ready the top for a layer of glass.
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