My starter kayak was hatchless. While I could access the back by reaching through the sides of the built in seat, it was a pain, and basically wasting the whole back boat interior. So, I installed a hatch!
The hatch was a christmas gift, but are affordable on the typical amazon/ebay. Screws weren't included, so I ran out to menards to get some flat ones.
First, i took a sharpie and drew a circle around the inner hatch circle, giving me a line to cut out. Then I used a drill to cut an initial hole in the boat. It was a hole big enough for step 3, the tiny hacksaw i used to cut around the line. After sawing for about 20 minutes, I punched out a hatch shaped hole. From there, I gorilla glued and screwed in the new hatch. The glue is to form a water tight seal around the hatch. Since the hatch is located on a cargo depression of the boat, I wanted to made sure water wouldn't pool/pour in. Basically, the screws anchor the hatch in, and the glue seals it. Gorilla glue expands, so it would fill in all gaps as it dried.
From there, I just had to scrape off the excess glue (once it's done drying/expanding), and we are done!
Easy project, took no more than an hour of labor, plus dry time.
Unfortunately, this was on my stolen kayak, but experience is worth something.
The hatch was a christmas gift, but are affordable on the typical amazon/ebay. Screws weren't included, so I ran out to menards to get some flat ones.
First, i took a sharpie and drew a circle around the inner hatch circle, giving me a line to cut out. Then I used a drill to cut an initial hole in the boat. It was a hole big enough for step 3, the tiny hacksaw i used to cut around the line. After sawing for about 20 minutes, I punched out a hatch shaped hole. From there, I gorilla glued and screwed in the new hatch. The glue is to form a water tight seal around the hatch. Since the hatch is located on a cargo depression of the boat, I wanted to made sure water wouldn't pool/pour in. Basically, the screws anchor the hatch in, and the glue seals it. Gorilla glue expands, so it would fill in all gaps as it dried.
From there, I just had to scrape off the excess glue (once it's done drying/expanding), and we are done!
Easy project, took no more than an hour of labor, plus dry time.
Unfortunately, this was on my stolen kayak, but experience is worth something.
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