Hi
Last season I had my companion way hatch on my e27 rebuilt.
The hatch has the following construction.
There is a frame around the outside this supports a thin plywood sheet which supports the teak slats.
My problem was that the plywood has rotted out. One wrong step and it would have been the express elevator down into the cabin. This seemed to happen as the calking between the slats deteriorated to the point that water under the slats and soaking and rotting the plywood.
I guess the moral is more varnishing .... less replacing.
The whole thing is held together with screws that are covered with teak plugs. Just drill out the plugs take out the screws and disassemble. ( Sounds easy eh... )
If it was just the plywood I could replace it easily. But I could not fabricate any of the other parts if I needed them. I thought that if I took the assembled hatch to a carpenter he would have a better chance to recreate a part if needed.
I also looked into creating a new hatch that is flat, not curved. This looked pretty easy but not pleasing to my eye. I wanted the hatch as it was. I thought it was more pleasing with the original curved hatch in teak.
I decided to have it done by the boatyard that I stored the boat at. They agreed to take it apart and just replace the underlying plywood. I had them do it because though it looked easy, I did not want this to be the first wood working project that I tackled.
It took them 3 weeks and about $1200 (OUCH!). I could have done it for less but I would still be doing it( and not sailing) . I know how I work on such things.
I guess also if you can take it to a regular carpenter as apposed to a boatyard the price could potently be lower but that is just a guess.
Hope this helps.......
