A full year later after purchasing the new hatches, I finally installed the hatches. Par for the course, I thought it would take a few hours, but it ended up taking 2 x 5 hour days. The big win for this project was drilling into the core and finding nothing but bone dry wood. I still over drilled and filled the holes to keep it that way. Getting rid of the oldy acrylic made a huge difference in the cabin light. The only remaining acrylic piece is the sliding hatch.
Ha, she's found other things to pretend she's not interested in. However, my wife and kids insist on bringing her along, so she doesn't end up missing much. Compared to our 15 year old yellow lab, she's easy to have on board.