Quick and dirty fuel tank hatch for a 20MA
 

My old fuel tank hatch covering the 40 gallon tank coffin was soft and very heavy from years of being reworked and lots of screws put into it. So I borrowed some tips from others here and scabbed together a melamine, MDF, and modeling clay mold.

Then I vacuum bagged a carbon, vinylester and nidacore layup. Gel coat down first. But I hurried and the gel coat hadn't cured enough so I got loads of print through. Then I forgot the breather material for the vacuum bag (doh!). So I got a dry laminate in the center under the vacuum port, so I had so re-wet the center with a wet layup and no vacuum and just peel ply.

But it came out ok in the end. Fairly light, but not nearly as light as if I was able to correctly bag it. It was 17 lb for the hatch which is about 63" x 27", plus gel coat.

I used aquarium "aragonite" as sandable anti-skid. $1 a pound at Petco, and a color match. :D

A few more pictures.

Material list:
Melamine $35 @ Home Depot
Primed 11/16" MDF trim $15@ Home Depot. Enough for two layers. The second layer is spaced out 1/8" to develop a line to trim to.
PVA
Gel coat, 1/2 gallon minimum
1.5 gallons vinyl ester resin
6 yards cloth (carbon is light, probably similar to 9-12 ounce glass??)
10mm 3/8" Nidacore (might be 7/16")
Super 77 spray adhesive to hold MDF down so there are no holes for vacuum leaks
18 feet of butyl tape
Stretchy bag
Peel ply
Don't forget breather! I heat poly pillow stuffing works.

Looks good! I need to do something similar on my aquasport but I think I can reuse the old skin and just recore it.

It might be faster that way. Unless the gel coat needs fixing. Then it might be a tie. And no grinding.

Gelcoat is good on this one. Well. As good as it's going to get. This boat is just temporary until the SeaCraft is done. So like another 5 years. lol