The process of cutting hatches from the solid deck caused me more anxiety and procrastination than any construction process so far. The placement of the hatch openings and the process suggested for cutting them out left me with many questions.
I contacted Pygmy about placement when my initial placement of the spacer pieces on the deck didn't make sense structurally. I was told that the hatch kits are a "one size fits all" arrangement that must be customized to each boat within certain constraints. This information is implied in the directions, but is not highlighted. Guys like me need to see this up front and in boldface:
“IMPORTANT: HATCH KITS ARE UNIVERSAL AND MUST BE ADAPTED TO FIT YOUR BOAT WITHIN THE CONSTRAINTS DESCRIBED BELOW." Something like this would have helped.
The suggested method for cutting the hatches from the deck is to use a saber saw blade, held in a vicegrip tool. This is the tool I used, but I had cut halfway around the bow opening before I got a handle on how best to do this. I found it was important to be above the deck, looking down on it, rather than working from the side at an angle. I got a much cleaner and straighter cut when I did this.
Finally, it is suggested that a pencil be used to draw the cut line on deck, using the hatch spacers as a template. I could not see my pencil marks clearly, so I used a fine point Sharpie marker. This worked great, and what wasn’t consumed by the saw wiped off easily. I am satisfied with the final result.
