---

The core wood in my two forward hatch covers on my 1997 240 outrage has rotted. Also, the fiberglass pannel on the inside of the hatch cover has seperated from the upper pannel. Does anyone know how the seam where the upper and lower fiberglass pannels meet is made? It looks like I could probably take a utility knife and seperate the two pannels and replace the wood easy enough, just not sure how to put the two pannels back together and keep them that way. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Bob

---

Not sure about those specific hatches, but you need to remove the core, a utility knife ain't gonna do it.
Keep the original core and layup glass over the new core, balsa, plywood or some fancy composite if you want.

Pictures would help to get a true diagnosis.

---

Thanks. I will take a few pictures and post. I'm probably not explaining the problem well. Bob

---

I think your explanation is pretty clear. 

The cover is wood wrapped in fiberglass and the gelcoated. There isn't really a seam per se. 

My bow locker cover separated at one corner and the wood was rotted. The cause of the failure was the cover hinge holes got elongated due to the heavy pounding in rough seas. 

I cut back the inside fiberglass/gelcoat layer and removed the rotted wood.  The total area was 6"x 2". I used marine Tex to fill the void. While not the best repair, it has held up. 

You might cut apart the cover to separate the two halves. Use a chisel to remove the wood and  cut a piece to fit.  Seal the piece with epoxy and then use epoxy to bond it to the top and bottom cover layer. 

Getting the right finished thickness will be key. 

---

Thanks Phil. I'll give it a try. Bob

---

Hi, I had to do mine last winter and it came out ok, not factory but still not bad. 1/3 of mine was rotted and what was not was a bear to try and get it to release. I just did the area that was rotted as I was affraid that I might end up buggaring up the outer skin, the part that you would see. The core was balsa mat about 1"squares and what I used to replace the bad area was starboard, had never worked with it and thought to try it out. Result was good, used epoxy to seal and glue everything together. All in all after a year I'm still pleased with the repair. Good luck!