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I'm in the home stretch on the (much longer than anticipated) restoration of my '76 13 footer. The only original piece I've kept - aside from the hull - is the bow locker hatch, as it just needed refinishing. Being a '76, it's the wide, skinnier hatch... seems to be solid mahogany, with a finger hole in it. A few questions:

1. When I got it, there was some cheap rubber stripping inside the groove in the locker - seemed to be used to cushion the hatch from rattling around, as well as provide some measure of sealing against water flowing in. What should I use to replace it?

2. I don't much like the finger hole - I was thinking of covering it with a flush-mounted popup stainless handle... thoughts?

3. There was a saddle eye strap, something like this: http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/woeimages/00001537.jpg - mounted on the underside of the hatch, and in the bottom of the locker... neither were in use, but I'm wondering if there was some kind of attachment between the two to serve as a retainer for the hatch... should I replace these, and if so what do I do with them?

Thanks!

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Roger,

I too am in the process of restoring my 1976 BW (11 footer), and have the same decisions to make. I am going to replace the cover with new mahogany. Here are my thoughts so far:

I decided against a sealing strip as it would hold water against the edge of the wood accelerating deterioration at the edge. At this time, I'm leaning toward clear rubber stick-on bubbles around the underside perimter that will raise the cover off of the rim and let water go through to the locker and drain out to the deck. I just have to get the right thickness so that the top of the cover is flush with the top of the locker.

Another (minor) issue for me is that I'm going to store the anchor in the locker and will need a cutout for the rope. I'll probably just cut a 1/4 circle in the corner of the cover. Was wondering what others do.

I believe that saddle eye strap attached to the bottom of the locker is for a hold-back strap/chain/small rope that attaches to the underside of the cover to keep it from slamming open.

Mike