I had the lumber yard cut a new plywood core to size on their panel saw to ensure a straight and square cut. I laminated a layer of heavy glass roving to what would become the underside of the hatch. After the resin cured, I ground off the excess around the edges and rounded the edges of the top side with the router.On Saturday morning I assembled a simple male mold from mdf boards and set it up on the patio.
Next, I stapled strips of fiberglass I had previously fabricated to the edges of the plywood. These would be the base for subsequent layers of glass that would form the two-inch lip around the hatch. 
I laid the heavy roving over the plywood, mixed up a batch of laminating resin and squeegeed it on. It turned out that using the heavy roving for the first layer was a mistake. It was too stiff to make the 90 degree bend over the edges even though the corners had been rounded off. I had hoped that when the resin got to the tacky stage it would stick enough to hold the roving in place. No such luck. I ended up pressing the roving against the lip using boards covered in polyethylene, but that simply resulted in pushing the roving away from the top of the plywood around the edges. I'll try remedying that by injecting resin into the gaps. If that doesn't work, I'll have to grind off the unadhered roving and use additional layers of the more flexible cloth to compensate.
Next, I stapled strips of fiberglass I had previously fabricated to the edges of the plywood. These would be the base for subsequent layers of glass that would form the two-inch lip around the hatch. I laid the heavy roving over the plywood, mixed up a batch of laminating resin and squeegeed it on. It turned out that using the heavy roving for the first layer was a mistake. It was too stiff to make the 90 degree bend over the edges even though the corners had been rounded off. I had hoped that when the resin got to the tacky stage it would stick enough to hold the roving in place. No such luck. I ended up pressing the roving against the lip using boards covered in polyethylene, but that simply resulted in pushing the roving away from the top of the plywood around the edges. I'll try remedying that by injecting resin into the gaps. If that doesn't work, I'll have to grind off the unadhered roving and use additional layers of the more flexible cloth to compensate.On Sunday, I headed out to Napa to complete sanding, fairing and priming the new windlass mount and work on the windlass wiring. While it was within the realm of possibility that I could have the new windlass mounted and tested, it was not to be. The weather forecast called for rain, and the threatening clouds confirmed a wet outlook. Because it was Easter Sunday, the chandlery was closed, so I couldn't get coffee or supplies. It was going to be a tough day!
I adjusted my aspirations to the circumstances and just hoped to get the windlass mount primed soon enough to allow it an hour to dry before the rain came. The rest of the day I could work inside the cabin on the wiring.
I got the windlass mount painted and covered in plastic just in time. 
Then I went below to work out of the wind and rain. Running the heavy double-ought cable the full length of the cabin required drilling pairs of one-inch holes through bulkheads and partitions in lockers of various configurations and sizes, all of which forced me into contortions and made it impossible to get good leverage on the drill. It turns out that fiberglass that has had 35 years to cure gets pretty hard, too! Even getting the cable through the holes and lockers required a lot of awkward muscling.
Then I went below to work out of the wind and rain. Running the heavy double-ought cable the full length of the cabin required drilling pairs of one-inch holes through bulkheads and partitions in lockers of various configurations and sizes, all of which forced me into contortions and made it impossible to get good leverage on the drill. It turns out that fiberglass that has had 35 years to cure gets pretty hard, too! Even getting the cable through the holes and lockers required a lot of awkward muscling.I eventually managed to get the job done, though, and completed everything that could be done without mounting the windlass and motor, including the footswitch, solenoid, and manual safety switch. 
I still had to mount the big fuse in the engine compartment and eventually connect the cable to the batteries, but I didn't want to do that in the rain, since the engine compartment leaked. That should be pretty straightforward, though, and it would be much easier to do with the cover open and more light on nicer day.
I still had to mount the big fuse in the engine compartment and eventually connect the cable to the batteries, but I didn't want to do that in the rain, since the engine compartment leaked. That should be pretty straightforward, though, and it would be much easier to do with the cover open and more light on nicer day. 
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