Black Jack 26 epoxy hatch

[tiqueman]

Production to resume after the Holidays
ONE RAW HATCH IN STOCK

Hey folks. As some have you have seen in the BJ26 forums. Ive made a new hatch. Im still doing a bit of R&D and testing of different materials, but for the most part Ive got it dialed. Heres a couple "test hatches". Basically being, making sure they fit right, are heavy enough but not too heavy and keeping paint on them for the future "painted to match" version.

Im laying them up using West systems epoxy and as a top coat, Adteck Epoxy Top coat, rather than gelcoat. I went that route for two reasons. One, Its easier to get paint to stick to epoxy and two, Ive done some research and it seems the epoxy is much less prone to stress cracks etc as gelcoat will often do.

We (my neighbor and I) ran tonight and beat the heck out of our boats. Pushing them W.O.T. thru every turn and rolling and flipping them as much as possible. Sounds crappy but hey, its for the research. Ive run mine with the new hatch 5 times and my neighbor has run his twice. One thing we did notice is, we use a rescue rig to go get the boat after its capsized. An AC Hammer w/ a pvc attachment. It pushes much better through the water while upside down w/ these hatches. And right side up, IMO, they look 100 times better than the factory hatch. And best of all, no more lost canopys or drivers.


***Painted to match the factory scheme no longer available***

Heres the thread in the BJ forums

https://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...ad.php?t=18307


And heres a few pics

Enjoy,
Scott

EDIT: You will notice in the first picture, a line going across from side to side and the front of the scoop. I was doing a relief cut line in the first few I layed up to prevent a wrinkle and then realized (last picture) that I didnt have to.