The fore deck hatch/emergency escape I remade early in this project developed a crack in the glass last year from the hole I drilled in the glass; it was a single crack that I could live with, but last spring, the glass sprung more cracks after some weather changes. Instead of ordering new, pre-drilled glass, I decided to make the hatch a solid piece. There is plenty of natural light with the existing windows, and I'd rather have a solid area to walk on in that area of the deck.
I tried my hand at making a molded fiberglass part with non-skid. I used tempered hardboard for the smooth part of the mold with 2×4 scraps glued behind for support.
The non-skid pattern is the cover for a drop ceiling light (from Home Depot). This stuff was terribly brittle and did not cut well with any circular saw or jigsaw blade. The corners were radiused with plasticine clay. I used 6 layers of paste wax on the mold.
The glassing schedule was 3 layers of brushed gelcoat, 2 layers 1708, 1/4" plywood, 2 more layers of 1708, then 2 layers of gelcoat with wax in the final layer.
The tempered hardboard popped off easily when done, but the plastic/non-skid pattern just wanted to shatter into small pieces. I wound up having to use a heat gun to make it pliable enough to pull it off the part, which was still very time consuming.
Excess glass was trimmed and sanded flat on the backside. I then polished the smooth parts of the front side.
The non-skid turned out fairly consistent and functional, but I'll find an easier way to do it in the future.
This little project took me a lot longer than it should have, but it was good learning experience.
