Cheap Lobster Tank Hatches

Lots of people checking for new posts today so I guess I should write one. On the 36' Calvin the owner originally wanted to get two 24" x 36" Anchor hatches. Dan ordered the hatches and we continued to work on the deck, then yesterday afternoon Dan returns from Rockland with a 26" X 40" Anchor hatch that he found at a local marine supply store. The store had 2 of these hatches that must have been special order items because the box had a UPS tag on it from 2002. Dan brought one back to the shop to make sure that they were going to work before buying them both but as you can see it fits fine and the other hatch will be picked up on Monday. The best part of this find was that we were able to buy the hatches for about 150 dollars less than the smaller hatches that the owner had speced out for the job. I'm confident that the owner will find somewhere on the boat to spend his extra 300 bucks. It occurs to me that if I left out those last two sentences that could have been my 300 bucks. Oh well, today we had to fiberglass inside the lobster tanks (pictured). The tanks are going to hold hundreds of pounds of lobsters, I now know that they can hold a 175lb boat builder. I got into the tank with the bucket of resin and Dan Jr. passed me the pieces of glass as I needed them. Three layers of 1.5 oz fiberglass matt around the top edge of the tank made the tank watertight, it also killed a couple million of my brain cells. Do brain cells grow back? On the second tank Dan Jr was in the tank and I was passing him the materials. Tomorrow I should be able to finish up the tanks, depending on my motivation.

The outside edge of the deck is installed and most of the stringers are in place. Next we will have to frame up the three center hatches, screw down some more plywood and this deck will be done. Another project might have been added to this boat, the owner sent me a bunch of pictures of an aluminum trap slide. It would fit on the port side and have the ability to be hinged on the inside edge. John was busy all day so I didn't bother him with it, I'll show him the pics on Monday. Once we estimate a price on the trap tray that will probably make the decision of "go" or "no go". Looking at this boat I should probably clean up tomorrow so we can start with a clean slate next week.

SHOP NEWS SHOP NEWS SHOP NEWS

38' Northern Bay

Aluminum Radar Stand
New boat in the yard

This could be referred to as Blogger Burnout. So much going on at the shop and no desire to write about it. A running video feed of the shop would be much easier. Friday's post on Saturday, typical Maine boat builder, always running behind. Sorry if you've been checking in all day, now at 11:19pm you won't even read this until Sunday.