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I scrubbed the boat from top to bottom making sure to get plenty of water on the hatch and there wasn't a single drop of water on the V-birth. I will not be caulking the hatch form the inside - if it leaks I want to know about ASAP even if the balsa core is now completely isolated from the hatch...

I put the hatch back together.

I carefully cut out all the excess butyl and saved it because I can use it at a later time.

I got this far and walked away until the next day - then I gave each nut the same extra half turn to snug it up a little more.

Once the butyl tape started to compress I was diligent about tightening the nuts equally as I went around so as not to tork the frame or get unequal compression.

On the left is one of the two machine screws that hold the hinges

I also added a little washer of butyl tape to each one and didn't turn the screw head once it made contact.

The hatch was previously fastened with wood screws (they only threaded the top layer of solid fiberglass and dug into the balsa core. I replaced them all with machine screws washers and nyloc nuts.

It goes around the corners just fine.

I used butyl tape (two layers in this application) from Sailrite to bed the frame.

It turned out great and all the screw holes are isolated from the balsa (something the factory should really have done too!)

I was pretty diligent when working with the epoxy so I just had to hand sand the edge.

Thanks to another boater with a rental car I got the third tube I needed to finish the fill

This is what I've used on all the bedding and preventative balsa protection I've done on the boat and I really like working with it.

I filled the gap with epoxy in two stages (partly because my epoxy order was short one tube and getting some locally without a car turned out to be difficult)

These machine screws should really be flush so I can compress the butyl tape without the frame bottoming out so I carefully filed them down.

While the balsa was airing out and I waited for an order of epoxy I set to clean all the caulk residue from the hatch frame .

Yet another boater lent me this great little rasp bit that was exactly the right diameter (luckily I brought my drill)

I got a huge garbage bag from the Alton marina to make a dust catcher attached from below with masking tape. (the Alton marina in Illinois is covered which is why I choose to do this project now.