Need some tips, please. I spent the Labor Day weekend working on hatch lips for my Outer Island. I'm using the glass lip layups. I've been to the One Ocean Kayak site, and to other personal sites, to get instructions, and I'm still having trouble. Both attempts (consecutively, not simultaneously) have been throw-aways.

Both times, I had a section of hatch where the taping and bracing to keep it in place failed, and of course, the lip lay up suffered as a result. That, I can remedy by just shoring it up more. But, the most distressing problem is that in both attempts, I can't seem to find the trick to getting the glass to lay up close and tight to the mold for the weatherstrip channel. After the glass dries, I take a look at it and it's messy, has ragged edges around the mold, it's got gaps between the flat section that the hatch will rest on and the sides of the weatherstrip channel, and it's just plain ugly.

The wet sand in a bag doesn't seem to be pressing the glass tight around the mold for me, and I fear using more sand because I keep knocking the hatch out of alignment with the weight.

One thing I'm doing that might be a (or the) problem is that after I lay the glass on, I'm putting a layer of wax paper between the wet glass and the bag-o-sand. Is that causing a problem?

Maybe I'm hoping for too much? Do any of you have any close-up photos of the results I should be expecting? Any tricks to getting a good lay-up around the channel mold?

Rick