JEM Watercraft

Hi Bob, you're a font of good advice as usual.

The neoprene I am using is soft closed-cell neoprene foam, and seems to work well, I tested it with a bucket of water thrown over the bow and no water got in, but I will also beef up the downward pressure of the bungees. I could go to tie-downs which might be a good alternative, but I think I will stick with my plan and see how it works out.

I have seen your hatches, and I like what you have done, but I will see how I go with my ideas before I look at internal bungees.

I am really happy with the Sabalo. I've had to attend to some minor leaks from the scuppers, but overall it's a great fishing/sailing unit.

This is what I did tonight. The dowell strips are glued in place, I will finish them tomorrow night.



This is the proposed setup for the splash diverter.





I would think that this should take care of the problem.

The crappy finish is due to me not cleaning it properly from the last trip, and also the varnish is flaking off. I will be re-varnishing over winter with a much better product and more attention to detail.

Just an update. I finished the wash diverter and the hatch the other week, and last week went out at night fishing locally. I had to make my way through a few waves that did break over the bow, but on inspection after the outing there was no water in the front section. Looks like it worked. The wash deflector doesn't stop everything, but the water pressure against the hatch seal is much less when a wave does broach over the top, so the seal is enough to keep the water out.

Tick, another fix.