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Looking for some experienced opinion on a fairly minor issue. Our boat happens to have a custom hatch cover into which the main hatch slides when open. Made of teak, it's bedded and sealed on 3 sides. It looks nice and all, but last summer I discovered a serious design flaw: No drain holes.
Because the roof is designed for water runoff to flow forward rather than aft into the cockpit, the hatch cover very effectively traps and collects the runoff until it fills up and overflows into the main salon. Plus the trapped water will stay there under the cover for days, maybe longer.
As a temporary fix at the time, I drilled two 3/8" holes into the front of the cover to let the water drain out. Water gushed out immediately.
Unfortunately, the wood was so waterlogged and rotten that the drill just kind of split and shredded it rather then making neat holes. Here's some pics:
My question is: What tools, techniques, materials, etc. could be used to salvage this without completely removing the cover? I'm thinking of using a cut-out tool to try to cut away the rotten stuff and leave neatly shaped drain holes.
But I suspect I'll just end up breaking a bunch of bits and/or shredding the wood some more.
Because the roof is designed for water runoff to flow forward rather than aft into the cockpit, the hatch cover very effectively traps and collects the runoff until it fills up and overflows into the main salon. Plus the trapped water will stay there under the cover for days, maybe longer.
As a temporary fix at the time, I drilled two 3/8" holes into the front of the cover to let the water drain out. Water gushed out immediately.
Unfortunately, the wood was so waterlogged and rotten that the drill just kind of split and shredded it rather then making neat holes. Here's some pics:



My question is: What tools, techniques, materials, etc. could be used to salvage this without completely removing the cover? I'm thinking of using a cut-out tool to try to cut away the rotten stuff and leave neatly shaped drain holes.
But I suspect I'll just end up breaking a bunch of bits and/or shredding the wood some more.