When you are a liveaboard, and you live in Seattle, having your weather boards equipped with those ever-present teak slats is not a good thing - they let a lot of heat escape in the winter.
The Previous Owner addressed the problem by gluing a scrap of thin Plexiglas over the slats with (yes) silicone. It was an ugly solution, but it did keep the heat in, and we had other priorities - it stayed like that for years.
I repaired the broken joints with epoxy, and the loose joints in the larger, upper board as well. I pulled off the Plexiglas, scraped off the silicone and removed the slats.
The wood is 3/4" thick, so the plan was to use 1/4" on the inside and outside for flanges to trap 1/4" Plexiglas. For safety, since pressure from a boarding sea will be from the outside, I decided that the solid flange should be on the inside.
I used a 1/4" rounding over bit in my router to make a finished edge on the inside of the opening. And then a 1/4" rabbit bit to make a 1/2" deep 1/4" rabbit on the outside. To make the outer molding, I used the 1/4" rounding over bit again on a teak scrap, and then sawed off the rounded edge, making a piece of 1/4" quarter round. Bedding the Plexiglas in polysulphide, I installed the outer trim molding I had just made with small brass brads.
Six coats of polyurethane (what you see happening in the picture) finished the project.
Note: we have not made any changes to the weather board "stowage" (the boards just lay on a pad on the cabin top next to the sliding hatch) which caused this project to be bumped up in priority, so if anyone reading this has a good solution for storing weather boards under way, I really need to hear about it. Add it as a comment, or submit it as a project, please. Thanks.
I did this for my last boat Sea Puppy. The hatch board holder was accessible from inside or outside and held the hatch boards very securely. You would have to tip the boat upside down to get them to fall out.
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