MontanaTeardrops wrote:Hey Harvey. I was just wondering what kind of saw you used to cut your spar pockets into the wall tops. Also, do you have a build pic of the Galley Spar and hinge install?
I think

I used my jig (saber) saw to cut the notches, or possibly after cutting the first saw kerfs at each end of the notch I may have used a skilsaw set to correct depth & just cleaned out the notch that way. Either will work, just use a good sharp 'crosscut' type blade for the jigsaw.
Somewhere in my old files (I've re-formatted the hard drive of my old computer a number of times) I probably have pix of the galley spar better than what's in the gallery here but it'll take days to locate them. For the galley spar I simply used a piece of full 1" x 2" oak that I cut from rough lumber & planed to dimension with my little jointer. Also used the same type lumber for the top cross piece of the hatch frame. the 'hurricane hinge' went on after the aluminum skin was in place, using stainless screws & sealant (butyl tape under the hinge & PL adhesive in the screw holes). My aluminum skin is 'floated' generally except I used a few 'beads' of PL adhesive to help hold it in place until doors, trim, etc., were screwed in place. As can be seen in at least one pic in my gallery I used several beads of adhesive for the roof skin at the galley spar, held in place by a 'bunch' of clamps 'til the adhesive had cured. The screws in the hinge of course negated any need for adhesive after installation. Here's a few pix from my gallery you may find interesting...
Oh yeah, I used 5x10'x0.40" mill finish aluminum for my skin. For the top I cut the sheets in half (5x5' pieces) & overlapped them 2" with joints over a roof spar. Overlaps were toward the rear on top & toward the ground at the front radius (except for the diamond tread trim pieces which have several beads of 'sikaflex' & PL adhesive at the joints).
Luan 'under skin' clamped in place before adding aluminum

pretty god shot of the oak galley spar

detail of the hatch frame with the oak hinge base at right

pic showing how the oak hinge base 'mates' with the oak galley spar
