I'm nearing the end of my build (based on the Wyoming Woody design, but aluminum skinned). My hatch has a good fit all along the straight portion, but a large (~3/4") gap at the bottom along the curved part. It matched well when I dry fit it (pre-aluminum and without the actual hurricane hinge), so I think I ended up with a little extra material by the hurricane hinge. Sounds like this should be an 'easy' fix - just remove the hatch, remove ~3/8" stock from the top with an electric hand planer, re-epoxy that exposed wood (that is covered by the hurricane hatch's downward Al part) and reinstall.
Before I get that 80# off, make the cut, and reinstall ('easy'!) I wanted to get a quick reality check:
- am I missing something obvious? (I think not, but better to check.)
- I'm thinking of using my powered hand-planer to take a couple passes off the top edge. Any issue with using a planer with the aluminum laminate to the wood? (0.040" Al, 2" poplar on that face). The Al was annoying with the trim router (as everyone says, lots of blade fouling).
Main question is about the planer - I just want to be sure I'm not about to do something dumb when I'm this close to done! Thanks for any advice!
Kevin