Building the Oneida's Hatch Coamings

Building the Oneida's
Hatch Coamings

Hatch coamings, companion ways, skylights and other deck openings are all built the same way. The corners of the coamings are fitted together with a lap joint and not with a 45 degree like fitting a frame. The lap joint when fitted has a pin that runs through each coaming and into the beam below it. The lap can be cut at random; the extra length is trimmed after the coaming is assembled.

After the pieces are cut assembly is set up so each side has an under lap and an overlap.

Two sides are glued by placing them against the corner of a square block. Another two sides are set up in the same way.

The two assembled corners are now glued together to form the coaming. The extra over lap at the corner is trimmed even.

When gratings are used in the coaming a small ledge is added to the inside of the coaming. The added ledge is not all that necessary and the gratings can be glued directly to the inside of the coaming.

The gratings can be made on a small table saw by following a variety of published methods. Personally I purchase the grating material and find this a lot easier and faster. When setting up the grating start with an outer square and add strips in both directions. It is easy to get the gratings out of square by starting in one direction. By building the gratings by skipping strips enables you to push on opposite corners to keep it square.