R&R/Cabelas Hatch Carpet Solution??

Hey all,

Has anyone come up with a solution for carpeting the hatches fabricated by R&R Design? I ordered these through Cabelas and didn't realize the hinge side on the lid does not have a flange, the hinge is riveted from the top side of the lid..
My original plan was to remove the lid from the frame, install the frame in the deck and carpet the deck and frame all as one. Carpet the lid separate, and re attach the lid to the frame. That does not appear to be an option with the way these are constructed.

...

I meant to show the deck configuration in my OP...

I've made it so that the lips of the hatches will be flush with the deck...


Wanting to carpet the deck and hatch frames at the same time as to not have the frames visible like this...

ah so - now I get it.

you can rivet a piece of 1/2" x 1/2" aluminum angle under the lip of the hinge side
and use that for your carpet flange on the hinge side. (or 3/4", depending on what will work).
you will have to remove the offset piano hinge and replace it with traditional straight.
pop rivet into place as required - then put down the carpet.








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Johnny said:

ah so - now I get it.

I guess it depends on how thick your carpet is for both
deck and hatch carpet can fit into the lip. then it would
look really good !!

Click to expand...

They are designed to allow carpet to fit the lid and the frame both.

Could you please take some pictures of your project while installing the carpet. I will soon be doing the same thing with R&R hatches. Thank you

Can you not remove the rivets holding the lid in place, install the frame and wrap the carpet around the hinge? Then carpet the lid wrapping the carpet between the hinge placement and the lid, then reinstall new rivets?

The Tracker I am renovating is carpeted similar to this. And I removed and reinstalled the same way it came from the factory.

I have a question, what is the depth of the frame? How deep does it protrude below the surface mounting area?

Johnny said:

ah so - now I get it.

you can rivet a piece of 1/2" x 1/2" aluminum angle under the lip of the hinge side
and use that for your carpet flange on the hinge side. (or 3/4", depending on what will work).
you will have to remove the offset piano hinge and replace it with traditional straight.
pop rivet into place as required - then put down the carpet.
View attachment 1

Click to expand...

Johnny, I can't keep up with your edit's dude! :lol: Your idea was the only thing I could think of myself to eliminate having exposed rivets on the top side of the lid. Although I'm not real excited about having to modify these $100 hatches! #-o I'm still up in the air on what I'm going to do?

DPI said:

Can you not remove the rivets holding the lid in place, install the frame and wrap the carpet around the hinge? Then carpet the lid wrapping the carpet between the hinge placement and the lid, then reinstall new rivets?

The Tracker I am renovating is carpeted similar to this. And I removed and reinstalled the same way it came from the factory.

I have a question, what is the depth of the frame? How deep does it protrude below the surface mounting area?

Click to expand...

Yes sir, I can do that. I was just not wanting the hardware (rivets) to be exposed.

I'll have to take a quick measurement on the depth for ya.

Remove the rivets holding the hinge to the frame and not the lid. Wrap the lid carpet around the hinge then sandwich the carpet between the hinge and frame. This will hide the hinge, the rivets and it should operate the same way.

This is essentially what I did here:

On yours, you wouldn't necessarily need to go all the way around the hinge like this, but this is the idea of how you can cover the hinge.

Appreciate the feedback DPI, the problem is that the hinge is riveted from the back side and the water channel lip prohibits you from securing the lid from the inside.

This pic is taken a little above eye level of the rivets, if it were taken at eye level you would not see the rivets.

How tall is the lip that is covered by the seal? Can you temporarily remove the seal to access the rivet installation area from the inside of the hatch? Can you modify the frame lip under the seal for easier access with a rivet gun?

If not, this is the only way I can think of to install the carpet and hide the hardware, and you still have to remove the lid rivets to do it. And it looks like very tight tolerances so you may have to shave down the carpet for easier installation.

You will need to place the carpet between the lid and hinge, install the rivets in the lid, then cover the rest of the lid with the carpet. I think this can be done, but it will be tight with a heavy ounce weight carpet.

The carpet is yellow,the frame and hinge are black, and rivets are grey.

DPI said:

How tall is the lip that is covered by the seal? Can you temporarily remove the seal to access the rivet installation area from the inside of the hatch? Can you modify the frame lip under the seal for easier access with a rivet gun?

Click to expand...

I most certainly could modify the lip, but man, I really don't want to do that if I don't have to!

After (over) thinking about this :roll: I'm just going to remove the lid from the hinge, carpet the lid and re rivet thru the carpet...I had a Sea Ark once and they used pan head screws to fasten the floor to the framing and the carpet hid the screws surprisingly well.

This is the back deck of that boat, as you can see, you don't really notice the screws.



Right or wrong, that's what I'm gonna do , I'll post the results whether it's a success or a failure :mrgreen: