The first few 17's had a core of foam, but when balsa core became readily available we switched to that. Balsa is far better for a deck. At this point grind or peel the aftermarket core out and replace it with either balsa or plywood, using epoxy resin. If the flat of the hatch cover is distorted I'd use plywood, bonding it in and putting some weight on the plywood until the epoxy cures, then covering the ply with a layer of cloth, again with epoxy. -----Original Message----- From: John Schinnerer Sent: Monday, May 21, 2018 11:43 PM To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Subject: M_Boats: Question on port cockpit locker lid/seat, early M17 My M17 is #38, 1974. Has the small starboard locker/seat, and the longer port one. I am wondering if anyone can tell me what is on the underside of their port locker lid/seat, for a similar vintage boat, to brace/support the seat function of the lid. The small starboard lid/seat has a nice factory foam core with glass over it to stiffen it up. The port one, on mine, has an obviously DIY very badly done raised foam core and fiberglass attempt to stiffen it up. But it doesn't look like it replaced a failed OEM one, or that an OEM one was cut away (WTF would do that?)...? What (if anything) was used to support/stiffen the underside of the port seat/lid on early M17's? The hack job stiffener is coming loose along the edges (resin/glass wasn't bonded well to underside of seat) so I need to remove it and do something else to stiffen up that seat. I am thinking to just put a couple layers of 6 oz cloth and epoxy (or maybe just one will be enough). Way easier than trying to do a foam core stiffener. Any reason I should try and do something fancier? thanks, John S. -- John Schinnerer - M.A., Whole Systems Design -------------------------------------------- - Eco-Living - Whole Systems Design Services People - Place - Learning - Integration john@eco-living.net - 510.982.1334 http://eco-living.net http://sociocracyconsulting.com