Kayak hatch cover, neoprene

My sit-on-top kayak was missing the covers for the hatches. Since this allows water to enter the main cavity of the boat, potentially sinking it in the blink of an eye, I decided to sew a replacement out of neoprene.

diy kayak hatch cover

I started with the hatch in the middle because it is smaller and simpler. The cover is basically a circle with eight darts sewn around the edge to create an inverted frying pan shape. A narrow nylon strap tightened with a cam buckle passes through the red tubular nylon webbing sewn to the neoprene. As the lip of the hatch necks down slightly where the strap is, this turns out to hold fairly securely. I can’t wait to finish the other hatch and go try it out!