The Prowler comes set up for a 6″ hatch. I was told by a friend that he was able to put an 8″ hatch in there. That same friend then sent me a link where Johnny Ceviche put the 8″ hatch in. So yesterday, I took advantage of the 50 degree temperature we had outside and outfitted my own Prowler with one.

Part of the outfitting was to put an 8″ hatch in. It fits perfectly and I highly reccomend it. This hatch is only an inch smaller then the one in the Cobras. It has a bag and will allow the setup of an internal pulley system. In addition, it gives great access and it’ll be easy to put a different rudder system in rather than the Ocean Kayak one which is cheap but expensive to buy. The Feathercraft that Emotion uses will work perfectly and is much nicer.

I used nuts and bolts but the nuts were messy to work with because of the angles and irregularness of the area. The way to go in the future is secure the hatch with bolts but using wellnuts but not as they’re designed but simply as nuts. It will be much cleaner.

The 8″ hatch that I have isn’t standard either. I had the company put 12 holes, rather than the standard 6 holes in it. This makes for a better fit.

I forgot to take a pic of the yak before I cut out the hole. There was a 6″ hatch in the kayak which I removed and then I cut out the entire recessed area. There isn’t any need to measure or use a template as the recess is the exact size.

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Next step is to use the hatch as a template with the gasket that comes along with the hatch in the cutout area and drill the holes. I like to drill one hole and then put a bolt in it to hold it. The I drill the next hole 180 degrees from the first and place another bolt. Then I do the 2 remaining corners. With bolts in all 4 I then drill out the remaining holes. I then remove the bolts and hatch and clean up the area.

Next I put Lexel around the edge and then place gasket and hatch in place. I put te 12 bolts in and next the nuts. With wellnuts as nuts there won’t be a need to use a tool on the inside to hold the nuts. So with a screw gun doing the 4 corners first I tighten the bolts.

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Finished Product ….

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