H240 Under Seat Hatch Fix?

[Happy Camper]

Hello everyone,

I am the new to the forum, and also the new owner of a 1998 H240. I have been working my way through the systems on the boat to get familiar with them and to work out any bugs I might find. I trailered her home (335 miles – Even through Chicago traffic!) a little over a week ago and I am amazed at how well she tows! I have a 2012 Ford Edge with a V6 and two-wheel drive and I was able to run 70 mph down the highway with little trouble. She stayed right behind me and never mis-behaved.

One of the few things that needs attention is the Bomar hatch under the cockpit seat. It looks like the hinges are cracked and it appears to be made of a type of plastic that doesn’t take well to glue.

Is there a fix for this, or is there a new hatch in my future? If so, how do you measure a hatch size? Has someone else replaced this part and knows the part numbers? Any help would be great.
Thanks,
Happy Camper.

 

[Kermit]

Good morning and welcome to sailing and our forum. Lots to learn here.
@Crazy Dave Condon is a former dealer and a wealth of information. He'll see that I tagged him and should have some helpful advice for you. The store here will have lots of parts for you once you determine what you need.
Good luck and happy sailing!

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

On the road. Send a private email to me is forum email and I will all later. On the side of the road waiting for wrecker. Like a Kermi the froggy locked myself out. Grr

 

[twalker H260]

Congratulations on the new to you boat!

The hatch looks to be available from the store that supports this site - a great place and people to deal with. This should lead you to what you need.

http://shop.hunterowners.com/hp/hpcat.php?m=240&c=1

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Sent private email to him advising of ordering a new hatch from this site as the hinges are broken and in one cracked. Told him of the fishing line to use like a saw blade to cut the silly putty. Yup a little humor calling that silly putty or dow silly putty. Maybe we could use that 100 %pure architechual silicon to A Kermit green froggy feet?

 

[Happy Camper]

The new hatch showed up a few weeks ago; I checked it over good and put it back in the box to wait for warmer weather (I’m such a wimp!) Well, the boat is now in the driveway and it’s time to start on the projects. First I removed the screws and then I started working around the edges with a putty knife/scraper. I was going to try the fishing line trick, but since I wasn’t planning on re-using the old part, I chose a more aggressive approach! The hatch was actually pretty easy to remove.

After the removal, I cleaned up all the old adhesive (it appeared to be silicone) using a plastic scraper and my finger. Once clean, I counter sunk the screw holes a bit to prevent any more gel-coat cracking. Apparently, Hunter doesn’t countersink, and driving screws into just pilot drilled holes will cause cracking.
After countersinking, I cleaned the gel-coat surface with Isopropyl alcohol.

I decided to bed the hatch using butyl tape. Butyl has to be one of the best bedding sealers ever, but it takes patience. The butyl will continue to squeeze out for several weeks and needs to be cleaned up by scraping with a plastic scraper. It’s worth the hassle though; the stuff is amazing at sealing and stays soft for years. There are many how-to’s available about using butyl.

After replacing the screws, You slowly continue tightening until the squeeze out stops (or slows). The downside of butyl is that the squeeze out will continue for a long time and will need to be scrapped when it happens. The squeeze out will collect dust and dirt so it is much nicer looking if it is scraped off. The upside is that it will never leak! For me, it’s worth the tradeoff. After the topside was done, I reinstalled the trim ring from below and job done.

Here it is, all done and ready for sailing. I will continue tightening on and off for a few days and I will then scrape off the excess. Pretty easy job overall, it took about an hour and a half. It would be less than half that if I knew what I was doing.
Thanks for all the help.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

You did it. Congrats.

 

[entmejia]

Nice job, very professional looking.