Anyone rework their companion way hatch?

[SailH37]

I have to trash it and rebuild it when I replaced the bulkheads because they wouldn't fit below otherwise, and in the process, I'm not sure I didn't do something to keep them from leaking. It seems like the hatch just doesn't pull far enough forward to interlock the hatch boards with the slide hatch, so it doesn't leak. I'm about to tear it apart and do something radical, but thought I'd see what ya have done... yea, that's southern... get used to it. ha ha.

s/v Renasci
Kb

 

[rivettw]

Kb,
Knew I should have taken pictures but didn't. Had plexiglass companionway hatch cracked with P.O.. Replaced with 1/2" thick Starboard. If you remove your companionway top cover (screws around the outside) you should find a "stop" teak board at the top and forward end of the slider. I had the same problem as you and found all sorts of stuff between the top and bottom. Screws, nuts, deal lizzards and 2 quarters. Used 4200 to rebed top and new teflon slides under the Starboard. No leaks and hatch goes over the boards just right. Good luck with that.
Wally

 

[Jim Legere]

The other piece of the puzzle is the vertical part of the companionway. As Gene Gruender pointed out on his Rainbow Chaser website, there is really nothing solid between the deck mold and the inner liner underneith the wood slides that the weather boards fit in. I removed the teak pieces that form the weather board sliders and filled the gap with some wood and epoxy. No more leaks when a following wind is driving rain against the companion way...so if you are fixing the top, might as well do the whole thing!

 

[SailH37]

Latest idea....

Thanks. Yea, I've actually torn the whole thing out twice, and yea, it's probably leaking around the traveller and/or a loose screw or two, but here's where I'm getting lots of water. I gotta do something, it's running down on top of the motor, so I have rain buckets out. Anyway, when I close the hatch (and I was very procise where I put the point of the arrows, but, ) A hits B (as you can see, I've knocked off gelcoat, yipe) and the rain goes down towards C and then runs inside. I put weep holes in the bottom of the slots for the hatchboards and even put a coat of resin in slot. Im thinking of doing what I've mocked up in the other pic, as a solution. Idea? Thanks, Keith

 

[cat]

Thanks. Yea, I've actually torn the whole thing out twice, and yea, it's probably leaking around the traveller and/or a loose screw or two, but here's where I'm getting lots of water. I gotta do something, it's running down on top of the motor, so I have rain buckets out. Anyway, when I close the hatch (and I was very procise where I put the point of the arrows, but, ) A hits B (as you can see, I've knocked off gelcoat, yipe) and the rain goes down towards C and then runs inside. I put weep holes in the bottom of the slots for the hatchboards and even put a coat of resin in slot. Im thinking of doing what I've mocked up in the other pic, as a solution. Idea? Thanks, Keith

We created a companionway cover out of Sunbrella. It is anchored on the sliding cover for the companionway and secured by snaps at the base of the companionway trim and have had no leaks for 10 years.

 

[DianaOfBurlington]

Having no clue here.

KB, I don't know what to tell you here because my hatchway isn't configured like that. Mine has/had just a molded-fiberglass hatch sliding in teak rails outside a molded-fiberglass coaming (part of the deck). I replaced the teak rails with a new system and ended up having to add a stick on top of the molded-fiberglass coaming as the hatch had ended up riding too high there. You have those fiberglass angles or panels above the hatch slides. I don't know why Hunter did that; the way mine is, even with other materials used, is really the best basic system. I looked high and low at boats about local yards before I decided how to remake mine and still got it wrong.

I really wish that sometimes boatbuilders would keep with tried-and-true over attempting to reinvent the wheel!

That H37 is overly complex and I can see where your leak is coming from. The hatch needs to come farther aft, for the teak along the aft edge to end up under the two white fiberglass pieces. Only this way will the Lexan part be fully covering the top of the hatch boards. Why this isn't happening I can't really tell.

I don't like your idea of adding a piece of hardware; and I don't like the idea of relying on a canvas cover to seal out what the hatch should be better at sealing out. Reminds me of the modular house we once had with the front door that the *professional carpenter* who sold it to us did not know how to set right. I attempted to fix it myself and found he had nailed all the frame and trim pieces good and solid where they lay-- and on a modular house everything moves before it's settled for good. We ended up buying a really good storm door, which sealed out the weather-- but this isn't really a 'fix', only a bandage over a (literally) gaping hole.

You might consider taking those fiberglass pieces right off and getting the hatch to work without them. Then, fashion something new or refit those pieces into where they should be. And, in future, maybe don't let people stand/kneel/sit on the hatchway edges!