Has anyone replaced the companionway sliding hatch on their 37c? How do you bend 1/2" lexan? Were they all lexan? I need to do something before the Mexico race in April. Any ideas?
Companionway hatch
- Thread starter Blaise
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I believe that they are acrylic (not Lexan). A plastic shop should be able to do this for you. I think they do it with hot sand, but I am not sure of the actual process.
Since our boats are both 79s I naturally have the lexan. I would call a good glass shop with that question. Mine is still good but if anything ever happened to it I would not use lexan again. Not sure but would probably lay up my own design with f/g cloth and epoxy. Is yours good enough to be used for a pattern to make a new one, both size and shape?
I have successfully bent Plexi and PVC pipe on hot days by constructing a jig and, working in the direct sun, bending gently till the desired curvature is achieved. The problem with Plexi ('acrylic') is that it will 'sag' back a little, so you have to apply overkill at the beginning. I made a vent window for my van like this and that's what happened.
Ask a plastics shop and see what they'll charge; it might be worth it to avoid such hassles. I would just dread the cost of 1/2" Plexi or (worse) Lexan.
Ask a plastics shop and see what they'll charge; it might be worth it to avoid such hassles. I would just dread the cost of 1/2" Plexi or (worse) Lexan.
The problem with the Hunter hatch is there is a very slight camber (bend) which makes it difficult to bend and causes any indentation to be pronounced. After finishing my sliding hatch I had my canvas man make a snap-on Sunbrella cover for the both the companionway and hatch to put in place so the sun is not beating down on the Lexan all day long while the boat is at the dock. Look great!!!
And Emil, there is something different about your slider. The sides of mine are varnished wood. Did you use something else or paint yours?
A buddy of mine in St. Maarten wanted to make curved lexan windows for the hard dodger he had just built for his non-Hunter boat. He constructed a massive shallow pan out of galvanized metal and set that pan on a shallow charcoal pit and filled the pan with vegetable oil. He was able to safely heat the lexan in the oil (when the oil smoked the temp was about right) then while it was flexible he placed it in a pre-made jig for cooling. After several attempts he got it right and now has nice windows with very little distortion.
1) The wooden sliders were rotted and cracked and I had new ones made from starboard. That is the white material you see. It now moves very smoothly.
2) The project was not cheap around $500 - $600 for everything (that might include other items I had made that spring), but I did not have to waste material in learning how to shape Lexan. The Maritime Plastics have a large oven in which to do this. I had to wait a couple of weeks until they assembled enough jobs to turn on the oven which made the lights dim in the Eastport section of Annapolis.
Emil
2) The project was not cheap around $500 - $600 for everything (that might include other items I had made that spring), but I did not have to waste material in learning how to shape Lexan. The Maritime Plastics have a large oven in which to do this. I had to wait a couple of weeks until they assembled enough jobs to turn on the oven which made the lights dim in the Eastport section of Annapolis.
Emil
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