I have several Lewmar hatches and find that if they remain closed for more than a few days the rubber liner stickes to the frame making it very difficult to open the hatch. I am concerned that eventually the rubber liner is going to tear or otherwise breakdown as a result of the strength with which the hatch sticks to it. Any thoughts on how to deal with this? I am concerned about using a lubricant that could breakdown the rubber and I am not sure what might be good. Thanks for any ideas... Rob McClain H340 "Dream Quest"
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Try Putting some vasiline on the gasket .... this usualy fixes the problem. and just reaply as needed.
It may be better to use a high MW lubricant......
such as silicone (polydimethylsilicone) grease, as the larger molecules will have less tendency to impregnate and soften the rubber seal than low molecular weight greases such as vaseline, petroleum jelly, etc. will do. If the rubber is properly crosslinked, even vaseline should not have much of a tendency to be absorbed into it. Unfortunately, some types of rubber, e.g. natural rubber, do have crosslinks that are asily broken over time by heat, light, oxygen, water, salt, improper cleaning liquids (or more likely a combination of all of the above). Also, you might simply have gotten a very old or poorly crosslinked batch....... At any rate, the only way to completely solve the problem (rather than the gaskets
) is to replace them with new ones and immediately grease the new gaskets with silicone gease to protect thwem against future chemical warfare attacks. Have fun Flying Dutchman
such as silicone (polydimethylsilicone) grease, as the larger molecules will have less tendency to impregnate and soften the rubber seal than low molecular weight greases such as vaseline, petroleum jelly, etc. will do. If the rubber is properly crosslinked, even vaseline should not have much of a tendency to be absorbed into it. Unfortunately, some types of rubber, e.g. natural rubber, do have crosslinks that are asily broken over time by heat, light, oxygen, water, salt, improper cleaning liquids (or more likely a combination of all of the above). Also, you might simply have gotten a very old or poorly crosslinked batch....... At any rate, the only way to completely solve the problem (rather than the gaskets
) is to replace them with new ones and immediately grease the new gaskets with silicone gease to protect thwem against future chemical warfare attacks. Have fun Flying Dutchman- Status