Hello fellow sailors, I need to replace my forward hatch and have already purchased the replacement from sailboatowners.com. Any idea what kind of project I will be getting into? I see all the screws from in the forward berth and assume there is some sort of silicon as well. Any thoughts \ advice is always appreciated. Looks pretty straight forward but looks can be deceiving as we all know too well.
O'day 28 1985 forward hatch replacement
- Thread starter BKParks
- Start date
A pic would help. Usually it's a matter of removing the old one, cleaning off the old sealant on the boat and then resealing with 4200 or BedIT
Not really that difficult (as long as the new hatch is the same size).
Remove the screws from the outside (open the hatch to expose the heads). On my O’Day 322, they are screws, not through-bolted.
Pry up the old hatch (carefully), clean up the old sealant, mask off the area outside of where you want to seal the new hatch, apply a good bead of sealant (sika flex or similar), place new hatch over the hole, and screw it down.
When you pull the old hatch out, look at the core in your roof top…mine was foam…at least around the hatch.
If yours is balsa, you may want to make sure it is dry…and maybe seal it with epoxy.
There may also be a trim ring on the inside of the cabin. I took mine down, but I don’t think I had to. The screws on the inside may have little plastic covers on them.
Good luck…shouldn’t be too bad.
Greg
Remove the screws from the outside (open the hatch to expose the heads). On my O’Day 322, they are screws, not through-bolted.
Pry up the old hatch (carefully), clean up the old sealant, mask off the area outside of where you want to seal the new hatch, apply a good bead of sealant (sika flex or similar), place new hatch over the hole, and screw it down.
When you pull the old hatch out, look at the core in your roof top…mine was foam…at least around the hatch.
If yours is balsa, you may want to make sure it is dry…and maybe seal it with epoxy.
There may also be a trim ring on the inside of the cabin. I took mine down, but I don’t think I had to. The screws on the inside may have little plastic covers on them.
Good luck…shouldn’t be too bad.
Greg
Thank you all very much! I do have the same hatch I was trying decide if this was a project I could do myself or have the yard do it. seems like since I have the same hatch would not be too bad to try on my own. My hatch just screws down and is not through bolted.