Hatch seal replacement

Good day,

We had a tremendous amount of rain recently, with upwards of 3 inches of water flooding down the deck.  The scuppers weren't keeping up, and I noticed that the forward deck hatch (all original Atkins & Hoyle) were leaking.

When the sun came out I inspected the gaskets, which are round EPDM, set into a groove cast into the aluminium hatches.  They were all original, and very dry and brittle.

I contacted Atkins & Hoyle and discovered that while they can supply them (Parts Dept), they were VERY expensive:

Prices are as follows:

505C - $32.50 ea.

XR100 - $45.00 ea.

XR90 - $37.00 ea.

Glue for install $29.95 ea. (will need two tubes)

I got a rough quote from UPS, around $275.00 to ship (about 1-week delivery). I estimated a box 14"x10"x8", if you have some other friends at the marina or something I would be easy enough to fit more material in the box without causing shipping to go up that much. This may allow you to split shipping with another boater. 

As the kids say these days....OMG!  The total bill approached $600.

I found a manufacturer in New Zealand that stocked identical items (Rubbermark Industries) and purchased everything I needed for less than $100NZD.

I picked a fine weather week, and started by removing all of the portlights (there are 7...sorry...you know this).

They are held to the frames by stainless steel hex bolts with 4mm heads.  They are of course corroded into the frames, and needed some WD40 to break free.  One of them sheared, but I can replace the seal in place in a pinch.

Here's what I did:

I removed the old seal, it came away very easily, but on some of the portlights there was a bead of rubber sealant left behind.  The best way to get this off is to simply rub it with your finger.  In all but one case this caused the whole lot to peel up.  The problem child required some time with a scotchbrite wheel at the end of a drill.

Old seal

Close-up of old seal

Once clean of adhesive, I wiped the channel out with paint thinner.  I took a roll of the proper sized gasket (there are two sizes, the portlights take 1/2" or 3/8", the larger hatches take 5/8", and laid it down into the groove.  You must used soft-faced clamps when turning the corners and make sure not to pull and stretch the gasket when measuring (you want the gasket completely un-loaded and resting in the groove).  When you get the length right, cut it straight with a razor.

Pull the gasket back out and wipe it with paint thinner (or similar).  Lay a bead of silicon at the invert (bottom) of the channel about 1/4" wide.  Press the gasket back in and clamp it very lightly in place with soft faced clamps (I have 10 of the pistol-grip clamps made by Irwin)

When the silicon "kicks" and is a bit firm, remove the clamps, wipe the gasket carefully with thinner if any silicon has oozed up too far, and put the old gasket on top of the new gasket (because you've been insanely-careful, you won't have silicon everywhere and this will be possible).  Then place a small bit of plywood on top of this...then, like turning a cake over (call the missus), turn the hole thing upside down onto your workbench.  Put some weight on top evenly over the portlight face (another sheet of plywood and a brick), and now you have an evenly distributed force pressing the new seal into the channel and the silicon.  Leave it like this for a day.

Why put the old gasket on top?  Because if you look at the portlights you will notice that the gasket is not proud all the way around...if you just turned it over on the workbench it would rest on the aluminium, not the rubber.

Once everything had fully cured, I polished the lexan with PlastX and cleaned the frame of all grime.

I reinstalled the portlights with new 316 stainless hex-head bolts, adjusted the lever-arm dogs to suit (the black lever-arm dogs are adjsuted inward as the gaskets begin to compress and age...you MUST back them out with new gasket or you will never get them closed).  Back off the 12mm nut and use a hex key to back the bolts out of the frame).

The finished product doesn't photgraph well, but the clarity is great, and the seal is PERFECT!



I DID NOT see that coming....

My partner Fiona will roll her eyes if you asked her how much time I have spent on the boat, going through all of the mechanicals and systems to ensure it's all in good working order.  Today we went for a wonderful sail in Tauranga's protected harbour, and hit speeds of 6.5kts in very calm water.

We set up for docking in our marina slip, the wind was directly on the nose at 16kts, so she needed some forward throttle to get her in...just as I went to shift into reverse and bring her to a perfect stop for Fe to step off and tie her down...the gear selector lever literally came off in my hand.  I stopped the engine immediately (otherwise it would have smashed into the dock), jumped off and we both pulled like crazy to fight the wind pushing her back out.

Epilogue:


There is a shear screw that holds the lever onto the gear shaft, and it is likely 25yrs old...well...it sheared.  I would not in a million years thought the replace this screw, or that it was bearing the full shear load from each shift over all these years.

In any case, I'm nothing if not lucky...had it happened as we were leaving the slip a few hours earlier, we would have likely gone straight into the rocks (I would have had 5 seconds to drop the anchor).

My advice, replace yours right now.

You can see the head of the screw...but where's the rest?  Sheared off in the gear shaft...that's where.

New bog...

Perhaps not glamorous work, but important nonetheless.  The 12V head started working intermittently, and when I tried to service it, many of the screws holding the motor to the toilet broke off.  So I purchased an entirely-new unit from Burnsco Marine.  It took an afternoon to install, plumb, and wire, and it certainly does look and function much better.  The original toilet would have been manual (?), but this old 12V unit was at least a decade or two old, judging by the corrosion of the hardware and the state of the motor.

I begin to sense that many components on Kiss Kiss are in need of replacement...such as it is with boat ownership.

Working down the list

I made a list of "to-do's" on the boat, ranked in order of priority based on safety-impact.  #1 were the lifelines, which were quite badly corroded from end to end.  The plastic coated wire is (IMHO) a danger in that it masks the corrosion beneath until such time as it gets brittle enough to crack.

I have had the top and bottom wires completely replaced with uncoated stainless wire, both top and bottom 5mm.

I've also replaced the main halyard with spectra line.  The old one was chafing badly, and had worn through the cover in one spot.