Replacing the Hatch Acrylic

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TBOT422
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Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2011 5:36 pm
Location: Clearwater, FL

Replacing the Hatch Acrylic

Post by TBOT422 »

Has anyone replaced the acrylic panel in the hatches over the cabin. From another post, it seems the hatches are Lewmar Low Profile, Mark II, Size 40 hatches. The replacement acrylic and seal part number looks to be 361056990. Cost is around $200. Interested in the degree of difficulty on this job. Some have suggested it may be easier to buy a whole new hatch than just replace the acrylic. One of our hatches developed a large crack at the hinge area.

Thanks
Gary & Janet
The Best of Times (Hull #422)
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russp
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Location: Paynesville, Australia

Re: Replacing the Hatch Acrylic

Post by russp »

Hi Gary,

I started down this path a couple of years ago, costed the acrylic and seal in Australia, then found that Mauri Pro could sell me the whole hatch for only about 30 percent more! (that was back when the Australian dollar was worth something).

So I just swapped the hatch uppers over and left the base frame as is. When I looked closely there was some corrosion around the edges of the upper frame, it could have been cleaned up when the new acrylic and seal were fitted, but once the anodising is gone would probably have started corroding again around the lovely new acrylics. So in the end getting a whole new upper frame and lens made sense (to me anyway).

I also made up some Sunbrella hatch covers, I figure if they are on only half the time that doubles the life of the acrylic before it starts to craze and that will probably see me out!!

BTW, have you had any thoughts about replacing the fixed Portlights on the cabin sides below the gunwhale? (Lewmar 7RE)?

Russ Peel
Avalon #150
Russ Peel
Avalon #150
KenKrawford
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Re: Replacing the Hatch Acrylic

Post by KenKrawford »

Gary it looks like Catalina Direct has replacements - http://www.catalinadirect.com/index.cfm ... rofile.cfm
Ken Krawford
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TBOT422
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Re: Replacing the Hatch Acrylic

Post by TBOT422 »

I've found a Lewmar document on disassembling the low profile hatches. B5970-1 on page 153 of: http://www.lewmar.com/cms/assets/1/lite ... awings.pdf

My question for any of you who have removed the hatch lids is about the small pins shown in instructions at center of the friction type hinges. The instructions have little arrows on these pins that seem to indicate that they need to be turned. That makes me think the center section of the hinge is some sort of threaded collar that you unscrew to allow the right and left portions of the hinge to be removed toward the center then lift off the lid. Is this correct?

If this is some sort of small threaded collar in the middle of the hinge, I can't wait to see how much fun it is to remove. For the time being I think I am going to swap the hatch lid from the aft cabin with the cracked one over the starboard settee. That should at least give me a useable cabin hatch without going thru the acrylic replacement process just yet.

Thanks
Gary & Janet
The Best of Times (Hull #422)
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TBOT422
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Re: Replacing the Hatch Acrylic

Post by TBOT422 »

I finally succeeded in replacing the acrylic panel in our cabin hatch with a great deal of help from Tony D'Andrea at Select Plastics, 203-866-3767.

I had nearly given up trying to remove the hatch lid using the directions referenced above from Lewmar. Tony asked me to send him a picture of the hinges and then he said that our hinges do not need to be turned with a pin as I was reading in the Lewmar instructions, but rather the center of the pin simply gets pried out. Actually now that I have got it apart, there was a small black plastic horseshoe shaped sleeve over the actual hinge pin (also black so that it looked like a single part) that could be popped off. If you are very careful, it won't break. Then the two aluminum hinge collars with the holes in them can be pushed (read nudge with a hammer & chisel) toward the center and then the hatch lid comes off the frame. Reading the Lewmar instructions more carefully indicates this is a 'non-friction type' hinge. Of course I would assume that since we had the 'friction lever' shown in Fig. 1.2 we had the 'friction type' hinges. Of course that was wrong. The hinges came apart as shown in the second part of Fig. 1.3 for the 'non-friction' hinges.

Once the hatch lid was off, the screws holding the frame halves together came out rather easily and the frame could be pried apart. Actually you only need to remove 4 of the 8 screws holding the frame halves together. So pick the set of 4 that are easiest to remove.

The Lewmar model number that is supposed to be etched into the lens was virtually indiscernible. By polishing the area carefully and getting it in just the right light with a magnifying glass, I was able to determine enough of the numbers so that Tony could supply the proper lens replacement. Cost was $210.77 including all new seals and shipping.

Re-assembly was very easy using a little soap to guide the frame over the new seal. Reinstalling the hatch lid on the boat was a little time consuming as the hinge collars have to be slid back outward into the holes in the upper frame. The collars and matching holes are a bow-tie shape with no lead in taper, so everything has to be aligned perfectly and rotated to the proper orientation for the collars to slide back into the frame. Multiple hands and a lot of patience are useful for this effort.
Gary & Janet
The Best of Times (Hull #422)
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