E-35 II, 1976 Salon Hatch Replacement or Replace Acrylic

[John Gunnin]

Original acrylic is bonded to the teak frame with an adhesive and screws, and has a crack the entire width. The acrylic is 31.5" x 31.5" x 1/2".

1. Has anyone found an aluminum/stainless replacement hatch that easily replaces the original teak hatch without a lot of fiberglas work?

2. Any idea what the original adhesive was and what it takes to remove the acrylic from the teak without damaging the teak.

 

[exoduse35]

as far as I know there is no replacement out there as it is far larger than anyone wants to span. As for the sealant, mine was just a silicone or latex caulk that was very easy to remove. After the screws are removed it will likely fall apart on you. If not, a bit of persuasion with a putty knife will do the trick. It will seal best if you varnish the wood then seal a new glass on 3M 4200 worked for me but I don't think it gets into the grain as well as the varnish and it sticks well to varnish. Also it is a good time to think about a sunbrella cover. I made one in about an hour on a home sewing machine. Note: you will need to add snaps to it or the wind will steal it (I lost one that way) Edd

 

[Loren Beach]

Measure Twice, Shop Once

I have seen a replacement alloy hatch done on an E-30-II, and the only "secret" is to find your "cut out size" and then start looking for a hatch to match.

There's Lewmar, Bomar, Moonlight (Scandvik), and probably some others I don't remember.
You might ask Mr Google to look around the 'net for you.......

Happy hunting,

Loren

 

[Matey]

mid hatch

John,

I just replaced the lens on my hatch a few weeks ago. I can't justify a new style one that big. The Acrylic was $ 138- at Tap Plastics. I measured the old one first, the lens popped right off.. Or course the frame fell apart with it. So I sanded down the frame to bare wood, epoxied & screwed the corners back together then sealed the whole frame with a few coats of Smith's Penetrating epoxy http://www.smithandcompany.org/CPES/index.html .. before 8 coats of varnish. I took the lens and routed the edges and drilled the screw holes with a drill press and countersunk them. Screwed it back together with #10 flat heads and sealed the lens to frame with 3M marine silicone.
It came out better than I'd hoped and provides a ton of light below. I have a sunbrella cover I made as well for dockside protection.

Regards, Greg

 

[John Gunnin]

Thanks, guys

All good suggestions, and I will proceed with disassembly and see what happens from there.

 

[Glyn Judson]

New hatch lens protection.

Greg, John and all, As an aside, I was given sound advise years ago when fitting a new hatch assembly to our former boat to prevent the lens from crazing. It was/is a 10" lewmar hatch on the front slope of the cabin top in our E25+, the one the factory forgot to install. A friend liked it so much that I ended up fitting one in the same place on their E27. That was 18 or more years ago and by following a simple suggestion from my local plastics guy, the one I installed in our boat is still as clear as the day I put it in whereas the one in the E27 is all crazed. The secret is keeping the heat of the sun off it. To that end, I had a Sunbrella (Toast) hatch cover made with a 10" square sheet of 1/4" closed cell foam sewn into a pocket I had the canvas guy make. That's all it took. Our friends in the E27 chose not to do that and to this day the one in the E25+ clear while their's isn't. Glyn Judson, E31 hull #55, Marina del Rey, CA

 

[John Gunnin]

Acrylic color

Greg - you picture looks great. Did you use the "solar grey" or "the solar bronze" acrylic from Tap?

John,

I just replaced the lens on my hatch a few weeks ago. I can't justify a new style one that big. The Acrylic was $ 138- at Tap Plastics. I measured the old one first, the lens popped right off.. Or course the frame fell apart with it. So I sanded down the frame to bare wood, epoxied & screwed the corners back together then sealed the whole frame with a few coats of Smith's Penetrating epoxy http://www.smithandcompany.org/CPES/index.html .. before 8 coats of varnish. I took the lens and routed the edges and drilled the screw holes with a drill press and countersunk them. Screwed it back together with #10 flat heads and sealed the lens to frame with 3M marine silicone.
It came out better than I'd hoped and provides a ton of light below. I have a sunbrella cover I made as well for dockside protection.

Regards, Greg

View attachment 9884

 

[Matey]

Greg - you picture looks great. Did you use the "solar grey" or "the solar bronze" acrylic from Tap?

I went with grey .. I do like the brown/bronze though.


Glyn .. thanks for the input. I was hoping UV was the enemy.. I don't have allot of experience with acrylic


Greg

 

[mherrcat]

I had also heard (here maybe?) that adding a layer of closed cell foam under the top piece of a Sunbrella cover would insulate the lens and keep it from crazing. Wish the previous owners of my boat had done that, but the damage has already been done. I believe I also recall that the foam might interact with some plastics and damage them, so sandwiching the foam between two layers of Sunbrella would seem to be the best approach. When I (hopefully) get around to replacing my crazed hatches the new ones will be protected with insulated covers.

 

[Glyn Judson]

Covering those hatches.

Greg, I'm far from an expert on anything, especially Plexiglas and the like but I do clearly remember, as you picked up on, that I was told by the plastics guy it was not UV but heat that was the culprit. In support of that statement, they asked me to look at any other hatch with hinges in the lens. They said that crazing would not appear under the footprint of the hinges but only in direct line of sight with the HEAT of the sun. Darned if they weren't right all those years ago. Glyn Judson, E31 hull #55, Marina del Rey, CA

 

[unequaltee]

1. Has anyone found an aluminum/stainless replacement hatch that easily replaces the

Job 6042 is the replacement of both hatches on my 35-2 . All the teak framing is shot, so I am going with the Lewmar ocean 77 hatch for the saloon its cut out dimensions of 699mm is within a 16th , but it will require a "bit" of fiber glass work for the radiused corners. The Lewmar 55 almost fits the fore hatch, how it will all look and work out only time will tell! I was very lucky both hatches came to me with a very very good discount but even so I think it would certainly have been cheaper and a lot less grief to rebuild the old ones. But it does give me the opportunity to lower the front hatch which (not wishing to incur the wrath of the 599 other owners) to my eye does nothing for the otherwise beautiful 35-2’s lines.
Ian</SPAN>

 

[Matey]

Lewmars

I'm with you Ian ..

The saloon hatch in wood is kind of cool .. but the forward one I agree isn't pleasing on the 32II or 35II. My fwd hatch is a fiberglass one and pretty funky. I'll have to measure and look at the Lewmar 55

Regards, Greg

---

 

[mherrcat]

Where can I get that "very very good discount"? Because I would like to buy a new Ocean 70 for the saloon hatch and an Ocean 30 for the V-berth hatch.

 

[unequaltee]

Discount?

The discount on the Lewmar 70 was just Pure luck! Talking to a friend who knew a man who had brand new large hatch left over from a project his firm had completed. I had very low expectations of it being any use given the number of hatches there are on the market. So I still find it hard to believe that it was the only one that fits such a large hole. I paid 200 GB pounds for a hatch that retails at over a thousand! The Lewmar 55 was advertised in a boat magazine as old stock, costing about the same. So I am feeling prety good for a man who's luck normaly arives in bad form. It fust leaves the small issue of fitting them!
Ian

 

[Loren Beach]

The discount on the Lewmar 70 was just Pure luck! Talking to a friend who knew a man who had brand new large hatch left over from a project his firm had completed. I had very low expectations of it being any use given the number of hatches there are on the market. So I still find it hard to believe that it was the only one that fits such a large hole. I paid 200 GB pounds for a hatch that retails at over a thousand! The Lewmar 55 was advertised in a boat magazine as old stock, costing about the same. So I am feeling prety good for a man who's luck normaly arives in bad form. It fust leaves the small issue of fitting them!
Ian

Luck, is a good thing....
I recall that Lewmar (USA) ran a small ad in a boat magazine in the mid 90's for 'scratch and dent' hatch returns. I had just bought our boat with its bent (!) fore hatch frame. I called them up at the Connecticut HQ and was told that they had a "trailer full of returns" accumulated and the fellow on the phone could send me the size 70 I needed. IIRC it cost about $300. total for a hatch that was about $700. retail and about $500-600. discount.

I got a much-taped-up-and-re-taped box with a new hatch that had been returned from a dealer in the midwest, with a dime-sized nick on the spigot, where no one will ever notice it without being told where to look.

Some years later I checked back when it was time to replace our UV-ruined size 20 vent hatch and was told that Lewmar had changed their policy and that all returns were being shipped back to the UK for refurbishing and resale. No more bargains.

So keep your eyes peeled and check with the hatch builders and wholesalers... you really never know what you might find!


Loren