I would like to replace the forward hatch on my 1978 Ericson 23. The original hatch is translucent Fiberglass. It has always leaked in heavy seas and is not very sturdy. I would prefer a glass hatch, but the raised profile of the opening may make that difficult to fit. Any suggestions?
Hatch replacement Ericson 23
- Thread starter Metaphase
- Start date
Leaking Hatch
Hi there,
we are about to depart on a similar project. We will pull the hatch out, rebed it and at the same time will get Tap Plastics to cut a new plastic cover - ours is badly crazed. Experts say, total for the project should not be over $50... That is, with our labor excluded
. Should be a no-brainer... unless PO used 5200 as a bedding, in which case all bets are off
Best of luck,
Stan & Tanya, E32-3 "Fire Eater"
Hi there,
we are about to depart on a similar project. We will pull the hatch out, rebed it and at the same time will get Tap Plastics to cut a new plastic cover - ours is badly crazed. Experts say, total for the project should not be over $50... That is, with our labor excluded
. Should be a no-brainer... unless PO used 5200 as a bedding, in which case all bets are off Best of luck,
Stan & Tanya, E32-3 "Fire Eater"
I had a similar problem with the hatch on my E29, I found a hatch made by Vetus that was a good fit for the existing opening. The rub was that the fiberglass curb would have made the new hatch sit up too high for my taste. So without any better ideas I cut the curb off flush with the deck and installed the new hatch. It looks great, doesn't leak and has nice modern hardware to lock it down. Not the cheapest solution if you are on a budget.
Dave
E29 Spirit
Dave
E29 Spirit
I cut the curb flush with the deck, ala sawzall. Then finished that with a coat of epoxy to seal up the exposed fiberglass. Fortunatly the area where the curb had been is completely covered by the flange of the new hatch. The difficult part was working up the nerve to hack into the boat with the sawzall, after that was done it was easy.
Dave G
Dave G