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How to break caulk seal on E33 sea hood to replace acrylic hatch slider.

floydp

New Member
Any suggestions on how to break caulk seal on sea hood after screws are removed on E33 or similar boat? Notice there is no way to get under the edge of the sea hood with a putty knife. I am afraid of breaking the fiberglass sea hood.

Floyd E33 003seahood3.jpg
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
I have removed/rebedded the frp sea hood on my boat. After withdrawing all of the screws, I recall that the sealant was stubborn and required a thin blade to be slowly worked into the seam. The seam on ours is a slightly different design, tho. The white rubbery sealant that EY was using in the late 80's was good stuff.
I wonder if the solvent product "debond" might help here if applied judiciously? (Disclaimer: I have not personally tried this product.)
 

Nick J

Sustaining Member
Moderator
Blogs Author
I've used this stuff to remove some old hardware bedded with 5200. It's worth it's weight in gold.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Marine deBond best I could find for ancient vinyl letters on hull and for old caulk under fittings.

But I wish somebody would be the guinea pig on this one, which claims to defeat 3M 5200.

 

Sean Engle

Your Friendly Administrator
Administrator
Founder
how to break caulk seal on sea hood after screws are removed on E33 or similar boat? Notice there is no way to get under the edge of the sea hood with a putty knife. I am afraid of breaking the fiberglass sea hood.
This sounds like an excellent topic for a Blog.... Hummm. :egrin:

//sse
 

markvone

Sustaining Member
Hi Floyd,

Another option is to apply heat to soften the caulk. I would start at the aft end and use a wedge on the aluminum plexi slider track to SLOWLY push up while heating the aft-most 6-12 inches of caulk. If you have the teak trim piece covering the gap between the aft edge of the sea hood and the plexi slider I would take if off BEFORE prying against the sea hood. Mine has 5 screws holding it on.

Mark
 

hodo

Member III
I used a fiberglass pry bar, and wooden wedges, starting at the aft end. took a little time, a heat gun, on low. Expect a lot of cleanup. This was on the e 38.
 

floydp

New Member
Sea hood came off using wedges, as suggested, and a cheap tool used to open paint cans. It was small enough to fit in the opening to assist the wedges. Thanks for the assistance!

Unfortunately, removing the sea hood did not give me access to the acrylic hatch slider stops. Violently pushing up on the back side of the slider while a second person pulled the hatch slider toward the stern freed the slider. Installed new acrylic panel pushing up and in. Don't know if this arrangement is common (Mine is a 33), but I would suggest trying the above approach first before removing the sea hood.

Thanks for the help.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
On the E381, the sliding hatch pulls right out when two companionway stops are removed.

The traveler, however, is bolted to the sea hood, which complicates getting the hood off.

Ericson 381 sliding hatch stops.JPG
 
Last edited:

garryh

Member III
from my reading, the product 'Unhesive' is superior to Debond. I have a sample here but have not gotten into the job. Lots of info on it though. It apparently does not attack the adhesive itself but rather the bond to the substrate. Also water soluble.
 

garryh

Member III
'the job' being cleaning up a set of six Lewmar (formerly) opening ports that I have just acquired at a very nominal price that have been brutalized with every single type of adhesive and sealant known to mankind... including the dreaded sillycones.
Goop on top of goop on top of goop, three of them completely glued shut (and probably still leaking)
Rather than just replacing the seals and having functional opening ports.
 

Bill Baum

Member II
Floydp - I have an Ericson 33, hull #5, very close to yours. Glad you got the seahood off. I first did it like others - working from the aft end with wedges, careful about the teak trim piece on the seahood. If you would like I'd like to share contact information - there are so few E33's that I think there is value to being in touch. My name is Bill Baum, bill.sail0@gmail.com. We've owned our boat 20 years, and have cruised pretty extensively.
Have you ever had to work on your mast step, specifically the wide port/starboard rib on which the mast step itself sits? I just entered a Forum Post yesterday with pictures call "Help please - mast step collapsing!"
 

shepherdsond

Member I
Hi Floyd,
This information is too late to help you but I did this job on my E33RH last November when the sliding hatch cracked. I was able to remove the sliding hatch easily after I removed one of the aluminum tracks that the hatch slides under. I was surprised by what appears to be a very poor design for the hatch and hood assembly. Water is trapped in the groove around the edge of the sea hood (where the bead of sealant can be seen in the photo below). and will surely work its way into the wood core since the sea hatch wood screw holes are not sealed in any way.

sliding hatch.jpg
 
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