We have 2 Lewmar hatches that appear to be leaking from around where they were placed into the hull. Of course one is over my side of the bed. We have had hatches leak before on our previous boat but it was always from the seal or hinges. Anyone else experience this?
Also, several of our “water tight” compartments on the deck are not. The ones that leak have lids similar to the back sugar scoops and nothing stays salt free or dry. It is very annoying. I am not very technical so hopefully this makes sense.
I have just replaced the entire hatch over one of the bathrooms because of a mystery leak. My boat is older ,so I do not think this would apply to a brand new boat. When we removed the frame, suprise !, it had been done before and there were chunks of fiberglass missing near the screw holes. I imagine a former owner simply drilled as best he could when he replaced the hatch frame but did no fiberglass repair. I repaired the gouges with 3 M premium filler and put two coats of gelcoat even though it would not be visible. No more leaks! (at least for now)
I think we have different hatches. Ours are Lewmar but they are raised. Your leaks might be coming from the handles or levers that secure the hatches. Patrick and I had to adjust a few hatches when we receive the boat and we always make sure we close with a very tight seal. But we did notice that we had to replace a latch handle because the water was getting through. We also use hatch covers. This has that has helped with sun deterioration of the hatch components protected and keeps the boat cooler. We purchased the hatch covers from Amazon Ocean South brand . They are Lewmar compatible hatch covers and they hold up pretty well.
There are 2 standard places that the hatches leak.
The first is from the 2 screws that attach the hinge to the perspex top. It is a compression spring, so it’s constantly pushing the outside up. This creates a leak. 2 things you can do.. unscrew the 2 screws, then remove the outside piece that the screws go into. Clean it, dry it, then a dob of fixtech 15, or your favourite sealant. The sealant should be on the outside piece. Then reinstall. I usually only loose tighten them, then 24 hours later snug them nice and tight. You are screwing into plastic, do don’t kill it. There is a stainless screw in the middle of the hinge. This seems to control the spring that increases or decreases the ability of the hinge to hold the hatch open. I have backed mine off, as it pushes the attachments out a d creates leaks.
The second place is in the join of the seal. The seal is not a continuous ring, it’s a strip that is glued together. The rubber contracts a little as it ages, so the join split. There will often be a gap of a few mm in the seal where the 2 ends have come apart. This is also totally repairable. Once again, your favourite sealant. In Australia, fixtech15 is great for this. It’s what is used to join the ends in the first place. Sculpt the sealant into the gap with your finger. Ensure you get sealant right through. The split goes right around to the outside. Once it’s the right shape, clean your finger with metho, then place 1 piece of cling wrap over your join and gently close the hatch. Give it 24 hours then remove the cling wrap. The cling wrap allows your join to mould perfectly to the hatch sill.
We have had hatches leak before on our previous boat but it was always from the seal or hinges. Anyone else experience this?