After market plastic hatches

Anyone tried these?? Sounds like there are number of folks with leaky hatch problems. I wonder if these plastic hatches are a viable replacement. And since I have yet made even a single cut, should I plan to install this type instead of dealing with cutting and forming the stock hatches.....?

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RE: After market plastic hatches

I added plastic hatches to my boat and have gotten good results. Mainly for the larger openings, but also because the foam strips and thumb latches seemed destined to fail.

The hatches I used are made by KayakSport purchased through a local small boat shop. Black was the only color I found but I was willing to trade practical for cosmetic.

Any questions, contact me.

[email protected]

RE: After market plastic hatches

Hey Justyn,

 

 Thanks for the info. Did you plan to put the plastic hatches in or was it an after thought due to failure of the designed hatches. I am building Shearwater 17 from plans and like the look and increased function of the plastic twist on hatches. I guess my biggest concern is if their will be enough room to reach through the hole to tape and seal the inside shear panel.


Harlan

RE: After market plastic hatches

Harlan - I put the Sea-Lect (f/k/a SeaDog) hatches on a SW17 (8" round as a day hatch, 10" round as a front hatch and 18x11 oval out back).  That worked well, and the back deck is flat enough that you probably wont need to plan ahead.  However, if you're adding an additional bulkhead for a day hatch, you should try to do it early on when you have easy access to the interior of the hull.  If you will recess the hatches (as opposed to just bolting them down on the deck), it will be much easier - maybe necessary - to tackle that prior to joining the deck and hull.  Bottom line though is that you can do the back hatch(es) whenever you'd like.  The front is going to take more planning.  I initially thought the deck might flatten out enough to mount a hatch, but at least on my hull, it didn't really happen, and it certainly won't flatten out in the optimal place for a hatch (you'll be really far forward). That may necessitate creating a flat recess in the front deck and you will want to do it earlier rather than later.  I did my recesses in 'glass and carbon, and they look very good, but wooden recesses would have been much easier for me and still could have looked great.  By the way, the hatches are 100% watertight - zero leakage from day one.  Best of luck with the project.

-ZC

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