Crazed port lights and hatches, Any fix other than replacement?

[mainsail1]

Until now I have replaced crazed hatches and port lights but now I am wondering whether there is a simple fix that I have missed?

 

[chris-s]

Often the lense can be replaced, we did all of ours over the winter.
If it’s just scratches and hazing, then headlight polishing kits might help.

 

[onesea]

Mums Aluminium polish and a soft buffer pad, works on headlights.

 

[Beneteau381]

Until now I have replaced crazed hatches and port lights but now I am wondering whether there is a simple fix that I have missed?

I’ve tried polishing Lewmar portlights,it works but thins them a bit. A mate in Portugal has just done his Dufour, it works ok ish but thinned them by a mm. He is now fitting neoprene string seals, Dufour had Lewmar make some odd ball sizes, parts no longer available! They have the integrated closers on them so you cant get sheet Perspex cut like I did eventually. I did an article for PBO a couple of months back. Replacing crazed boat portlights - Practical Boat Owner

 

[johnalison]

Mums Aluminium polish and a soft buffer pad, works on headlights.

The crazing is in the body of my Lewmar hatches and ports, so no amount of polishing will remove it.

 

[Beneteau381]

The crazing is in the body of my Lewmar hatches and ports, so no amount of polishing will remove it.

I know but it is in the surface layer. It can be “polished” out but at a risk of losing a mm of thickness

 

[mjcoon]

I know but it is in the surface layer. It can be “polished” out but at a risk of losing a mm of thickness

Removing an even 1mm thickness (whether just on the outside surface or 0.5mm inside and out) sounds like a tricky bit of machining akin to polishing a telescope mirror!

 

[mainsail1]

In this day and age, why do they even make windows on expensive hatches that craze within 5 years? Surely there is a product that would do a better job?

 

[Slowboat35]

Is there really no treatment that will flow into the crazing and remove it like invisible car windscreen crack-mending systems do?

 

[mrangry]

Is there really no treatment that will flow into the crazing and remove it like invisible car windscreen crack-mending systems do?

Unlikely as there will be dirt and contaminants within the cracks

 

[rogerthebodger]

Some time ago I tried to fix crazed Perspex with Cptn Tollies sealer, and it failed to suck itself into the cracks and just stayed on the surface

scratches can be polished out but crazing cannot as a craze is all the way through the thickness

 

[Bandit]

Two materials you can use to replace crazed Perspex :
Perspex but it will develop craze again
Polycarbonate/ Lexan much stronger does not craze as perspex does, it is used in security and bullet proof glass.
Try breaking two off cuts one of Perspex and the other of polycarbonate/ Lexan . P Lexan is so strong.
The problem is Polycarbonate/Lexan is softer a scratches so utmost care is required.
Both are easy to cut and champher.

 

[mainsail1]

I wonder if I could use toughened glass cut to size?

 

[Sandy]

In this day and age, why do they even make windows on expensive hatches that craze within 5 years? Surely there is a product that would do a better job?

Do you not have hatch covers?

 

[penberth3]

Is there really no treatment that will flow into the crazing and remove it like invisible car windscreen crack-mending systems do?

That's likely to make crazing worse, so the answer is "no".

 

[mainsail1]

Do you not have hatch covers?

Does anyone have hatch covers? I would think they would just blow off in a strong wind. Anyway, I expect a hatch product to to be stabilised against UV. Lewmar hatches are expensive enough to have the best technology but they obviously don't.

 

[Beneteau381]

Does anyone have hatch covers? I would think they would just blow off in a strong wind. Anyway, I expect a hatch product to to be stabilised against UV. Lewmar hatches are expensive enough to have the best technology but they obviously don't.

Exactly right about Lewmar, my wife made cloth covers for ours with draw strings that nip around and under the edges.

 

[mjcoon]

Exactly right about Lewmar, my wife made cloth covers for ours with draw strings that nip around and under the edges.

Ooh, nice follow-on from Victorian modesty wraps to hide salacious furniture legs from sight, and fluffy covers for toilet lids to sit naked and dry your feet out of the bath...

 

[Sandy]

Does anyone have hatch covers? I would think they would just blow off in a strong wind. Anyway, I expect a hatch product to to be stabilised against UV. Lewmar hatches are expensive enough to have the best technology but they obviously don't.

I know I do. I can't sleep with light streaming through the deck hatches on a long passage after a 0300 - 0600 watch.

The cover has a bit of bungy cord round the edge that is threaded through the hinge, just in case that F8 wind or the big green wave does not take it away.

Nothing is stabilised for UV given the amount of time it is exposed to it.

 

[SaltyC]

I do. There's always one!
Canvas covers with Bungy under the hatch rim (Older style not flush hatches) always put on when I leave the boat or as Sandy says if I need a dark cabin to sleep during the day.