Leaking Deck Hatches

[wjs]

We have a Wauquiez Centurion 32. There are two opening hatches/windows in the deck. Somehow rain water gets in and drips inside.
The units are original French manufacture as far as we know. The Perspex is held in it's frame with mastic (Seakflex) and the main frame is sealed to the deck with mastic. There is a round rubber seal between the opening part and the fixed frame.
Does anybody know a solution or have any suggestions, it would be very much appreciated?

 

[coopec]

View attachment 39051View attachment 39051wjs

I had that problem with my f'rd hatch. I knew I had installed it on a perfectly flat surface so I ruled that out as being the problem. I didn't think it was the "rubber seal between the opening part and the fixed frame". That left the handles. I levered off the plastic cover over the shaft and locking mechanism and tightened the nut on the shaft. That put more pressure on the rubber seal between the handle and the acrylic sheet and that seems to have fixed the leak.

 

[john_morris_uk]

It's probably no consolation, but over the years we've gradually replaced every hatch on our boat with a new Lewmar one. There's always been a hatch in the current Lewmar range that is within a few mm of the size of the old hatch we were replacing.

None of the new ones ever leak.

I've always bedded them on Sikaflex.

 

[geem]

If it's original and old check the hinges are not warn out. On our 33year old deck hatch, the hinges were worn such that the hatch didn't push onto the rubber seal when closed. New Lewmar solved the problem but was a pick to fit as the corner radius of the Lewmar was bigger. This meant we had to fill and fair the deck opening corners to get a good fit

 

[john_morris_uk]

If it's original and old check the hinges are not warn out. On our 33year old deck hatch, the hinges were worn such that the hatch didn't push onto the rubber seal when closed. New Lewmar solved the problem but was a pick to fit as the corner radius of the Lewmar was bigger. This meant we had to fill and fair the deck opening corners to get a good fit

That's interesting as I have often had to modify very slightly the openings when we have replaced hatches with new Lewmar ones, but its never been an issue never mind a 'pig to fit' which I assume is what you meant to type. Mind you I usually bought and fitted the Lewmar trim pack with blinds and bug screens at the same time so its not been a problem hiding any rough edges. (I usually cut them better than the original boat builder did anyway!)

 

[Spyro]

I had a leaking Lewmar hatch. The Perspex to frame seal was coming apart. I removed the Perspex. Cut out the old sealer and re-bedded in new sealer. Replaced the o rings on the handles. No more leaks. That was 2 years ago.

 

[prv]

We had a Lewmar forehatch which was leaking between the hatch and the frame - the rubber seal wasn't being pressed down onto the rim when it was closed, looking closely there was actually a sliver of daylight coming through. I assumed this was because something had become bent, but maybe Geem's suggestion of worn hinges is accurate - it was on the hinge side of the hatch and the boat had been heavily used in charter.

I temporarily fixed it with some self-adhesive foam strip to make the seal thicker, and that did stay dry with green water crashing onto it on a few occasions. Then I got round to replacing it with the equivalent new Lewmar hatch - which fitted in the hole fine, but all the bolt holes were in different places

Pete