Replacing Sliding Coachroof hatches on a 80's Beneteau First 345

jonrarit

jonrarit

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A year ago I started looking into replacing the sliding coach roof hatches on my Beneteau First 345 (1985) as the originals were badly sun grazed and cracked

Turns out Beneteau no longer make them and they wanted over £1400 (+VAT) for the remaining one they had in stock.

The windows were easy but as the hatches are curved it turns out to be a very difficult process to form them correctly, however in collaboration with a local plastics company, one year later (and huge leap of faith) we have just succeeded in making new ones.

Pictures attached which really don't do them justice as to how good they look and I am delighted with the result. :cool:

Now I cant be the only owner of an 80's Beneteau who has faced this problem and the good news is as part of the process I now own all the jigs and formers. If anyone is out there thinking of doing the same, please drop me a line as I may well be able to help with the jigs and point you in the right direction.

JR

PS I believe the same hatches were used in other Firsts of that era too

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Not sure yet Andy ....still waiting on the final bill for the forming and materials ..... gulp :dread:
 
JumbleDuck said:
Nice work. Has to be worth a letter to PBO, surely?
Click to expand...

You'd of thought so ..... but got an email back from PBO saying they only publish generic "How to" articles and not "make specific ones"

Not to worry I'm sure anyone facing this task will do some googling which leads them to this thread pretty easily

JR
 
Yes it does Pete. Fantastic for open air lunches when it's just too cool/windy to have lunch on deck :)
 
It's designed really quite well. The hatches are curved so the water runs to the sides into the aluminium extruded sliders which in turn have rain channels that drain out onto the deck. Not a drop below :)
 
I chartered one of those with Sunsail in 1987 - there must be loads of ex-charter boats in the Med but have never seen one in the UK - maybe the Greek yards would be interested.
 
jonrarit said:
A year ago I started looking into replacing the sliding coach roof hatches on my Beneteau First 345 (1985) as the originals were badly sun grazed and cracked

Turns out Beneteau no longer make them and they wanted over £1400 (+VAT) for the remaining one they had in stock.

The windows were easy but as the hatches are curved it turns out to be a very difficult process to form them correctly, however in collaboration with a local plastics company, one year later (and huge leap of faith) we have just succeeded in making new ones.

Pictures attached which really don't do them justice as to how good they look and I am delighted with the result. :cool:

Now I cant be the only owner of an 80's Beneteau who has faced this problem and the good news is as part of the process I now own all the jigs and formers. If anyone is out there thinking of doing the same, please drop me a line as I may well be able to help with the jigs and point you in the right direction.

JR

PS I believe the same hatches were used in other Firsts of that era too

View attachment 48868View attachment 48869View attachment 48870
Click to expand...
Jonrarit I'm currently trying to do this and would love any advice. Running into issues getting the plexi out of the slider track. Have an '83 First 345. Thanks!
 
The end caps at the aft end have a holding screw inside the track. These are often seized though. Once off the hatch “stop bars” just lift out vertically after which the hatch can be slid out to the rear
 
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