Westerly Centaur Hatch Rails - What Are These?

[Jokani]

My Westerly Centaur hatch leaks and I am about to remove the wood that the hatch sits on to refurbish it, and then re-bed and hopefully cure the leaks.

The hatch rails have these bits of plastic in them, there are mutiple bits, I'm unsure if they were originally one piece and have broken:

My questions are:

1. Do these bits of plastic have a name?
2. What is there purpose?
3. Where can I buy some?

TIA

 

[Bilgediver]

I have a 1974 model with those rails and in my case the shoes on the hatch rest on the alloy section. Maybe a previous owner had some sort of problem , certainly there seems to be a few additional holes in the slide section. This could have resulted in the previous owner fitting a wear strip. There a few materials that would be suitable.

It is possible this wear strip was original equipment on some Centaurs. What age is yours?

 

[Jokani]

I have a 1974 model with those rails and in my case the shoes on the hatch rest on the alloy section. Maybe a previous owner had some sort of problem , certainly there seems to be a few additional holes in the slide section. This could have resulted in the previous owner fitting a wear strip. There a few materials that would be suitable.

It is possible this wear strip was original equipment on some Centaurs. What age is yours?

Thanks, knowing that they are called 'wear strips' is a big help, it led to me ordering some of this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163620276889

Which may do the job, if thick enough.

Also good to know that a wear strip isn't 100% essential, although even with the old ones the hatch has previously jammed and I had to escape via the front hatch.

Mine is a 1976 vintage.

Thanks again for your post, really helpful!

 

[wallacebob]

A quick post on WOA will get a complete answer, but I think some owners fitted HDPE or Nylon to smooth the sliding. Search the wiki or old WOA forum may bring up the answer, with correct material and dimensions.

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

Mine was 1976 (CR1279).
From memory (what's left of it ) the hatch used to slide on metal strips. I remember that they used to get quite hot in summer and, when sometimes I accidentally happened to lay my forearm on them, I quickly jerked it away.

 

[Dukester52]

Hi Gary

Sounds like an interesting project and something I may have to tackle in the near future. I'd be very interested to read how you get on!! I don't suppose you'd keep us posted?

Thanks in advance

AL

 

[Bilgediver]

The thickness depends on the clearance of the sliding shoe when lifted upwards. Mine move about 1 mm if fitting thicker material you may have to file down the sliding feet. Some sort of nylon or polyurethane strip might be OK