Repair Cracks All Around Hatch

[Pembquist]

These cracks prompted me to consider just getting the next size up Bomar hatch till I saw the price. Contemplating repairing the cracks with the hatch removed and thinking about rebuilding hatch I am a little on the fence but regardless of my dilemma I wanted to ask if how I plan to fix the cracks sounds correct. (I hope I am not overposting.) I plan to sand / grind off the gelcoat at the crack region, lay in some new fabric with epoxy, fair it and paint it, only painting the flat molded section the hatch sits on. Is there any reason why I shouldn't thru bolt the hatch rather than use screws? I plan to bed it with butyl tape that I got from that 'Maine Sail' guy and I'm not sure if the screws squeeze well enough. The hatch itself probably has the original acrylic in it so I might as well replace that, paint the frame, replace the gasket. Contemplating the work I imagine just cutting the hole to the bigger size and putting in a new hatch and selling the old one. A larger Bomar is 1000 but a Lewmar Ocean series is 'only' 600. How would you do this repair. 2 photos below to show extend of cracking.

[Vincent]

I have removed both of my Bomar hatches. I have overdrilled all the holes and dremeled out anything theat looked marginal. I also used the dremel to get the silicone caulk out. That stuff is the work of the devil. I am going to fill the gaps and the holes with thickened epoxy and then re drill the holes. I don't have the gel coat cracking to the same extent. Butyl Renee also. My hatches were corroding so they got sanded down, primed with aluminum primer, then multiple coats of Brightside one part polyurethane brushed on. That looks like it was sprayed on when I thin it a bit. I thought I would deal with the plexiglass later if I needed to. I didn't think to use bolts on the hatch. I planned to dip the screws in epoxy before screwing them down. A new hatch is pretty tempting when you are sanding and painting the old ones. And I tried to get the bolts off for the hatch holders. Broke the first one. It took days of dremel and drilling to remove the bolt. The rest are there forever.
Sorry this doesn't answer your question completely. I guess I would dremel out the cracks and reinforce as you plan. I have to paint my deck anyway, I was going to deal with the gel coat cracks when I do that.

[Steve Laume]

"Is there any reason why I shouldn't thru bolt the hatch rather than use screws?"
I thru bolted my head in place because it was held in place with four lags. It sees some serious loads with a 200 lb person sitting on it. Your hatch has a whole mess of screws and the caulk would probably hold it in place. Thru bolts would be hideously ugly and possibly dangerous on the inside. That should be reason enough.

"I planned to dip the screws in epoxy before screwing them down."
I suppose you never expect anyone to take this apart ever again. It is cause for much profanity when a PO uses 5200. Please don't epoxy your fasteners in place. It creates bad karma and will come back to haunt you.

I think the Bowmar hatches are well worth the effort it takes to recondition them and it is probably less work than trying to fit a different hatch that will never be quite right because the boat was not built for it.

Some puns may have been intended, Steve.

[Keith]

I second Steve's comment. Please Please don't epoxy in the screws!!! Screws into the reenforced deck area around the hatch are more than adequate to compress the butyl rubber and hold the hatch in place in any sea conditions. You simply have to come back and torque them a few times. The warmed the weather the less times you have t torque.

Keith

[hilbert]

"I planned to dip the screws in epoxy before screwing them down."
I suppose you never expect anyone to take this apart ever again. It is cause for much profanity when a PO uses 5200. Please don't epoxy your fasteners in place. It creates bad karma and will come back to haunt you.

If you coat the screws with mold release wax then the epoxy will fill in all the spaces around the threads, but not stick to the screw.
This has worked well for me. I've read that Pam or Crisco is fine, but I have not tried them.

Jonathan