Bomar Hatches

[DDFryer1973]

I have a Cape Dory 33 1981 model. The hatches need some attention. How do you determine if they are worth refinishing? Some say they can be removed and sand blasted and Powder coated. Does the aluminum reach a point to where that is not going to work? Will refinishing lead to leak issues? I checked with Pompano and new hatches are around $3800. Darla

[Jim Walsh]

The Bomar latch dog assembly and the hatch riser arms are readily available and the smoked lens can also be replaced if desired or necessary. The cast aluminum frame can be professionally refinished, or you can perform the work yourself by spraying or brushing paint. The Bomar 9/16” gasket material is available by the foot and comes with a stripe of adhesive already applied to save you the trouble of using contact cement.
There are companies such as hatchmasters.com which will do some or all of the work for you or there is always the option of purchasing new replacements.
The hatches are held in place with a series of screws on the outside surface of the frame and the use of small wooden wedges, and a little patience, makes removal fairly easy. The lens portion of the hatch may be removed while leaving the frame in place by using a punch to remove a couple roll pins from the exterior hinges. The stainless roll pins are available from most any hardware store should you decide to replace them, or if one bounces into the water during the removal process, as happened to me.
You have lots of options, good luck.

[Cathy Monaghan]

Your Bomar 100 Series Cast Aluminum hatches are the best hatches money can buy and are well worth reconditioning.

Ditto what Jim wrote. Also, when re-installing them, use a good bedding compound (NOT 3M 5200) or tri-butyl tape.

[Steve Laume]

I Painted my hatches with Rustolium rattle cans a few years ago and they seem to be holding up well. I also replaced the gasket. I now realize that the bedding around the lens is leaking. The lens looks good enough to reuse or if not, it will be easy enough to replace. My question is what to use for re bedding the lens.

You will not find a better replacement for those hatches. They are a bombproof thing of beauty.

[Jim Walsh]

I Painted my hatches with Rustolium rattle cans a few years ago and they seem to be holding up well. I also replaced the gasket. I now realize that the bedding around the lens is leaking. The lens looks good enough to reuse or if not, it will be easy enough to replace. My question is what to use for re bedding the lens.

You will not find a better replacement for those hatches. They are a bombproof thing of beauty.

Black Dow 795 sealant is what I have read most often.

[Frenchy]

I used GE SilPruf SCS2000, which I think was recommended by the Lexan manufacturer. It's 100% silicone. - Jean

[John Stone]

I would be reluctant to powder-coat them. When powder-coat gets compromised, and eventually it will, the corrosion works under the coating. Then the whole thing starts to fail. There is not much of anything you can do to correct it. pretty much has to be stripped and reblasted. Awl-grip or similar two part LPU paint is the way to go in my opinion.

When I rebuild the Far Reach I removed both hatches and tosssd the lexan. I had the frames sandblasted and then painted them with Awlgrip. Then I sent the frames to Hatchmasters. I had them install tinted acrylic glass and specified 3/8" thick vice the original 1/4" lexan. The acrylic is harder than lexan and by making them thicker the "glass" stands proud of the frame. In addition to installing the acrylic glass they also installed new gaskets. They came back like new.

As others have said these hatches are very strong. Take care removing them so you don't bend the frames.

[sgbernd]

I did my Bomars 15 odd years ago. It was quite a bit of work but they came out pretty nice. Make a temporary replacement out of plywood or something which can be securely mounted so you can remove the hatch frames and take them home and work on them in the garage and not have to worry about security or water ingress. I used plywood to cover the hole and a 2x4 inside connected with a threaded rod to secure them in place.

I stripped mine, wire brushed them down to bare metal, acid washed to etch the corrosion pits, then primed them with zinc chromate. Then I took the primed frames to the auto body shop and had them sprayed with marine paint. New lenses glazed, edpm seals, remounted, and they looked really good and didn't leak. They are now starting to fade and dull and some corrosion is returning but should last a few more years before they need to be done again.

I'd recommend this as a winter project when you can't use the boat anyway as it will take quite a while to complete but is very manageable

Steve Bernd

[Cathy Monaghan]

When Pompanette was still selling Bomar hatch rebuild kits, it came with a tube of Sudbury Elastomeric Sealant (black) to reglaze the acrylic lens. Rather than an elastomeric you should use one of the many black silicone sealants, just read the label and make sure it is waterproof as well as U.V., chemical and solvent resistant and can be used on both metal and plastic. Do NOT use polyurethane caulk/sealant.

Star Brite Marine Grade Silicone Sealant
BoatLife LifeSeal

We repainted one of our hatches with Rust-oleum as well.

I Painted my hatches with Rustolium rattle cans a few years ago and they seem to be holding up well. I also replaced the gasket. I now realize that the bedding around the lens is leaking. The lens looks good enough to reuse or if not, it will be easy enough to replace. My question is what to use for re bedding the lens.

You will not find a better replacement for those hatches. They are a bombproof thing of beauty.

[RichardM]

I redid the Bomar hatch years ago and it has been great. Used Dow 795 with 3M VHB tape between the Bomar frame and the lexan lens. There are several sources for the Lexan lens and it should be ordered with the radiused corners. Painted the frame with "high performance" Rustoleum spray can after wire brushing frame. Hatch has held up well.

[Steve Laume]

Thanks for the bedding material advice.

I thought, finding the Lexan would be pretty easy. I did some searching and couldn't seem to find a bronze or smoked Leaxn for the lenses. I also don't want to buy a huge sheet but could easily cut the stuff to size.

Does anybody have any current sources for the material in smaller sheets?

I figure I might as well replace the lenses while I have things apart.

Thank you, Steve.

[Jim Walsh]

Thanks for the bedding material advice.

I thought, finding the Lexan would be pretty easy. I did some searching and couldn't seem to find a bronze or smoked Leaxn for the lenses. I also don't want to buy a huge sheet but could easily cut the stuff to size.

Does anybody have any current sources for the material in smaller sheets?

I figure I might as well replace the lenses while I have things apart.

Thank you, Steve.

Mystic Mirror and Plate Glass had Lexan in stock a few years ago when I replaced the mirror in my head. They are used to boat projects and may have more familiarity with Lexan than most glass places. Worth a shot 860-415-6801.

[keneasley]

I've bought plexiglass from Tap Plastics a few times. Most recently for replacing some portlights.

https://www.tapplastics.com/

They have Acrylic (Plexiglass) and Polycarbonate (Lexan)
They will cut it to size very accurately
They have different tints and shades of darkness
They also do rounded edges, radius corners, and will drill holes

https://www.tapplastics.com/product/pla ... colors/519

My portlights were really bad so I replaced with acrylic that I attached with 3M VHB (very high bond) Tape # 4991 (1/2 " wide) and Dow Corning 795 to seal the edges. Someday maybe I'll replace them with real Spartan bronze ports but these are fine for now and do not leak a drop.

Port_LIght_2.JPG

[RichardM]

Also used TAP Plastics https://www.tapplastics.com/product/pla ... sheets/516 and the workmen ship and prices were excellent. As mentioned previously installed the Lexan sheet lens with 3M VHB tape and dow 795 sealant and performance of the refurbished Bomar hatch has been excellent.

[DDFryer1973]

Thank you all so much for your help. So after reading these suggestions I think I am going to tackle refinishing/refurbish myself. I got a quote from HatchMasters and for the 139Medium they want $502 just to replace lens and gaskets, they do not do the metal refinishing. After looking at the suggested web site for lens replacement that should be about $36.00. I have a few more questions. Are there going to be any major surprises or problems in removing the hatches? Are the screws easy to remove? What other prep work will I have to do to the boat side before I reinstall the hatches? I am pretty positive that I am dealing with the original 1981 Cape Dory install. Some of you have mentioned wire brushing the old paint off? No sandpaper? The Pompanette web site does not really list any parts. Where do I source the gaskets? Also, we are approaching Hurricane season and what should I put on the hatch and how, while I am working on the hatch?