Hatch cover

[Lee Kaufman]

How should the hatch cover be bedded and attached. I have noticed that the rear (stern) end of the hatch cover was loose. I vowed to fix it. There was foam weather stripping around the cover. I removed and replaced it. The 1/2" screws were not long enough to reattach the cover. I got longer screws. They were long enough to hit the sliding cover. Replaced the weather stripping with thinner stuff. Still the 1/2" screws will not bed properly.

How should this be done? Should the cover be bedded in a silicone bead or what?

All help appreciated.

[Carl Thunberg]

Lee,

It took me a while to figure out exactly what you were describing, but I think I have it now . Sorry, I'm a bit slow sometimes. I believe you're talking about the screws that go through the flange of the turtle shell (i.e. stationary piece of the two-piece companionway slide) and into the two slotted teak trim pieces that the sliding cover rides in. There shouldn't be any weatherstripping there. Take a close look at how the turtle shell works. There are two parallel teak trim pieces. There's the slotted piece and then one more trim piece inboard of the slotted piece. It's that inboard trim piece that keeps water from entering the companionway. The molded fiberglass ridge that the slotted trim mounts onto has drain holes to let the water out. Bottom line, these screws don't need to be watertight. The screws just hold the turtle shell down. When I re-bedded my turtle shell, I put a continuous bead of polysulfide caulk on the leading edge only. There are others who only caulk the screw holes.

One more thing. Since you installed larger screws, the wood may be stripped out and you may not get the screws to bite. You may need to fill the screw holes with epoxy and drill a new pilot hole for the screws.

I hope this helps. Carl

[Lee Kaufman]

You got it right. The problem was not your understanding, but my inability to explain. I agree that I might have to pack and redrill the holes. May I ask, what is polysulfide caulk? Will silicon do or is it forbidden?

Thanks for the help.

[Carl Thunberg]

Lee,

I'm not really up on the chemistry of different caulking compounds. I recommend you search the archives and you'll find much discussion about the different types of caulks and their various applications. I use Boatlife Lifecalk as a bedding compound, which is a polysulfide based caulk. It comes in various colors. For wood to wood joints (e.g. toerail/rubrail joint) I use the teak brown. For just about everything else I use white. I have never personally used marine silicone, so I really have no basis for saying it will or won't work in this application. Again, check out the archives.

There's a very good discussion about caulking technique in a thread entitled "Running The Bead . . . . . " This thread was from about a month ago. Good luck.

Carl

Carl