New forehatch

The old hatch was fairly knackered, to use a technical term.  The aluminium was corroded, one of the safety bars was loose, and it leaked. 

The old hatch

Part of this was due to a fundamentally flawed design that seemed made to hold a pool of water against the seal, so rather than use an identical replacement (Houdini hatches are still available) I sourced a new design from Gebo, handily made to fit in exactly the same cut-out.

Nothing’s quite that simple, as naturally the holes weren’t in the same place.  Other than a bit of drilling, the replacement was surprisingly straightforward for what had at first seemed a daunting job.   A good thing, as it was a freezing day with frost on the decks.  I bedded it down in non-setting Butyl mastic (brilliant –much easier than Sikaflex). 

New and improved! Might add a bit of non-slip.

As well as being leak-proof (I hope), the new hatch is much smarter, can be opened from on deck, and has the luxury of friction hinges: no more propping it open with a bit of wood!

Another step towards civilisation.