Messages

https://c34.org/wiki/images/3/34/Gauge_Troubleshooting_Steps.pdf
 Gulf—Have you seen this?

STU— I assume that your statement "there is no tach signal with full batteries" does not apply if you are running an external regulator.  Or, some other wiring is set-up differently on my boat, as I have never had this issue. I run my engine with 100% SOC on batteries "all the time" and always have a tach reading.

STU—you said QUOTE: "If your batteries are full, regulators signal to the alternator that no more power is required and turn the signal to the tach off." What? Can you please explain? I have never heard of this nor experienced it before. Tach shuts-off when batteries are full??

Like most of my DIY boat projects, I achieved SUCCESS on my second try. My hatch lid is now rebuilt and withstood "historic" SoCa rain with no leaks. I did not need to rebuild or re-bed the hatch to deck, as it was fine. Just the lid: new lens, new gasket, new rollstop hinge kit and new handles. It was not a fun job. Here are some Tricks & Tips to get there easier than I did.
1. remove gasket then remove all old sealant with scraper, wire brush, scotch pad, acetone, from lid frame—whatever works for you.
2. Heat-up gasket with hair dryer or heat gun, and feed it around in frame channels slowly, a bit at a time. The channel that wraps around is easy the other one is not, This takes a lot of strength and fiddling. It helps to use small spring, ratchet or C-clamps to hold sections of gasket completed so they don't pop out while doing another sections. The corners are the most problematic. Once all is finally in place, peel back the inside inch or so at the corners dab some super glue under.

BTW- the gaskets from Hatch Masters comes by the foot while the one from Catalina Direct comes as one piece which is too long. In either case you will need to be cut to length and super glued back together once installed.
3.Make sure you identify which side of the lens is up/down. The downward face of the lens has two key/positioning holes on the to fit the handles. Check that the two key holes —which are drilled ONLY PARTIALLY through the lens—are the correct size for the handle's small locating pin to fit into. I had to VERY CAREFULLY bore mine out a bit with a drill bit. TIP: When drilling acrylic take a file and smooth off the pointy flutes of the drill bit so it doesn't grab the plastic and bite which could crack the acrylic.
4. Peel off the protective backing on the new lens, and re-tape a 2-inch edge border with painters tape. It gives better protection and a cleaner line than the factory paper backing. And easier to peel after applying sealant.
5. Once gasket is done: use Dow 795 to set/seal the lens into the channel on top of the gasket. Then add another bead of sealant into the channel around the lens. Once lens is down seated on the sealant it fits almost to size, so there is not much room to put additional sealant around the edge. But do so.
6. Pull tape after 30 mins.
7. Carefully clean up any errant Dow 795 with mineral spirits

We were experiencing some intense SPAM/BOT "attacks" recently, so our webmaster upgraded the site software yesterday. Things may change again as adjustments are being made. We should have more info on this later and hopefully post a brief tutorial.

Current: what year is your boat? It makes a difference as to whether it has any wood in the keel stub.

The standard Lewmar trapezoidal hatch lens is 1/2 inch thick. 

Test2

I bought mine from Catalina Direct. I believe they source it from Buck Algonquin.

I don't know the specifics on the MKll (as  have a MKl. However I have experience with leaking deck bolts. I would suggest you start lubing the nuts with penetrating oil days/weeks ahead of time to make it easier, or even possible to remove them. I had three acorn nuts on my chainplates that were totally frozen and I had to use a nut splitter to remove them. They were only minimally leaking but still frozen solid.

Good solution for those that aren't lucky enough to be able to sail year-round. I have talked to the folks a Select Plastics/Hatch Masters and they have been very helpful and empathetic. They said "they too struggle with every one of these old-style Lewmar gasket installs". They said it was a real PIA task and wished me luck. They suggested heating the gasket with a hairdryer and use friction clamps so it does pop out one section when you are working on another. Also use super glue to hold sections as you go. NOT FUN!

See photos below:
Gaps once installed the first time. There are two "channels/tabs" on rubber gasket and two in the aluminum hatch extrusion. I can only seat the rubber into one of the channels. Too stiff to feed into outside channel without it popping out of the other one. The hatch frame is one piece.

Has anyone (successfully) replaced the lens and gasket on their Lewmar rollstop model trapezoidal foredeck hatch. My hatch was not leaking but the lens was terribly crazed. I opted to buy the "parts" and do it myself . Firstly, because I didn't want to wait the 6-week lead time quoted to me by Select Plastics/Hatch Masters AND I thought "what the heck, it can't be that hard for a savvy boat worker guy like me." WRONG!  I am oly doing the hatch lid. I can't seen to get the gasket to conform all the way flush into the corner radius on the hatch lid. Anyone have any tips/tricks for dealing with this particular hatch model? So far I have been really fighting it having installed it once, with visual gaps in gasket corners—after seated and bedded with Dow 795. It passed the SoCa historic 4.5 inch in 3-days rain test last week, not leaking. But it was covered with a Sunbrella hatch cover. Once I removed cover a did the aggressive hose test, it leaked. So I removed it and started over. Now on round two. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I would think Corian is probably heavier than our MKl Formica fridge inserts? If so, hinges might be a nice enhancement? 

  Belt and suspenders.