Sliding Hatch Cover Removal??

[Mike McDonald]

Has anyone removed the sliding hatch cover?  If so, what is the process - what has to be removed to get it off.  I want to inspect the area for possible cabin top leaks, but can see in there.  I would also like to clean the whole area to smooth out the sliding action.  By the way, it is a 1987 model.  I welcome your thoughts on this.  Thanks.
Mike....

[Ralph Masters]

If you look very carefully along the edges of the two boards covering the edges of the sliding hatch you can see some wood plugs.  These cover the screws that hold those on.  You have to drill out those plugs to get to the screws to remove the sea rails.  Not a job for the faint of heart.

Ralph
Ciao Bella

[Ron Hill]

Mike : Yes Ralph is correct, step #1 is to remove the wooden plugs and the the 7ft+ long teak wooden strips.

That's where I stopped - as you still can NOT remove the overhead fixed cover or the slider!!

Are you sure you really need to take this task on?   A thought  

[lazybone]

I remove mine every winter.

I replaced the four screws with glassed in bolts thru to the inside.

Loosen the nuts pull them off and take them home to recoat the teak at my leasure during the winter.

(all my teak is removable)

[Mike McDonald]

Ron,
I'm not sure I really need to take it off.  I'm trying everything else first.  Previous owner had a  radar monitor mounted to the overhead, above the galley sink, just starboard of the handhold/grabrail. I removed it in the Spring and don't intend to put it back in.  At least one of the mounting screws went all the way through, causing a small leak.  I caulked the one through hole that I found, trying to force the caulk all the way to the top of the core and through the outer layer of fiberglass, and am hoping that was the main source of my cabin top leak.  It is nearly centered, near the grab rail above the sink.  It may have been channeling water through the core to the port and starboard dorade vent holes.  I'm hoping.  If that's not it, I'll keep looking. As I mentioned in another thread, I already removed and re-bedded the traveler. The dorade vents were removed by the previous owner and capped off.  Perhaps, because of the leaks?? I'd like to install new dorades at some point, but want to insure that my cabin top leaks are resolved first. Thanks to all for the great feedback!
Mike.....

[John Langford]

I just repaced the sealant on the companionway hatch cover of my MK II using 3M 4200. The original sealant formed a U-cshape which collected grime and water and was beginning to lose elasticity and leak. Because the sealant channel is so deep I used different sizes of plastic garden drip hose and small dimension line as a base for about 1/2 inch of sealant. It is a bit of a messy job (cleaning out the old sealant is not that much fun) but it is nice to bring the sealant "up to grade" and get rid of the trough in which bad things tended to fester.

[Fred Koehlmann]

We also have the MkII and co-incidently also rebedded the hatch cover. However I believe the MkII is quite different from earlier models at the hatch. The removal was resonably easy. I did it all at anchor (while on vacation) on a sunny day.

Used a cordless drill to zip of the screws holding it down. Carefully pulled the hatch out aftwards and supported is sideways in the cockpit. Then aslo pull the hatch cover out aftwards, careful to support the two protruding sides and supported is sideways on the other side of the cockpit. There was all sorts of crud under the hood to be cleaned out. What I also discovered is that the gutters only flowed aft from a certain point. The water all pooled at the forward end of the gutters. Had I been on shore, I would have gotten the epoxy and thickener and had gravity fill it in the gutters level aft the front, then add a bit to slope back. Oh well, next time.

As it was, it was going to rain the next day, and after cleaning the crud out, the sun nicely dried things up, so I just cleaned the cover and hatch and screwed them back in place. I also used a 3M product to seal it. Be careful you don't use an adhesive (sealant only), you'll want to re-do the caulking the next time it fails and adhesive is a real pain to clean out. I didn't use any line to pre-caulk. My space seemed narrow enough.

Now the water doesn't flow backwards into the cockpit, on the cushions and your butt! Sweet.

[Jim Hardesty]

I have a MKll, rebeded the hatch as in the above post.  Found the same issues with the addition of interference with the hatch and deck as it slides open.  Sanded off a lot of gelcoat to get it sliding free.  Replaced the teflon? tape.  Works great for 4 seasons. 
Hope Catalina has switched sealant.  What they used on my 2001 didn't last 5 years.  Still want to dig it out at the sheet boxes by the winches.
Jim