Resealing hatches - 342

Black_Diamond

So Saturday I rebedded my last hatch (forward one).  I had redone the two smaller ones in the spring using butyl tape to seal them.  I did notice I was getting water in through the screw holes after I removed it, the corners by the hinges seems to be the only place, I sealed the wood with some JB wood weld, nothing bad though (I hope!) and I left it open ~2 weeks so it was dry for sure.  I cleaned all the necessary areas, put on the butyl tape, reinstalled and sure enough one of the corners did not seal  *&$#@.  Lucky I used the tape and not 4200!  Pulled it apart, cleaned again and found the problem to the the plastic liner that covers up the hole sides...it was sticking over the deck by over 1/8" at the edges by the hinges, a bit less in other areas.  The problem is the hatch 'sets' on this plastic and you cannot tighten it down.  I trimmed it all back to the deck with an exacto knife, redid all the tape and reinstalled.  I have the butyl oozing from 100% of the edges now and should be good to go once I trim the excess off.

I will note all three of the hatches were marginally sealed.  It looks like the holes were predrilled but the dust was not cleaned before the 2-sided foam tape was applied, so every screw hole was compromised as the gasket was not stuck on well in those places.  Each hatch is about 2 hours of work to remove (easy!), clean all the old gasket off (a pain), apply the sealant tape and reset.  A pic of the part I trimmed is below so you can see what I mean, this is after trimming (you cannot see the trimmed edge when installed).

Hope this helps anyone considering this task.