the weird out island hatch
Joe, my wife and I have a 1974 out island 41'. As you described, the hatch has a trapazoidal (is that a word?) hatch sitting down on a raised combing which is molded into the fibergalss deck. A poor design with limited easy fixes for sure. We installed 3/4 x 3/4 inch closed cell foam gasket material on the underside of the hatch (home depot stuff). Just be sure to get 'closed cell' foam. Also in our case the hatch itself (mahogany with plexiglass insert) was leaking, I forced latex caulking into every joint and crack I could find - no more leaks!
This hatch is definately not very seaworthy! And we are building another with the 1/2 inch plexiglass BOLTED in place instead of just caulked in.
In order to prevent heavy water sluicing across the deck from finding it's way past the seal, the water must be diverted. We are considering making a cover that would snap onto the deck and protect the hatch from this.
Hope this helps you, let us know if you come up with any other inprovements!
Bob
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