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We had to replace the acrylic on a hatch that the dink rests on, on the foredeck, when we are underway. We went from 3/8ths inch acrylic to 1/2 inch lexan and I have absolutely no fear that it will ever break again. It is slightly too thick to fit in the frame, but we had it nicely beveled and it is not a tripping hazard at all.
I sure don't see 1/2 inch lexan being very flexible and I'm pretty sure it's bullet proof; we used some as storm boards on a big motorsailor some years back. If your hatches do not have ribs across the area where the glass goes, they are not "offshore" hatches and need to be replaced. Hatch 2 is an "offshore" hatch, hatch 1 is not.
The only glass product I can remember seeing on a small ocean going craft, was the glass with the chicken wire in it, in a skylight on an old gaffer I owned. It did survive 3 capsizes in a bit of a blow in the SoPac, amazingly enough, even when hit by pieces of the main boom as it shattered during one roll.
I sure don't see 1/2 inch lexan being very flexible and I'm pretty sure it's bullet proof; we used some as storm boards on a big motorsailor some years back. If your hatches do not have ribs across the area where the glass goes, they are not "offshore" hatches and need to be replaced. Hatch 2 is an "offshore" hatch, hatch 1 is not.
The only glass product I can remember seeing on a small ocean going craft, was the glass with the chicken wire in it, in a skylight on an old gaffer I owned. It did survive 3 capsizes in a bit of a blow in the SoPac, amazingly enough, even when hit by pieces of the main boom as it shattered during one roll.
