Replacing the Pleiglass Hatch Covers in the Bomar Hatches

The hatches on the boat were crazing from the sun after spending 3 years cruising and then I guess more in the last 5 years with us.

Our main windows are crazing too, but that is a project for next summer.

Hopefully, the pictures and description you see below will illustrate how easy this project really was. Excluding drying time, I replaced all four hatch's plexiglass in about three hours.

 

You can order the new plexiglass from Bomar along with the gasket material. You can also make your own replacement windows if you would like by using one of the ones you take out as a pattern. The hole location is critical since it must be pretty close to make the handles work and put the appropriate pressure on the seal to make them waterproof. The gasket material comes in one long strip. You use superglue to glue the ends together when you have it cut to the right length.
Above left you will see where I taped off the new plexiglass in preparation. I got them all ready before I cut out the old plexiglass from the hatches. Above you can see where I am using a small razor knife to cut along beside the plexiglass and breaking the silicone seal. On the immediate left you can see me pulling the old plexiglass out of the frame.

This is the clean-up phase. I found the easiest thing to do was to use the razor knife and run along the bottom of the silicone and then repeat by running along the outside between the hatch and the silicone. It pulled out. Then I scrapped off anything big and you have a clean hatch such as to the left.

Above left you can see where I used the blue tape to prep the frame and protect it from any over spreading of the silicone. Above right shows you the model number of my hatch also you can see it was made in July of 1996. My guess is that you have the same hatch numbers.

On the left you can see I used the Black Silicone in small tubes. I decided to use the small tubes because I didn't know how long it would take to do the job. Also, I wanted to have some left over. I think I used one small tube per window. I know I purchased six tubes and I had some left over.

Above left you can see where I have installed the gasket and I am putting silicone between the gasket and the frame. This way I don't have as much to fill when I put the plexiglass in. On the upper right you can see that I am using a plastic knife to spread the silicone and to make a nice finish. On the right, you can barely see the stuff I piled on top of the window to keep it in place. You can see the "stuff" better below. I pulled off the tape at an angle and I have to tell you, the project came out very well. We have a great view out the hatches now.
Next plexiglass project will be all the windows in the boat. I don't think it will be as easy.

Web Page by Jim Faughn

Home