Leak in forward hatch
My NT32 hatch story. I purchased this NT new in 2006. Pilothouse hatch has
been leaking for years, especially when I washed and rinsed the roof. This
spring, a moldy smell and some leak stains in headliner had me pull the
headliner down. To my amazement, the liner was covered in mold stains,
dripping wet, and the 3/16” plywood back panels were mostly black, moldy
compost, that fell apart dropping the panels down. Pulled the hatch, held
in place with what appeared to be a very thin layer of Sikaflex and 1” flat
head SS screws simply screwed through the gel coat and one layer of
fiberglass cloth. Under that was about a one inch balsa core, followed by
more plywood and structural panels, sealed with resin. There was an
unsealed plywood 1.5” box frame for the hatch. The hatch was attached with
adhesive, and not a mechanical attachment. The roof cutout was ½” too long,
and not enough roof to properly seal the hatch flange. The sealant under
the flange was a narrow bead and very thin, and with the interior
components removed, you could look up and see points of light around the
flange. WOW, bad install !
OK, the fix. The box frame had some mold stain, but was structurally sound.
I cleaned the frame and applied a couple coats of Git-Rot. I filled in the
roof cutout with West Six10 thickened epoxy. Drilled out and filled screw
holes with Six10. Touched up cutout edge with gelcoat. The original hatch
had handles (dogs) glued to the acrylic lens. They popped off years ago,
and I used SS bolts to re-attach the dogs. The acrylic had cracks around
the dogs (constant re-tightening). Replaced the hatch with a new Bomar
N1070-10P (in stock at Defender), an exact match replacement. I used butyl
tape as a sealant, and #10 X 2.25” SS flat head screws, screwed down
through the roof fiberglass, balsa core, and into the box frame… a strong
mechanical bond. I built the 2 new headliner panels using 3/16” plywood and
¼” foam-backed vinyl liner from Sailrite (Eversoft Off White). The forward
cabin hatch also had a small leak, but nowhere near the pilothouse hatch.
Pulled the forward hatch and cleaned off old adhesive. Same thin adhesive
bead with 1” SS screws. I needed to build up 2 of the corners of the cutout
with thickened epoxy for a better fit. Same drill… drill out screw holes
and fill with epoxy. Butyl tape sealant and 2.25” SS screws directly into
the hatch box frame.
This whole process took an elapsed time of about one month, interrupted by
bad May/June Spring New England weather, oh, and a bout of Covid-19. Check
your hatches people. There appears to be some questionable hatch installs out
there.
John Baczek
Puffin, NT32-266
Watch Hill RI
Thank you for the great info John.
I also have a leak in our forward hatch but it appears to be the joint between the “glass” and hatch frame. Anyone know the procedure/material to use to repair this? I assume it just needs to be re-bedded down.
Paul Bulk
Crown Prince
Brentwood Bay, BC
32-191
On Aug 29, 2023, at 15:01, John Baczek via Sentoa sentoa@lists.sentoa.org wrote:
My NT32 hatch story. I purchased this NT new in 2006. Pilothouse hatch has been leaking for years, especially when I washed and rinsed the roof. This spring, a moldy smell and some leak stains in headliner had me pull the headliner down. To my amazement, the liner was covered in mold stains, dripping wet, and the 3/16” plywood back panels were mostly black, moldy compost, that fell apart dropping the panels down. Pulled the hatch, held in place with what appeared to be a very thin layer of Sikaflex and 1” flat head SS screws simply screwed through the gel coat and one layer of fiberglass cloth. Under that was about a one inch balsa core, followed by more plywood and structural panels, sealed with resin. There was an unsealed plywood 1.5” box frame for the hatch. The hatch was attached with adhesive, and not a mechanical attachment. The roof cutout was ½” too long, and not enough roof to properly seal the hatch flange. The sealant under the flange was a narrow bead and very thin, and with the interior components removed, you could look up and see points of light around the flange. WOW, bad install !
OK, the fix. The box frame had some mold stain, but was structurally sound. I cleaned the frame and applied a couple coats of Git-Rot. I filled in the roof cutout with West Six10 thickened epoxy. Drilled out and filled screw holes with Six10. Touched up cutout edge with gelcoat. The original hatch had handles (dogs) glued to the acrylic lens. They popped off years ago, and I used SS bolts to re-attach the dogs. The acrylic had cracks around the dogs (constant re-tightening). Replaced the hatch with a new Bomar N1070-10P (in stock at Defender), an exact match replacement. I used butyl tape as a sealant, and #10 X 2.25” SS flat head screws, screwed down through the roof fiberglass, balsa core, and into the box frame… a strong mechanical bond. I built the 2 new headliner panels using 3/16” plywood and ¼” foam-backed vinyl liner from Sailrite (Eversoft Off White). The forward cabin hatch also had a small leak, but nowhere near the pilothouse hatch. Pulled the forward hatch and cleaned off old adhesive. Same thin adhesive bead with 1” SS screws. I needed to build up 2 of the corners of the cutout with thickened epoxy for a better fit. Same drill… drill out screw holes and fill with epoxy. Butyl tape sealant and 2.25” SS screws directly into the hatch box frame.
This whole process took an elapsed time of about one month, interrupted by bad May/June Spring New England weather, oh, and a bout of Covid-19. Check your hatches people. There appears to be some questionable hatch installs out there.
John Baczek
Puffin, NT32-266
Watch Hill RI
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Suggest you make one quick check first before opening everything up - make sure that the screw holding the inner and outer parts of the latch assembly is not somewhat loose - worked to solve our drip leak. It wasn't obvious that that was the source.
Ray Munn
GEM 'n I
NT32-105
Get Outlook for iOShttps://aka.ms/o0ukef
From: Paul Bulk via Sentoa sentoa@lists.sentoa.org
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2023 6:20:17 PM
To: South East Nordic Tugs Owners' Association (SENTOA) sentoa@lists.sentoa.org
Cc: John Baczek fishonpuffin@gmail.com; Paul Bulk crownprincenordic32@gmail.com
Subject: [Sentoa] Re: Leak in forward hatch
Thank you for the great info John.
I also have a leak in our forward hatch but it appears to be the joint between the “glass” and hatch frame. Anyone know the procedure/material to use to repair this? I assume it just needs to be re-bedded down.
Paul Bulk
Crown Prince
Brentwood Bay, BC
32-191
On Aug 29, 2023, at 15:01, John Baczek via Sentoa sentoa@lists.sentoa.org wrote:
My NT32 hatch story. I purchased this NT new in 2006. Pilothouse hatch has been leaking for years, especially when I washed and rinsed the roof. This spring, a moldy smell and some leak stains in headliner had me pull the headliner down. To my amazement, the liner was covered in mold stains, dripping wet, and the 3/16” plywood back panels were mostly black, moldy compost, that fell apart dropping the panels down. Pulled the hatch, held in place with what appeared to be a very thin layer of Sikaflex and 1” flat head SS screws simply screwed through the gel coat and one layer of fiberglass cloth. Under that was about a one inch balsa core, followed by more plywood and structural panels, sealed with resin. There was an unsealed plywood 1.5” box frame for the hatch. The hatch was attached with adhesive, and not a mechanical attachment. The roof cutout was ½” too long, and not enough roof to properly seal the hatch flange. The sealant under the flange was a narrow bead and very thin, and with the interior components removed, you could look up and see points of light around the flange. WOW, bad install !
OK, the fix. The box frame had some mold stain, but was structurally sound. I cleaned the frame and applied a couple coats of Git-Rot. I filled in the roof cutout with West Six10 thickened epoxy. Drilled out and filled screw holes with Six10. Touched up cutout edge with gelcoat. The original hatch had handles (dogs) glued to the acrylic lens. They popped off years ago, and I used SS bolts to re-attach the dogs. The acrylic had cracks around the dogs (constant re-tightening). Replaced the hatch with a new Bomar N1070-10P (in stock at Defender), an exact match replacement. I used butyl tape as a sealant, and #10 X 2.25” SS flat head screws, screwed down through the roof fiberglass, balsa core, and into the box frame… a strong mechanical bond. I built the 2 new headliner panels using 3/16” plywood and ¼” foam-backed vinyl liner from Sailrite (Eversoft Off White). The forward cabin hatch also had a small leak, but nowhere near the pilothouse hatch. Pulled the forward hatch and cleaned off old adhesive. Same thin adhesive bead with 1” SS screws. I needed to build up 2 of the corners of the cutout with thickened epoxy for a better fit. Same drill… drill out screw holes and fill with epoxy. Butyl tape sealant and 2.25” SS screws directly into the hatch box frame.
This whole process took an elapsed time of about one month, interrupted by bad May/June Spring New England weather, oh, and a bout of Covid-19. Check your hatches people. There appears to be some questionable hatch installs out there.
John Baczek
Puffin, NT32-266
Watch Hill RI
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To unsubscribe send an email to sentoa-leave@lists.sentoa.org