Hi,

I am planning to replace the acrylics to my hatches. I know my Hanse 400e of 2006 has Lewmar hatches size 60 and obviously Mk 2, but are they low profile or medium profile? Can't find the information anywhere. I am not sure if there is any difference, but the acrylic suppliers seem to ask the profile. Any recommendations from where to purchase?

Regards,

Heikki

I would try Lewmar direct. I am chasing them over the 2G flush hatches fitted to my 2009MY 400 (and  leaking as I hear is typical). www.lewmar.com

The website has an identifier for post 2007 fitment or contact them for earlier.

techsupport@lewmar.com

If anyone has had any recent success with Lewmar over replacing the 2G hatches, I would welcome your insight. From what I can see, pretty much all of them have ingress issues.

Many thanks in advance. 

HleC 

thanks

Jeff

Lewmar/Hanse offered replacement set but my cost to remove old ones and install the new ones. After much backward and forward i forced lewmar to make me a replacement set with anodised aluminium finish rather than powder coated. (Should be anodised from new in my humble opinion). These will now last the lifetime of the boat. 

Note: cabin top has balsa core, Hanse fit hatches with self tapping screws directly into balsa core relying only on Sika to keep the water out. Whilst you have your old hatches off, drill old screw holes out to 12mm and fill with epoxy, when you fit new hatches you will drill and screw into epoxy eliminating the risk of water entry into deck core.

Regards acrylic covers, the flush series hatches have no rim, the rim on normal hatch protects rubber seal and glue from UV damage a fait bit. On the flush series hatch seal and glue are in direct light and therefore subject to degradation much faster. I have had external cloth covers made that cover all of the flush series hatches including side windows (port lights), these take the brunt of UV and get replaced ever 10 years but acrylic lenses stay like new.

When i replaced my hatches i bedded them on non setting butyl rather than Sika or the like, no leaks in the past 5 years. Your cabin top and side flex way more than you think so any setting sealant will be problematic.

Hi,

Does anybody know wether the Lewmar hatch in the photo is Low Profile or Medium Profile? The boat is Hanse 400e #121 manufactured in 2006.

Regards,

Heikki

If you search my site, you’ll find photos and articles on replacing the hatches and windows on my boat. Made all windows myself. 

BR Thomas 

Hi Gregor,

Thanks for your photos!

This type of Lewmar hatches are either low profile or medium profile. Medium profile is more solid than low profile, for example the acrylic is 2 mm thicker.

Regards,

Heikki

The "Advanced search" (which you can find at the top right of this page, by left-clicking the "Search"), gives you more than 100 hits on "Lewmar hatch" (All Forums/Any Date).

In one post you will find this link,

https://www.oceanchandlery.com/lewmar-replacement-low-profile-hatch-acrylics.html" rel="nofollow - https://www.oceanchandlery.com/lewmar-replacement-low-profile-hatch-acrylics.html ,

and in another you will be informed, that the hatch is the low profile model. Yet another tells you, theat the size is 60.

Now I have done the search for you, so all that remains to be done, is compare the measures of your hatch to the measures in the link above.

BR Kjeld

P.S. Try also  https://hanse.boatoon.com/de/shop/category/4/Ersatzteile/30/Luken%20&%20Fenster?page=0

Hi Toby,

When was your boat manufactured? The type of hatches changed from 2008. If your boat is earlier model, then you have low profile, size 60 hatches as Kjeld writes above. Normally there is no need to change the hatches totally, you can just replace the acrylics. They can be ordered directly from Lewmar as well as the new rubber sealing, which is usually also needed. I found a local guy, who made me the acrylics and ordered the sealing (Dichtungsgummi) from svb.de.

Best regards,

Heikki

1) What to order? 

As I understand these are the Lewmar flush hatches - and I’m guessing they’re originally the “G2” version. There’s now a “G3” version. Are these interchangeable? Can I replace the G2 with a G3?

Also: What color on the acrylic? The G3 exists in “Dark grey” and “smoke grey”. The G2 I can only find on the Lewmar website and only in “standard color”.

The size for the front hatch of the H400 should be “size 60”?

2) How to replace it.

I have some proper US Butyl tape and understand this is the sealing agent of choice. The actual procedure though is new to me. Any tips on a video or illustrated how-to for replacing the flush hatches?

As per my earlier post i ordered anodised frames from Lewmar when i replaced all my hatches, otherwise you will get white powercoat which is the only standard finish for lewmar flush hatches. Majority of Hanse, Dehler etc using these hatches have bubbles in the powercoat or worse. Anodising will not bubble and blow off and will last a very long time.

Butyl tape only works where you have high clamp force e.g bolting the frame down, when i replaced my two saloon overhead hatches i drilled through and bolted them. If you plan to screw the frames down again the use Butyl corking not tape. Dont use Sika, 3M or other caulking as it will fail.

I also recommend drilling all the screw holes out as large as you can (about 12mm) filling the holes with expoxy and redrilling when you refit the frames. This ensures your screws are in epoxy not the balsa core. When Hanse fits all deck and hull hardwear above the waterline they dont seal the core.

Grey lenses are what you want not the dark smoke option. 

I believe you’re now the only person on the internet to have announced the correct color!

(European ones seem to be made for other purposes than bedding hardware...)

Edit: Should be “caulk” off course. (Not a word I’m familiar with. I can probably find this in Norway.)

Hanse Boatoon replies that the G2 is replaced with the G3 and offers that as their solution.

The Norwegian Lewmar importer asked for the “lens code” imprinted in the acrylic and then replied that they can sell the acrylic only - not the full hatch with a frame. I’ve made it clear that that’s not an option!

I’m guessing that Lewmar has now discontinued the manufacturing of the G2 frames altogether and only carries a small rest inventory.

Based on this I expect to be forced to get a G3 version. As long as they can supply the same color as the rest I think that’ll probably be OK.

They have Lewmar G2 Flush batches listed on their site.

http://www.mauriprosailing.com/us/category/1-Lexmark-Flush-Hatches.hmtl" rel="nofollow - www.mauriprosailing.com

I am not affiliated with them but have used them regularly as a source of equipment and always found them very helpful.

Matt

I just about ordered from them - but decided to call first and check that they actually had it in stock. Which they didn’t. 

Ending up getting a new 2G from eBay instead. It’ll be a little darker - but arrive before the summer holidays. If we think it’s too dark we can always change back to the old acrylic.

Preparations based on good advice here has yielded me an epoxy repair kit and a Butyl caulk tube to go with the new hatch. Thank you all very much!

I’m expecting the old one will come out pretty easily but that there’ll be some moisture in the balsa core along the hatch. These are the questions I’m having now:

- As I drill out the old screw holes to 12mm and fill them with epoxy - I’ll regard those as properly waterproofed after 24 hrs. of curing. 

- What about the vertical rim of the old cut-out? Should I expect moisture there as well? Should I do anything about it?

- When applying the new Butyl sealant - I believe it should only go on top of the deck around the cut-out directly under the frame so that the screws will pass through the Bytul. Is this correct - or should I apply any butyl to the vertical edge of the old cut-out as well?

- I’ve got a fast curing epoxy that says “heavy loads after 24hrs. of curing”. It may be very tempting to drill them and screw in the new hatch around 20 hrs. after the epoxy repair. Any thoughts on cutting the curing time a few hours short?

Vertical rim should be glass so no need to seal anything up.

Apply your caulking to the horizontal edges of the deck around the cut out and on the horizontal flange of the hatch, be sure hatch flange is clean of all old caulking and any contamination, clean with acetone.

Having no experience with epoxy repairs I consulted my local West system store and ended up with a GFLEX 650 repair kit. This epoxy proved to be extraordinary elastic even after a week of curing. I screwed back into it after drilling and was able to use 5.5x25mm self tappers around the frame - but the epoxy remains so elastic that even after a week, I can still keep tightening them... I’m a bit sceptical about this!

For now I kept the original hinge screws since I couldn’t acquire the right dimension through bolts at the time of mounting. I now have those and can pretty easily upgrade - but if the other screws will remain too loose - I’ll just wait a bit and see if I need to change them all.

The Butyl Caulk (Terostat/Teroson 2759 from Henkel) proved very good to work with and easy to clean up, using a ball of product as “flypaper” along the edges. Also easy to lay down a nice thick “sausage” directly on the screw-holes and then just place the hatch directly on top without having to smooth it.

So essentially I’m now waiting for rain and heavy seas to see if the screws will come loose and leaking commence. If this happens my plan is as follows:

- Re-drill the epoxy holes and re-fill with a stronger (harder) epoxy - probably the self-mixing West system SIX-10. Expend a new tube of the butyl caulk (how important is it to remove all the old stuff? It’s sticky as hell.) and then screw the hatch down into the hard epoxy, drilling through for the hinges. 

The main barrier to keep me from just doing this is the need for some 48 hours of curing during which we shouldn’t sail and it shouldn’t rain. ...and the boat is rather open even if I put my tender on top of the hole...

Comments still appreciated!

Back to replacing the flush hatches - but this time it’s the «portlight» in the aft head. We caught the genoa sheet under the oversized pane and got a crack in it. Only after ordering the replacement from Boatoon, I realized that these are constructed as custom flush hatches just like the ones in the deck - and not as portlights with inner clamping frames.