The forward Lewmar hatches on our 575 drain via canals that flow from the hatch above the master cabin into the canals for the sail locker and from there into hoses that drain into the anchor locker.      On occasion I clean out the canals with a snake and scrub/wax them so things don't get stuck, but in general you'd think it would work satisfactorily if the trim on our 575 was correct.  Gravity is usually pretty dependable. 

Our trim is not what it should be. 

Our bow sits pretty high out of the water and instead of draining, the water pools back near the hatches and (unless you have a nice clean seal on the hatch) can drip into the boat.     

I've tried to trim it out.   In addition to our sail locker containing a cruising spinaker,    four bicycles (2 of which are e-bikes and thus heavy),   a spare anchor,   beach accoutrements, boat hooks, spare bike tires, lines, fenders, etc.  I've  put 30 gallons of bottled water,  cases of canned food,  cases of dog food (for our 2 dogs),  and anything else I could stick in the sail locker.   The only thing not standard aft  (I assume it matters there as well) is the outboard motor hanging on the stern rail.   There is 300' of stainless chain in the anchor locker.   All chain, no rope. 

 

I've avoided just putting useless ballast in there (lead or iron ingots) for the sake of trim,  but I'm getting the feeling I'm HUNDREDS of pounds off.    My wife and I standing on the bow does not affect the trim.     I'm guess its going to take 500lbs or so to make a dent.

Do others have this issue as well?     If so,  how did you solve it. 

Rick

I agree,  not that serious,  but annoying.

From the beginning 2009-2010 Hanse start with the Lewmar flush hatches and the bad coating of the alu frames doesn’t help with corrosion and leaking hatches as the result.

There are several threads about this on the forum.

A other proof Hanse pay no attention on the feedback of their customers 😭🤬

The cockpit seems to drain well enough.   No trim issues there.    My only complaint is that the cockpit drains under the table empty into the dinghy below if you don't spend a lot of time with the black strip that apparently is intended to steer the water to the sides.  In any event,  I always have to leave the plug out in the dinghy so water does not collect.

Its compounded if you mount something like an outboard on the stern rail, or store spare diesel / gas jugs in the dinghy hanger.     I've tried to counter this by putting cases of bottled water,  4 bicycles, a spinaker, and lots of other stuff in the bow locker, but its not enough.     I've often thought of putting some old batteries up there, but the trim issue is not a big enough problem.

Just make sure the channels are as clear as possible so that it *EVENTUALLY* runs out.  

Beyond that,  see the prior comments about adjusting trim by putting extra ballast forward.

I also have this problem: lack of consistent drainage which produces an occasional (not always) leak in the corner of frame of the forward-most hatch.  I first thought it might be a leak from one of the screws.  So I pulled all those, put a little bit of 3M 4200 in the holes, and then put the screws back in.  Didn't seem to be it, so perhaps a compromise of the bead of sealant that was put down on hatch installation?  A marina friend pointed me to Captain Tolley's, which appears to be a low-viscosity penetrating sealant.  Anyone try this?  Or is the only real solution pulling the hatch & re-bedding it?  If so, what's the level of effort?

My 505 has channels that drain well. I have some peeling paint on the aluminum frames, but this doesn't seem to matter vis a vis leaks. And some cracked plastic trim on the insides - common issues to many of our boats. But also not related to leaks. 

Aside from making sure the gaskets are in good shape and seated properly, and all the nuts and screws are snug, closing the windows with no stress on the supports seems to be the answer to leak free hatches.

Not sure exactly how this all works together but it seems to be the answer for my boat. 

Anyone else notice this?

Never thought of that. I think I will adopt that theory. I definitely haven’t always loosened the supports in the last and I have had leaky salon hatches. Good advice. Thanks.

As far as rebedding the hatches, it’s not technically difficult but it is tedious. I’ve done two. There’s scraping, sanding caulking, etc. The paint was peeling in the frames too. I used butyl tape to seal - less messy than caulk. So far, so good. The main problem seems to be the drainage. The seals seem to work fine if there isn’t a constant pool of water sitting in the channels. My galley and aft head hatches have channels with no drainage. Water sits in there all of the time. They don’t leak though, possibly because they don’t have the struts supports to fight against the tight seal?