LM 27 Forward hatch

[Nick]

Hi All
We have a 27 and the front hatch has been broken for some time (cracked). Any ideas where i can get a replacement?
Many thanks
Nick

[pengwyn]

Hi Nick,

I have never seen any LM27 hatches anywhere (exept on LM27). So I'm afraid it's up to your creativity to find a replacement (if you are not fond of massive modifications to your deck & superstructure). I have replaced the wooden original hatcht (+- a square, close to the mast) by an vintage 50*50 'houdini' hatch (placed on a specially designed aluminium frame, so I did not have to make any cuts in the deck, which I would recommend an prefer for the front hatch. In case the front hatch of my LM would fail, I would replace it with a diy trapezoid piece of rigid plastic plus four 5cm stripes of plastic glued to that trapezoid (dimensions just like the original one). This would result in a hatch, similar to the original one. If you use plastic of the same thickness as the original one, you could even reuse the original hinges and locking mechanism. It's no surprise, that I also I would recommend spongy rubber as a gasket (similar to original hatch). As plastic material I would recommend e.g. pvc, which can be easily diy glued with tangit(r). allow sufficient time for the glue to get absolutely stable. To my knowledge pvc (as sheet material) is available also in white an other translucent colours. If you know someone, who is able to glue macrolon(r), you could even design a clear and rigid hatch to enjoy sunlight in the forepeak (the glue for macrolon is toxic and should be handeled by specialist only). I would not recommend plexiglas(tm) or any material that might break (after UV exposition). Such a hatch could be made in one or two days for approx 100 Euros or less (macrolon might be a little more expensive).


best regards & happy sailing


Pen Gwyn

[Sula]

You could make (or have made for you) a copy of the LM hatch in GRP.  

In outline, you clean up the original hatch (yours if it's in one piece, or otherwise if someone would lend you theirs), and coat the outside of it in mould release wax, then make a female mould of it - coat in gelcoat, then lay up glass cloth or mat in polyester (or epoxy) resin on that.   Once that is set you separate the two, coat the inside of the female mould and again lay up gelcoat then glass cloth and resin to make your replacement hatch. 

There's much more in books and on the internet about the detail of how to do it, or it would be a run of the mill job for any GRP specialist or boatyard that deals with GRP repairs.