Front Hatch replacement

I had to replace mine a few years ago. I believe the material is Lexan. I took the remnants of mine to a plastics shop in Boston and they replicated it. It wasn't cheap (~$300) but for that price they molded it into the curved shape of the original. Make sure you have the holes drilled slightly larger than the fasteners so they don't cause cracking.

Bi"ll,

No need to spend $300. If the old hatch is in decent shape and stable, you can make a new one. If the old hatch is not great, then fiber glass, using epoxy trough the crack to make it stable for a temporary mold.

Buy a sheet of the 3/8 or 10mm acrylic and cut it about 1 or 2" oversize in each direction, so that the edges will overlap the original by at least 3/4". You will need a large oven. I used the 36" oven on my 48" Wolf range, but any oven that the thing will fit into will do.

1. Heat the oven to 240f.

2. Place a dampened towel on the oven grill, then place the acrylic on top of it and let it cook for about 10-15 minutes.

3. Place the original hatch on the kitchen counter in the convex position, outside curve up. Support the apex of the curve from underneath because you are going to lean on this thing for a few minutes and you don't want it to flatten out. Cover it with a very soft cloth....something like flannel.

4. Have another piece of flannel ready to go on the top, and a towel folded a couple of times to protect you from the heat. This will go on top of the flannel.

5. Take the plastic out of the over, place over the soft cloth on the mold, place the covering flannel and towels on top of that, and then use your forearms and chest to lean on the new piece making sure you make good contact on the outside ends that are bending down. Hold for about 5 minutes keeping the pressure on.

6. You will have to have taken off the protective cover to the acrylic or the heat will stick it to the face. Messy. That's why you need the soft cloth top and bottom.

7. Use a good masking tape to cover where your cut will go. You can cut acrylic with anything, but I used a table saw for the initial cut to make the blank, then used a sable saw to cut the final and curves. Leave it a little proud so that you can sand the edges smooth with a sanding block or a belt sander, then make smooth with a finer paper on a random orbital.

8. Careful on the drilling or it will chip out the back. They make a special drill for this, but I don't have one, so I drill a small pilot hole that I don't care if it chips a bit in the back. Then I drill the 1/4" holes you need for the hinge. If it is a standard drill, don't take it all the way through, but just until the tip is into the end of the pilot hole. then use a small carborundum bit on a Drevel and eat the hole out to the 1/4" size for the last bit of the hole.

Note: I have made two of these with good success. On Voila mine is a bit different because I made a frame out of structural foam and carbon fiber, then used a piece of 1/4" acrylic and set it into the carbon fiber frame. My frame is about 3" on each side, so my acrylic is a bit smaller, but still good enough for reasonable vision and lets in plenty of light. Result, about 1/3 the weight of the original, and at least twice as durable. On the smaller dimension, the 1/4" is strong enough to be danced upon by the foredeck crew.

FJ: For sure if your oven cannot take the entire hatch, then it will be a problem. The acrylic part of my hatch is not full size because I did not want the weight of the original 3/8" or 10mm material. I used 1/4" and dropped it into a frame I built from high density foam and carbon fiber, so that my frame has about a 2 1/2" perimeter, which reduces my acrylic down from the original something like around 20" both ways to perhaps 17" and that allows it to fit into my oven which is 17 1/2" x 28". I don't remember the exact dimensions. It still lets in plenty of light and gives adequate vision when sleeping forward, but the unit ways about 1/3 of the original and is far stronger as a structure.

Also, if your edges curled, I suspect you may have had the heat a bit high. I think my edges also were slightly deformed, particularly on the corners, but when I trimmed mine after curving it, I was able to remove whatever deformities there were on the edges. I see if I can find a photo of it and then post it. If not, I will photo it this week. We are racing next Sunday.

My kitchen formed hatch split in half during racing Sunday. Please send me the contact info and a picture Bill.
thx, john

Will take one tomorrow John and send to you - have an email?  Will include contact info as well.  - bill

It's okay, I have loaded the pics to Dropbox and here is the link so everyone can see.  And it fits nicely, dry as before!  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rp0uc5twxkjowyh/AACQjgO5bA3kX1F1Vn00nBjSa?dl=0