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Modifying a Westerly opaque hatch
Most Westerly Centaur Yachts have an opaque forward hatch. They tend to go grubby yellow and cracks can appear in the opaque area making the hatch look somewhat tired. Rather than buy a new hatch (probably around £150, I looked at what I could with my existing one. The result is a hatch which lets in a lot more light, and looks pretty good too.
(Click on any image for a larger view)
Most Westerly Centaur Yachts have an opaque forward hatch. They tend to go grubby yellow and cracks can appear in the opaque area making the hatch look somewhat tired. Rather than buy a new hatch (probably around £150, I looked at what I could with my existing one. The result is a hatch which lets in a lot more light, and looks pretty good too.
(Click on any image for a larger view)
This is the original hatch after cutting out to take a new reinforced windowI bought on Ebay for £28. The cut-out was made using a jig saw and I was surprised how quickly GRP blunts the blades!
After fitting the window, non-slip deck paint was applied to smarten up the hatch surface.
The inside of the hatch was abraded and painted with 3 coats of white enamel (this is actually radiator enamel which is tough stuff and copes with extremes of temperature)
For safety, I bought some stainless steel cupboard handles on Ebay (they cost £6 each). Unfortunately one was a satin finish...
...so it had to be polished to a mirror finish. I could have brushed the other two to produce a satin finish but hey, I like shiny things!
(plus it gives me a reason to escape to the garage)
(plus it gives me a reason to escape to the garage)
The ends of the handles had grey silicone sealant applied to seal the joint between handle and hatch (I don’t bother with the expensive marine stuff, I always found LIDL bathroom sealantto be quite adequate for most jobs on the boat)
The finished item. Care has to be taken to position the guards so the screw mountings on the inside do not interfere with the sealing face of the hatch. A new rubber seal was fitted and the hatch replaced.