CDory23,
This was one of the best improvements that my boat has seen. Constantly dealing with water in the lazarettes including shorting out fuse holders made me crazy.
I purchased my hatches from Fisheries Supply, Inc. Their part number was SOP SPA-40154, at $67 each and shipping was free.
The removal of the old hatches took time, as they were cemented using silicone sealer. First, I taped the surface around the perimeter with painters tape, from the outer edge of the old hatch frame outwards several inches. After removal of the sheet metal screws, I used multiple putty knives and a rubber mallet to carefully get the knives under an edge, then continued working the knives, once under the hatch frame and hammered in several putty knives on top of each other to carefully break the silicone bond. Once removed, I cleaned up the fiberglass surface with solvent.
The installation of the new hatches went quicker that I expected. I did have to make a wooden spacer for one edge of the interior of the boat. Once the shim was made, I cleaned all old screw holes and epoxied the shim in place and also filled the old screw holes. After the epoxy was cured, I taped off the perimeter the boats fiberglass surface, around where the new hatches would be mounted. Next I marked the holes for the new screws, drilled holes oversize and chamfered the gelcoat at the hole entry. Next, after that epoxy was cured, drilled the new screw holes to the correct size. Lastly I bedded the new hatches to the deck using white butyl rubber tape (purchased this tape last year from Sailrite, their part number was 103689).
NO MORE LEAKS!!!
One other thing that bugged be about the old hatches was that they were mounted with the hinge side inboard, which made it awkward to get into the compartment. Now the new hatches have the hinges on the outboard side, so access is a heck of a lot better.